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The initial purpose was simply for practising military manoeuvres, but it quickly turned into a showcase of the French Imperial Army, a theatrical propaganda display, where French citizens could meet the army and watch parades. Each year the camp was transformed into a town of tents and wooden chalets.[1]
The camp survived the fall of the Second Empire in 1872, but changed into a training camp and a departure point for troops engaging in overseas operations.
The camp is used for military manoeuvres, and cavalry training, along with the neighbouring 2,500 hectare largeCamp de Moronvilliers. Firing of live ordnance (rockets, missiles) is prohibited.
A military airbase, designatedbase aérienne 131 Mourmelon, was in operation near the camp from the beginning of the 1900s until 1965, when it was shut down. This site also hosted a flying school, founded byHenri Farman in 1909.
The camp was selected to host the individual and team 600 m free rifleshooting events for the1924 Summer Olympics in neighbouringParis. To that purpose, temporary facilities were constructed on and near the camp'sfiring range.
On 4 August 1988, the dead body of 20-year-old Fabienne Leroy was found at the camp after she was kidnapped from a supermarket in nearbyChâlons-en-Champagne and shot the previous day.[2] In May 2008,Michel Fourniret and Monique Olivier were convicted of the murder of Leroy and six other girls and women and sentenced to life imprisonment.[3]
The Bonapartes in Châlons en Champagne (Les Bonaparte à Châlons en Champagne), by Jean-Paul Barbier and Michel Bursaux, Marnaise Studies (Etudes Marnaises), SACSAM, 2009.
