The French plot is located in the south-eastern part of the Starofarny Cemetery in Bydgoszcz, the capital of the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. It contains the graves of 23 French prisoners of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, who died in captivity on Długa Street between December 1870 and April 1871. They were originally buried in a common grave dug by the Poles at the end of the conflict.
The plot was inaugurated on 29 September 1929, in the presence of a representative of the French military mission and of the town's civil and military authorities. On a small rectangular parcel of land bounded by a fence, eleven white concrete crosses, without inscription, were erected on a paved surface, on either side of a stele topped by a cross and a tomb-shaped base bearing the names of the deceased, their regiments and their dates of death. On the stele one can read a biblical quotation in Latin: "Et nunc meliorem patriam appelunt" - "But now they desire a better country", Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter 11, verse 16, then on its base: "Erected by their compatriots".
In 2012 and 2013, works were carried out on the plot, consisting of the laying of paving to cover the ground, the erection of two flagpoles to fly the French and Polish colours, as well as the restoration of the various existing inscriptions that were in poor condition or erroneous. Ironwork was also undertaken to better delimit the plot; more precisely, it consisted of the fabrication and installation of two separate fences, made of steel posts painted black and connected by chains, in order to frame the crosses on both sides of the stele and the plaque so as to leave access to its two central elements.
The French plot is a place of annual commemoration; indeed, every 11 November, the French military personnel of the NATO training centre in Bydgoszcz (JFTC) hold a ceremony there with a wreath-laying.