Fontainebleau, a lovely historical town located to the south of Paris, France. It is renowned for its large and scenic forest of Fontainebleau, the largest state forest in France, covering an area of 50,000 acres. The town is enriched with a population of 17,000 people enclosed by an area of 175 square kilometers.
Fontainebleau is a favorite weekend getaway for Parisians. It is also famous for the historical palace Château de Fontainebleau and INSEAD, one of the world’s best business schools. Inhabitants of Fontainebleau are called Bellifontains. In spite of a large number of tourists visiting every day, the town retained its old world charm and ancient looks which makes it an attractive French town.
As we enter into the Fontainebleau palace from the town, there is an attractive royal gate which leads to the palace grounds. Then comes the horse shoe shaped staircase which leads into the palace. The palace is the largest French royal building which is arranged around a series of courtyards and parks. It is also known as the dictionary of architecture. One of the several attractive buildings to be found in the centre of France is the Fontainebleau church which is located in the town’s main street.
The town of Fontainebleau can be easily reached from the centre of the Paris as there are number of trains from Gar De Lyon station.
During World War II,I was sent to Officers Candidate school in Fountainbleu.I was in the first class .I was told that this was the location of Napolion’s artilary school. I have never been able to find any information as to why the U.S. Army decided to operate an OCS at this location near the end of the war in Europe.It was closed after the 3rd class.What a relief is was to be here and away from the battlefield. Also,I was never able to determine how the selection was made as to who would be accepted from the millions of troops fighting the Germans.
My father was a Senior Instructor in Ground Combat Defensive Tactics in Feb 45.
My father, Fred G. Saviers, 3rd Army, 80th Division was sent to OCS at Fountainbleu after serving as a combat soldier from early Dec 1944 until his attendance sometime in the spring of 1945. He did not complete the course after VE day, but served in AFN-Munich until April 1946.
My father, George R Neill, also attended OCS there. I have the little booklet with all of the photgraphs of the different platoons.