French military WW1 cemetery in Bitola

The French military cemetery in Bitola was raised by the French state in memory and tribute to fallen French soldiers during the First World War in the area of city of Bitola (Monastir) on the Macedonian Front.
It is the largest of its kind in Republic of Macedonia.
The idea for its creation comes in France immediately after the war. Central Committee was formed in Paris which was obliged to organize and implement the collection of the remains of French soldiers and establishing military cemetery location for the area where the French army acted.
Special difficulty was the process of finding and identifying the remains of those killed.
The remains were collected in bags, specially impregnated for that purpose. They were placed in separate wooden boxes and moved into prepared graves in the cemetery alley, located north-east of Bitola in the so-called Novaci road.
In the memorial cemetery above every grave was placed metal cross with French tricolor, with embossed cross and basic data of the soldier: Name, number of the unit, place of birth and when he was killed.
Above the graves of the Muslim soldiers (mobilized from colonial countries of France), an Islamic religious symbol - was placed as a marking of the grave.
Today the memorial French military cemetery in Bitola is resting place for 6128 identified and more than 7000 unidentified remains of French soldiers.
The ceremony of the official opening of the cemetery was held September 15, 1923. It was a reminder of the day and month, when in 1918 on the locality Dobro Pole began the offensive in which the French and other Allied forces broke through the line on the Macedonian front.
In 2016 started the activities for building of new memorial museum.