List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Champagne-Ardennes

Its location on the site of the Château de Mondement, south of the marshes of St Gond, was considered an appropriate one and the first indication that this would be the site chosen for the memorial came on 6 September 1917, when the ceremony presided over by the President of the Republic Raymond Poincaré to commemorate the third anniversary of the battle, was held at Mondemont and subsequently the French parliament voted Mondemont as the preferred site for the memorial.

In 1929 the Beaux-Arts administration organised a competition to enable them to select a suitable design for the memorial and eventually the commission went to the architect Paul Bigot who proposed to use Henri Bouchard for the main sculptural work involved. The monument was to take the form of a huge column to symbolise the significance of the German advance being halted and at the top there would be a sculpture in relief of an "Angel of Victory" which would be assigned to Bouchard whilst bas-reliefs at the base would be worked on by Alfred Bottiau, Albert Patrisse and René André Duparc, all top rank sculptors.

In December 1933 the monument itself was completed, but not the sculpture, as there had been difficulties in raising funds to complete the work and for sometime the monument remained covered in scaffolding. Only in 1938 was the complete monument ready, with sculptural work done and the inauguration was fixed for 19 September 1939. However, the outbreak of the Second World War meant that this was delayed until 23 September 1951.

When completed the monument's height was 35.5 metres and the concrete was pink in colour. The whole monument with its metal base and deep foundations weighed 2000 tonnes! The monument was certainly unusual, but its size did evoke both power and defiance as the designer had intended.

At the base, the bas-reliefs featured depictions of all the main Generals involved in the battle, with Joffre in the centre, his arm around a French soldier. Around him are Joffre’s generals placed in the geographical order from Verdun to Senlis that they took for the battle itself. From left to right they are Generals Sarrail (Third Army), Langle de Cary (Fourth Army), Foch (Ninth Army), Franchet d'Espèrey (Fifth Army), Field Marshal French (BEF), Manoury (Sixth Army) and Gallieni (The Army of Paris).

There are two main inscriptions on the column

"A la voix de Joffre, l'armée française en pleine retraite s'arrêta et fit face à l'ennemi. alors se déchaîna la bataille de la Marne sur un front de soixante dix lieues de Verdun aux portes de Paris. Après plusieurs jours de luttes héroïques, l'ennemi de toutes parts battait en retraite et sur toute l'étendue du front, la VICTOIRE PASSAIT"

and the second features Joffre's "Order of the Day" of 6 September 1914

"Au moment où s'engage une bataille dont dépend le salut du pays, il importe de rappeler à tous que le moment n'est plus de regarder en arrière. Tous les efforts doivent être employés à attaquer et repousser l'ennemi. Toute troupe qui ne peut plus avancer devra coûte que coûte garder le terrain conquis et se faire tuer sur place plutôt que de reculer. Dans les circonstances actuelles, aucune défaillance ne peut être tolérée"

Other inscriptions cover the make-up of the different armies that were involved in the Allied formation and each face to the point where they were positioned at the start of the offensive. These were-

• The Army of Paris/ General Gallieni
• The 6th Army of General Maunoury positioned from Betz to Meaux
• Battle place of the English Army positioned from Villiers-sur-Morin to Jouy-le-Châtel.
• The 5th Army of General Franchet d'Espèrey positioned from Provins to Sézanne
• The 9th Army of General Foch positioned from Sézanne to the camp at Mailly
• The 4th Army of General de Langle de Cary positioned from the camp at Mailly to Sermaize
• The 3rd Army of General Sarrail positioned from Revigny to Verdun.
• British expeditionary Force Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Sir J.D.P. French.

Below each of these are listed the different Corps involved.

There is one final inscription which strikes a philosophical note

"A tous ceux qui sur notre terre du plus lointain des âges dressèrent la borne contre l'envahisseur"

Incidentally during their occupation from 1940 to 1944 the Germans left the monument untouched. The local people call it the "Carrot".

At the top of the monument a Celtic harp faces east and the winged statue of Victory flies from east to west through thunder, lightning and battle trumpets with the words resounding

"The VICTORY of the MARNE"

^[1]

Next to the chapel is a covered area and on the walls the names of the various regiments that were involved in both battles are recorded as are the achievements of Joffre who led the Army at the time of the First Battle of the Marne and of Foch, the Army leader at the time of the 1918 battle. In the covered area there are relief carvings of both Joffre and Foch and as part of the carving of Foch we read that the French Army, fighting side by side with the British, the Americans and the Italians, reconquered the Tardenois, took 25,000 prisoners and captured 610 Guns, 220 mine throwers, and 3,000 machine guns. It also records how they were able to take the initiative and throw the enemy back to the frontiers, all of which was a prelude to total liberation and the final victory of the Allies.(Ferdinand Foch was given command of the 9th French Army at the beginning of the war and led the French counter-attack at the 1st Battle of the Marne. His success secured him command of the Northern Army on the Western Front in October 1914, and in this capacity he led the French Armies who fought on the Somme in 1916. He was made Chief of General Staff in 1918 and given overall control of Allied forces in March 1918 serving as Allied Supreme Commander. At the 2nd Battle of the Marne, Foch halted the advance of the German forces in their Spring Offensive in 1918 and his counter-attack saw the tide of the war turn and in November 1918 it was Foch who accepted the German surrender. In July 1918 he was made a Marshal of France). ^[2]

Memorial Chapel and Lantern at Dormans

The memorial at the Butte de Chalmont should be looked at as having three parts. Firstly, and on the lower slope of the hill, is the sculpture of a woman dressed in a simple cloak and carrying a shield on her left arm. She represents France and is walking forward slowly and looking to the east. Secondly and behind her, are four long steps, each representing the four years of the 1914–18 war. These take one some 150 yards up the slopes of the hill (butte) to the third part of the composition, a group of eight figures called the "les fantômes", seven figures representing a young recruit, an engineer, a machine-gunner, a grenadier, a colonial soldier, an infantryman and a pilot surround an eighth figure which represents death leaving his shroud. The figures have their eyes closed; they are seeking their missing comrades. The Butte at Chalmont is part of the plateau from which the Allies launched their attack.

To the left and right of the memorial are two carved stone tablets. That on the left records the events of the battle and that on the right lists the Allied Generals who took part in the battle: Fayolle, Mangin, Lacapelle, Berdoulat, Penet, Niesse, Prax, Robillot, Degoutte, Philipot, Massenet, Liggett, de Mondesir, Maistre, de Mitry, Lebrun, Berthelot, Pelle, Albricci, Mazillier, Feraud, Godley, Marjoulet, Gouraud, Pont, Hely d’Oissel, Naulin, Pétain, head of the French Army and Foch, the Commander in Chief of the Allied Armies.

The stone tablet on the left reads

"Le 15 juillet 1918, l’ennemi engage la bataille en Champagne contre les IVème, Vème et VIème armées – Le 17, ses efforts sont brisés de Château-Thierry à l’Argonne. A l’aube du 18 juillet, entre Nouvron et la Marne, les Xème et Vème armées s’élancent à l’assaut sur le flanc de l’ennemi, atteignent le soir le front Pernant-Torcy, progressent sans arrêt les jours suivants et enlèvent la butte de Chalmont (25 et 26 juillet), succès décisif qui repousse l’ennemi sur les plateaux du tardenois. Il tente en vain de résister au nord de l’Ourcq – combats du Grand-Rozoy – il est rejeté sur la Vesle. Soissons est délivré, 30.000 prisonniers et un matériel considérable sont capturés. Le front est raccourci de 50 km, la voie Paris-Chalons rétablie, la menace contre Paris levée. Après trois semaines de durs combats, auxquels participèrent des divisions américaines, britanniques et italiennes, la seconde bataille de la Marne se terminait victorieusement. L’initiative des opérations passait aux mains des alliés"

^[3]

A la gloire de Dieu et en souvenir durable des 3888 officiers et soldats dont les tombes ne sont pas connues appartenant au Corps Expéditionnaire Britannique qui, mobilisé le 5 Août 1914, débarqua en France en Août 1914 et combattit à Mons, au Cateau, sur la Marne, sur l'Aisne, jusqu'en Octobre 1914"

and that in English

"To the glory of God and the lasting memory of 3888 British officers and men whose graves are not known who landed in France in the month of August 1914 and between then and October fought at Mons and Le Cateau and on the Marne and the Aisne."

The La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial was unveiled on 4 November 1928. The English and French military officers present at the dedication ceremony included Ferdinand Foch, Maxime Weygand, George Milne and William Pulteney Pulteney. The ceremony also commemorated the contributions of Joseph Joffre, John French, and Michel-Joseph Maunoury, the commanders of the armies who had fought in the area.^[4]

Near the main memorial at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre and on each bank of the river and on either side of the nearby bridge, are two identical memorials commemorating the efforts of Royal Engineers who built, whilst under fire from the Germans, a floating bridge at this location in 1914. The English inscription reads

At this point was built under fire by the Royal Engineers of the 4th Division a floating bridge for the passage of the left wing of the British Expeditionary Force after the Battle of the Marne. Portions of the division had already crossed by boat at the weir near Luzancy and below the destroyed bridges"

^[5] The memorial was designed by George H. Goldsmith, a decorated veteran of the Western Front. Have been unable identify the sculptor but much has been written about the fact that a tin helmet was wrongly included in the sculpture given that the tin helmet was not worn in 1914 and was not then standard issue.^[6]

La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial

The original British Expeditionary Force had crossed the Aisne in August 1914, a few kilometres west of Soissons, and re-crossed it in September a few kilometres east. For the next three and a half years, this part of the front was held by French forces although the city remained within the range of German artillery.

At the end of April 1918, five divisions of Commonwealth forces (IX Corps) were attached to the French 6th Army in this sector to give them time to rest and refit following the German offensives on the Somme and Lys but, at the end of May, they found themselves facing an overwhelming German attack which, despite fierce opposition, pushed the Allies back across the Aisne and down to the Marne. Having suffered 15,000 fatal casualties, IX Corps was withdrawn in early July and was replaced by XXII Corps, who took part in the Allied counterattack that had driven back the Germans by early August and recovered the lost ground.

These encounters resulted in much loss of live and the Memorial to the Missing at Soissons commemorates almost 4,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom forces who died during the Battles of the Aisne and the Marne in 1918 and who have no known grave. The memorial was designed by G H Holt and V O Rees and has sculptural work by Eric Kennington. The memorial was unveiled by Lt. Gen. Hamilton-Gordon in July 1928. The names of those lost but whose bodies could not be identified are recorded on the panels at the rear of the memorial.

The memorial bears the following inscription

"When the French Armies held and drove back the enemy from the Aisne and the Marne between May and July 1918 the 8th, 15th, 19th, 21st, 25th, 34th, 50th, 51st and 62nd divisions of the British Armies served in the line with them and shared the common sacrifice. Here are recorded the names of 3,987 officers and men of those divisions to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death"

^[7]

The three servicemen who are the central feature of Eric Kennington's composition

"Pensée accomplissant son effort de résurrection"

There are reliefs on either side of this central figure. The relief on the left is entitled "1914 le sacrifice" and is dedicated to the families of the dead ("Aux familles des morts pour exalter la grandeur de leur sacrifice.") whilst that on the right bears the legend "1918 la leçon du passé" and speaks to future generations reminding them not to forget the sacrifices of their parents.("Aux generations nouvelles pour qu’elles sachent et se souviennent"). A list of the names of the dead was sealed up with one of the memorial's bricks and there is a book in the Reims town hall which also contains this information

Along the top is the inscription

"Enfants de Reims tombes au champ d’honneur que ce monument edifie par votre ville meurtrie exprime à jamais son deuil et sa fierte"

.

^[8]

The statue at the centre of the Reims monument aux morts. A youth is deep in thought.

"Aux morts des 132e et 332e Régiments d'infanterie et du 46e Régiment territorial d'infanterie"

The soldier on the top of the monument is the work of Paul Lefèbvre who worked on the Reims monument aux morts.

^[10]

Monument to the 132nd French Infantry Regiment in Reims.

The monument to the 24th, 28th and 133rd was inaugurated on 14 October 1923. This monument has deteriorated over the years, and a number of the inscriptions are now no longer legible. ^[11]

A column of German soldiers marching near Loivre in 1918

Beneath the ridge is an almost one-square-kilometre cave network called "The Dragon's Lair" (La Caverne du Dragon). The subterranean caverns were originally a tunnel system created from excavations of limestone for building purposes in the 17th century. The caves are some 20–40 metres below the surface and during the war they were used by both French and German forces as field hospitals and command posts.

The Chemin des Dames has along its length many visible reminders of the war. The Fort of Malmaison held a strategic position and at La Royere the part which colonial troops played in the war is recorded. At Cerny-en-Laonnais we find the little chapel, which is the official remembrance site for the Chemin des Dames and the Caverne du Dragon Museum on the spot where the Germans used the old quarry there as underground barracks. We find the Monument to the Basques in memory of the 36th Division most of whom hailed from the south-west of France. We find the Plateau de Californie which affords magnificent views over the Aisne valley, which was the scene of the offensive launched by General Nivelle on 16 April 1917. We find the rebuilt village of Craonne with its arboretum of Remembrance and the National Tank Monument, all these memorials interspersed with cemeteries and smaller monuments to the dead.

It is calculated that over 130,000 men lost their lives in this area and in the French, German, British and Italian cemeteries only half of the men who died could be identified and many were laid to rest in ossuaries.

Whilst there were always almost daily skirmishes along the Chemin des Dames during the war there were three major battles fought. These were-

• First Battle of the Aisne (1914) - The Anglo-French counter-offensive following the First Battle of the Marne.
• Second Battle of the Aisne (1917) - Part of the Nivelle Offensive.
• Third Battle of the Aisne (1918) - The third phase or (Operation Blücher) of the German Spring Offensive.

The First Battle of the Aisne was the Allied follow-up offensive against the right wing of the German First Army (led by Alexander von Kluck) & Second Army (led by Karl von Bülow) as they retreated after the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914. The Aisne battle began on the evening of 13 September but it was inconclusive and the two armies concluded that a head-on breakthrough was not possible and started the "Race to the Sea" with one attempt after another to take the opposition's flank, which, when no one managed this, saw the race finish on the North Sea Coast. Thereafter a "war of movement" ended and trench warfare and a static war took its place.

The Race to the Sea after the First Battle of the Aisne

After the First Battle of the Aisne no major battles were fought in the area until March 1917 but during this time several thousand soldiers died in local attacks or coup de main operations and on 25 January 1915, German forces captured the Creute farm (today La Caverne du Dragon or the Dragon's Lair), the last remaining French position on the plateau. This was what is known as the "Battle of the Creute". The Germans now dominated the ridge.

The Second Battle of the Aisne took place between 16 and 25 April 1917. This was to become known as the "Nivelle Offensive". General Robert Nivelle was an artilleryman by training and started the battle with a six-day-long artillery bombardment involving some 5,300 guns but this arguably did no more than alert the Germans to the fact that an attack was coming. On 16 April, seven French army corps attacked the German line along the Chemin des Dames ridge but Nivelle had underestimated the enemy's defensive preparations (the Germans had created a network of deep shelters in old underground stone quarries below the ridge, where their troops had been able to take shelter during the French barrage) and the well-prepared German positions dominated the southerly slope over which the French attackers were attacking, the Germans making maximum use of their new MG08/15 machine guns. The French took 40,000 casualties on the first day alone and during the following 12 days of the battle, French losses continued to rise to 120,000 casualties (dead, wounded, and missing). The final count, when the offensive was over, was 271,000 French casualties and 163,000 Germans casualties and although the German defenders suffered less, they lost some 20,000 prisoners, 40 cannons, and 200 machine guns. The high French casualty count and in such a small space of time and with such minimal gains, was perceived at headquarters and by the French public as a disaster. There was also much criticism of the agonizingly slow evacuation of the French wounded which it was thought demonstrated a lack of logistical preparations. Nivelle had to resign, and the French Army now suffered from instances were soldiers refused to accept orders: Mutiny was in the air.

This situation developed into a threat of complete disintegration and General Pétain, who had opposed Nivelle's offensive, was called in to take over from Nivelle and to reestablish order. This he did without harsh collective punishments and he also instituted positive changes, such as longer home leaves and better food and medical/surgical assistance for the troops. By the autumn of 1917 everything began to settle down and the British army took over the defenses at the western end of the ridge during the following twelve months.

During the summer of 1917 the area saw the Battle of the Observatories which was a series of local attacks and counterattacks to gain control of high positions commanding the views between Craonne and Laffaux and in October, after the allied victory at the Battle of Malmaison the German forces left the Chemin des Dames and moved to the north of the Ailette River valley.

The Third Battle of the Aisne was part of the German "Spring Offensive" and the Germans wanted to recapture the Chemin des Dames ridge before the American Expeditionary Force arrived in France in any great numbers. It was one of a series of offensives, known as the Kaiserschlacht, launched by the Germans in the spring and summer of 1918. The American Buffalo Soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division (United States) and the 93rd Infantry Division (United States) were the first Americans to fight in France, albeit detached from the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) and under French command. The 92nd & 93rd would continue to fight under French command for the duration of the war. The massive surprise attack (named Blücher-Yorck after two Prussian generals of the Napoleonic Wars) lasted from 27 May until 6 June 1918.

The five phases of the "Spring Offensive"

Operation Blücher-Yorck was planned primarily by Erich Ludendorff, who was certain that success at the Aisne would lead the German armies to within striking distance of Paris. Ludendorff, who saw the BEF as the main threat, believed that this, in turn, would cause the Allies to move forces from Flanders to help defend the French capital, allowing the Germans to continue their Flanders offensive with greater ease. Thus, the Aisne drive was essentially planned as a large diversionary attack.

The defence of the Aisne area was in the hands of General Denis Auguste Duchêne, commander of the French Sixth Army. In addition, four divisions of the British IX Corps, led by Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon, held the Chemin des Dames Ridge; they had been posted there to rest and refit after surviving the "Michael" battle. On the morning of 27 May 1918, the Germans began a 4,000 gun bombardment of the Allied front lines and the British suffered heavy losses, because Duchêne (reluctant to abandon the Chemin des Dames Ridge after it had been captured at such cost the previous year had ordered them to mass together in the front trenches, in defiance of instructions from the French Commander-in-Chief Henri-Philippe Pétain. Huddled together they were to make for easy artillery targets. The bombardment was followed by a poison gas drop and once the gas had lifted the main infantry assault by 17 German Sturmtruppen divisions commenced.

Taken completely by surprise and with their defences spread thin, the Allies were unable to stop the attack and the German army advanced through a 40 km gap in the Allied lines and reached the Aisne in under six hours. In fact the Germans were to smash through eight Allied divisions on a line between Reims and Soissons, pushing the Allies back to the river Vesle and gaining an extra 15 km of territory by nightfall.

Victory seemed near for the Germans, who had captured just over 50,000 Allied soldiers and well over 800 guns by 30 May 1918 but, after having advanced within 56 km of Paris on 3 June, the German armies were beset by numerous problems, including supply shortages, fatigue, lack of reserves and many casualties along with counter-attacks by and stiff resistance from newly arrived American divisions, who engaged them in the Battles of Chateau-Thierry and Belleau Wood and on 6 June 1918, the German advance halted on the Marne.

The French had suffered over 98,000 casualties and the British around 29,000. German losses were nearly as great if not slightly heavier. Duchêne was sacked by French Commander-in-Chief Philippe Pétain for his poor handling of the British and French troops but on a positive note the Americans had arrived and proven themselves in combat for the first time in the war. During the Second Battle of the Marne, the last fight on the Chemin des Dames occurred between 2 August and 10 October 1918 and the Germans finally abandoned the ridge and were pushed back northwards. Peace now returned to the Chemin des Dames but it had witnessed unimaginable scenes of horror! ^[14]

The final Allied offensive

These 14 French Military cemeteries located in the Chemin des Dames area are-

• Berry-au-Bac French National cemetery- contains 3,971 bodies of which 3,933 are French, 31 British (2 from World War II), 6 Russian and 1 Belgian. Of the French graves, 2,014 soldiers are in individual graves and 1,958 rest in two ossuaries.^[15]
• Braine French National cemetery- Contains the bodies of 1,583 French soldiers. 1,088 of these are in individual and collective graves and another 495 are buried in ossuaries.^[16]
• Cerny-en-Laonnois French National cemetery- contains the bodies of 5,150 French soldiers and 54 Russian soldiers. Of the French graves 2,764 are in individual and collective graves and another 2,386 soldiers were buried in ossuaries.^[17]
• Crouy French National cemetery- Contains the bodies of 2,994 soldiers. 2,941 of these are French soldiers of which 1,465 are buried in individual graves and 1,476 rest in ossuaries.^[18]
• Craonnelle French National cemetery- contains the bodies of 3,910 French soldiers, 1,884 of whom are in ossuaries. There are 24 graves of British soldiers scattered between the French ones and only 7 of these could be identified.^[19]
• Oeuilly French National cemetery - contains the bodies of 1,159 French soldiers in individual and collective graves. Cemetery also the location of a memorial to the 163rd French Infantry.^[20]
• Pontavert French National cemetery- Contains the bodies of 6,815 soldiers. There are 6,694 French soldiers buried in individual graves and 1,364 in ossuaries. Cemetery also holds 67 British graves and those of 54 Russians.^[21]
• Soupir n°1 French National cemetery- Contains 7,808 bodies of which 3,088 lie in three ossuaries. This military cemetery also has 4 communal graves, which contains 266 bodies coming from sites of Veil-Arcy, Athies-sous-Laon, Glennes and Pargny-Filain; as well as the grave of a Belgian soldier and of a Russian soldier.^[22]
• Soupir n°2 French National cemetery- Contains the graves of 1,966 French soldiers with another 250 laid in ossuaries, Also holds 2 British, 5 Belgian, 27 Russian and 1 German grave.^[23]
• Vailly-sur-Aisne French National cemetery- holds the graves of 1,576 French soldiers.^[24]
• Vauxaillon French National cemetery- Contains the graves of 1,909 French soldiers.^[25]
• Vauxbuin French National cemetery- Holds the graves of 4,916 soldiers.^[26]

There are 9 German cemeteries in the area. Some of these cemeteries were laid out by the German Army during the war (Veslud, Laon-Bousson and Montaigu in particular) and the others were built by the French authorities in the beginning of the 1920s in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles which had stated that the victorious countries had the exclusive right to organise the German graves. Again in the 1920s bodies in individual graves scattered around the area were concentrated into these 9 cemeteries.

In 1966 management and care of the cemeteries was passed to the "Service d’Entretien des Sépultures militaries", the French subsidiary of the German Volksbund Deutsche Krieggräberfürsorge.

These cemeteries are:-

• Cerny-en-Laonnois German cemetery-Cemetery holds 7,526 graves. 3,533 soldiers have individual graves and 3,993 rest in an ossuary.^[27]
• Laon-Champ de manœuvre German cemetery
• Laon-Bousson German cemetery- Holds the graves of 2,653 German soldiers.^[28]
• Montaigu n°1 German cemetery- Holds 7,192 German soldiers with 5,402 of these buried in individual and collective graves and 1,790 laid to frest in an ossuary.^[29]
• Montaigu n°2 German cemetery- Holds the graves of 633 German soldiers.^[30]
• Mons-en-Laonnois German cemetery- 1,753 bodies were buried in two ossuaries.^[31]
• Soupir German cemetery- A large cemetery holding 11,089 German soldiers, of which 5,955 were laid to rest in an ossuary.^[32]
• Sisonne German cemetery- Another large cemetery with 14 694 burials of which 3,995 are held in two ossuaries.^[33]
• Veslud German cemetery- Holds 1,704 German soldier's graves.^[34]
• Vauxbuin German Cemetery- 9,229 German soldiers are buried here, 5,557 of which rest in four ossuaries.^[35]

The Chemin des Dames area contains 5 British military cemeteries although many British graves still remain within Chemin des Dames communal cemeteries and some of the British dead from the Chemin des Dames are buried in Grand-Seraucourt British military cemetery, near St-Quentin, and in Montcornet British cemetery, both of which are located outside the Chemin des Dames area. The graves of many British soldiers can also be found in French military cemeteries, in particular in Vauxbuin French military cemetery, Berry-au-Bac military cemetery and in Crouy French military cemetery,

The British Cemeteries are:-

• Grand-Seraucourt British cemetery- Almost 2,000 British soldiers are buried here.^[36]
• La Ville-aux-Bois-les-Pontavert British cemetery- 564 British and 1 New Zealand soldiers graves are in this cemetery. It was in this area that the British 8th, 21st and 50th Divisions were resting in the spring of 1918 when on 27 May 1918 Ludendorff launched his "Spring Offensive". In this cemetery is a monument dedicated to the Devonshire Regiment who took part in the subsequent fighting against Ludendorff's soldiers.^[37]
• Montcornet British Cemetery- 119 British and 1 Canadian servicemen are buried here.^[38]
• Sissonne British cemetery- 291 Commonwealth soldiers are buried here.^[39]
• Soupir British cemetery- Contains 36 Commonwealth soldier's graves.^[40]
• Vendresse British cemetery- Holds 728 British graves.^[41]
• Vailly-sur-Aisne British Cemetery- Holds 674 British graves, I Canadian, I French and I German grave.^[42]

The area also holds the Oise-Aisne American cemetery at Seringes-Nesles. In this cemetery are buried 6,012 soldiers most of them casualties of the fighting in the area north of the river (Aisne) and beyond. The names of 241 soldiers whose remains were never found are written on the walls of the cemetery's chapel. The Oise-Aisne military cemetery was created on the very spot where the 42nd American Division, the so-called "Rainbow Division" fought. Among the 6,012 graves is that of the poet Joyce Kilmer, a sergeant in the 165th Regiment (42nd Division), who was killed on 30 July 1918.

Seringes-et-Nesles Oise-Aisne American Cemetery entrance

There is also a Danish cemetery at Braine which contains the graves of 79 Danish soldiers. The Danish cemetery at Braine is situated nearby the N31-E46 at around ten kilometres from Soissons and more precisely on the side of the D14 in direction of Reims, near the French military cemetery. This holds the graves of 79 Danish soldiers. They came from Schleswig, a territory annexed by Prussia in 1886 and they had no choice but to serve in the German ranks and sacrifice themselves for a cause that wasn’t theirs. To commemorate their tragic fate on French soil, a Committee (in Denmark with a section in Paris) was charged with the task of gathering the bodies together to be re-buried at Braine. There is a monument designed by the Danish architect Gundlach-Petersen in the cemetery which was unveiled on 7 May 1934. Representatives from the Danish and French Government attended to the ceremony. ^[43]

The inscription on the calvary reads

"Calvaire érigé le 14 septembre 1924 par souscription nationale pour perpétuer la mémoire de nos vaillants soldats tombés au Chemin des Dames et dans les combats de la Malmaison"

There is also a plaque on the calvary dedicated to those who served in the 165th and 365th French Infantry as well as plaques remembering Claudius Champromis and Lieutenant René de Wismes. ^[44]

^[45]

The inscription tells us of the efforts made by the R.I.C.M on 23 October 1917, when they took the quarries at La Bohéry on the southern slope of the ridge. Under the command of Lt Colonel Debailleul they successfully fought the Prussian Guard, taking 950 prisoners and capturing 10 of the German's guns.

"Regiment d'élite sous l'énergique commandement du lieutenant-colonel Debailleul a, le 23 octobre 1917, par une manoeuvre audacieuse difficile et remarquablement exécutée, encerclé et enlevé de haute lutte les carrières de la Bohéry, s'est emparé ensuite des lignes de tranchées du Chemin des Dames que la garde prussienne avait l'ordre de défendre à tout prix, puis progressant encore sous un feu violent d'artillerie et de mitrailleuses sur une profondeur de plus de deux kilomètres et demi malgré des pertes sensibles, a atteint avec un entrain admirable tous les objectifs, infligeant à l'ennemi de lourdes pertes, capturant 950 prisonniers dont 14 officiers, 10 canons, de 8 de gros calibre, et un nombreux matériel de guerre"

^[46]

The monument shows the Captain leading his men for the last time, as well as scenes from his previous service in the colonies of Africa and Indochina. Citations to both the Regiment and van Vollenhoven adorn the sides of the monument. Like some of the other monuments in the area it was badly damaged by the German occupiers during the 2nd World War but restored after the war. Joost van Vollenhoven, as his name would suggest, was Dutch by birth. His parents had commercial interests in Algeria, and this is where he grew up, eventually taking French citizenship in 1899 at the age of 22. He joined the French Foreign Office, and in 1912 he was in Indochina serving as governor. At the outbreak of war he was promoted to governor general in Hanoi, but he was anxious to serve in the army, and in April 1915 he joined the R.I.C.M. After being wounded numerous times and having received several citations for valour, he was asked in May 1917 to return to his civil service duties and take up a post as governor general of French West Africa – this at the age of 40, but this posting did not last long, and he soon rejoined his old regiment, this time as a captain. It was in July 1918 that the R.I.C.M. attacked the Germans from the Forest of Retz and it was during this action that Vollenhoven was fatally wounded. On 22 July 1918 the French 38th Division (of which the RICM were a part) was relieved by the British 34th Division. ^[47]

^[48]

The inscription reads

"Le 31ème R.I. a enlevé très brillamment les 16, 17 et 18 avril 1917 tous les objectifs qui lui avaient été assignés, et, par un combat opiniâtre, est parvenu à réaliser un gain de terrain de 3 kilomètres en profondeur faisant à lui seul 1.500 prisonniers dont 34 officiers et 170 sous-officiers, et capturant 6 canons, plusieurs minenwerfer, 50 mitrailleuses et un important matériel de toute nature. Régiment d'élite de la plus haute valeur offensive. Ordre général n°172du 1er mai 1917 du général commandant la Vè Armée"

^[49]

The 36th Infantry Division, notably the Infantry Regiment of Pau, the 34th Infantry Regiment of Mont-de-Marsan and the 14th Artillery Regiment of Tarbes, was composed mostly of recruits from the southwest region of France: The Landes, Hautes Pyrenees and Basses Pyrenees. It was involved in fighting on the Chemin des Dames on many occasions and suffered very heavy losses whilst attacking or defending difficult positions in particular between Hurtebrise and Craonne and on the Californie Plateau. In September 1914, the 36th Infantry Division attempted in vain to hold French positions on the crest of the Chemin des Dames. From 4 to 6 May 1917 it attacked Californie Plateau and managed to occupy it. Losses were extremely high but the 36th Division returned to the front on 3 and 4 June 1917 and was on the receiving end of a fierce German counterattack.

The 36th Division returned again to the Chemin des Dames on 15 September 1918 when it went into the attack in the Allemant sector and fighting continued until the German retreat beyond the Aisne in October 1918. The Basque Monument was unveiled on 30 September 1928, the ceremony being attended by many war veterans, widows and orphans who had made the journey for the occasion. Both the architect Forest and the sculptor Claude Grange were veterans themselves and had been wounded in the war. The stone used is from Souppes near Melun, the stone used for the Arc de Triomphe and the basilica of Sacre-Coeur at Montmartre.^[50] At the base of a 14-metre-high obelisk, laurel wreaths bear the names of the administrative areas from which soldiers of the 36th Infantry Division came, and the sides bear the division’s monogram. A Basque stands at the foot of the obelisk in traditional, civilian costume and looks towards the Aisne Valley. He wears the "béret basque". See images below. ^[51]

The 2nd Colonial Corps were under instructions to advance at 05:45 hours and take the farm. They would then take the plateau in front of them, the Vauclerc Wood, the valley of the Ailette, the valley of the Bièvres beyond that and then the hill in front of them so that they would at that stage be able to see the town of Laon right in front of them. They had been given just seven hours of fighting to advance over many kilometres of terrain and two valleys. Mangin had insisted that the troops would advance 100 metres every three minutes, which was a minute faster than Haig's calculations up at Arras, where the British were attacking, hopefully to divert the German's attention from the Nivelle attack.

The Senegalese soldiers who were part of the 2nd Colonial Corps were already suffering from the cold, and, although they went forward with great spirit and the first German positions were taken with ease, gaining many prisoners, this could not be sustained as there were German machine gun posts everywhere – even behind them. What the planners do not appear to have taken into account was the depth of the "creutes" (called "boves" in Arras), the underground chalk quarries that riddled the ridge and were used by the Germans to great advantage. Three of the four 2nd Corps colonels were killed, and as the second and third waves of troops advanced, in accordance with Mangin's strict timetable, they became an easier target for the German gunners. The 15th Colonial Division on the left were charged with taking Cerny, but, like the 10th on their right, they could only get as far as the road and a little beyond.

In this area is a memorial which is in memory of 2nd Lieutenant Louis Astoul of the 70ème Sénégalais, who fell on the field of honour at the age of 24 during the course of the assault on 16 April 1917. This is a private memorial erected by Astoul's parents. He had been reported missing near the village of Paissy before even reaching the ridge. Whenever there are ceremonies at Cerny, the Guard of Honour is often the 1er Régiment d'Artillerie de Marine – The 1st Marine Artillery Regiment. The Marines had been created to guard France's colonial interests in 1622 by Cardinal Richelieu, and as overseas troops they would fight in the African Army (The 19th Corps during the war). Known as the 1st Colonial Artillery Regiment, the "Bigors", as their gunners were called, fought with intense bravery, winning their 9th Battle Honour at the Somme in 1916.

Although disbanded in 1940 following the armistice, the soldiers rallied to de Gaulle in 1941 and fought in Africa gaining an 11th Battle Honour at El-Alamein in 1942. ^[52]

The Battle of Malmaison was fought on 23 October 1917 and after the failure of the Nivelle offensive, Pétain, who had replaced Nivelle, focused on restoring his soldiers morale. He knew that they needed a small-scale victory that would give them faith in themselves and, more importantly, restore their faith in their commanders. Malmaison was chosen to be the location for this battle. It needed to be well organised with all the tanks, aircraft and shells needed, casualties were to be kept to a minimum and this time the casualty services would be up to the task. General Maistre had taken over the 6th Army from Mangin and it was his sector that was allotted the battle. With just three Corps – the 11th, 21st and 14th – they would take the western end of the Chemin des Dames and with it the Fort at Malmaison. On 17 October 1917, the artillery bombardment of the fort began, and it was soon reduced to a crumpled mess. At 05:15 hours on the 23rd, following a final crescendo from the guns, the troops "went over the top". They advanced as they had not done for months, things were going to plan and objectives were being taken, even if after a hard struggle. The 11th Corps, who were charged with taking the fort, took the majority of the casualties, but 554 soldiers from the 4th Regiment of Zouaves charged the fort, and by 06:00 hours it was theirs. As the French paused to prepare their second attack, the Germans, thinking they had the French beaten, launched a counter-attack but ran headlong into the second French barrage. On the 25th Pétain called a halt to his operation as he felt he had achieved all that he had set out to do. He had lost about 2,000 dead and 14,000 wounded over the three days – mostly from the 11th Corps, but many prisoners were taken, and the Germans suffered at least twice the casualties as the French. More importantly, the loss of this position acted as a lever against the remainder of the German line on the Chemin des Dames, and over the next week the Germans were forced to give up the ridge to the French. A well-prepared and limited attack had therefore taken territory that Nivelle's full-frontal assault had only dented. On 27 May 1918, during their Spring Offensive, the Germans retook the fort (or at least what was left of it) and the remainder of the ridge within three hours. The whirlwind nature of the attack had been too much for the defenders to stand, but at 1130 hours on 28 September 1918, the 25th Alpine Chasseurs retook the fort and the Germans were pushed out of the Aisne for good. ^[53]

"Le 23 octobre 1917, la 38ème Division comprenant le 4ème Régiment Zouaves, le R.I.C.M. (Régiment d'Infanterie Coloniale du Maroc), le 4ème Régiment mixte Zouaves-Tirailleurs, le 8ème Régiment Tirailleurs Tunisiens, le 32ème Régiment d'Artillerie de campagne, part à l'attaque. D'un seul élan, le 4ème Zouaves s'empare du Fort de la Malmaison et de tous ses objectifs, faisant les 23-24-25 octobre 600 prisonniers, capturant 17 canons et de nombreuses mitrailleuses, obtenant sa 6ème citation à l'ordre de l'Armée"

^[53]

There is also a French Military Cemetery at Berry-au-Bac called the "Cemeterie militaire de Moscou" (there was a hamlet nearby called Moscou) which contains 3,933 bodies of which 1,958 lie in ossuaries. There are also 6 Russian graves and 1 Belgian. There is a small section which contains the bodies of 29 British soldiers of which 17 could not be identified. There is also a monument in the cemetery dedicated to the engineers of 19/3 Engineering Company, part of the 2nd Engineers.^[56]

There are quotations attached to the monument from the Old and New testaments.

"Ils prennent le vol comme des aigles. Ils courent et ne se lassent point. (Isaïe) Ils marchent et ne se fatiguent point. Que chacun de vous mette au service des autres le don qu'il a reçu (PierreIV, 20)" which translates as "They fly like eagles. They run and never grow tired (Isaiah) They walk and don’t tire themselves out. Let each of you put at the others’ disposal the gift you have received (Peter IV, 20)."

^[57]

^[58]

The Chapel at Cerny-en-Laonnois

The monument is shaped like the bomb fired by the trench mortar and pays tribute to the 12,000 trench mortar operators who fell in the war.

A plaque by the monument informs us that it was damaged in June 1940 during fighting nearby and repaired –

"Ce monument érigé en 1933 pour honorer la mémoire des 12 000 crapouillots artilleurs de tranchée tombés de 1914 à 1918 sur les fronts de France et d’Orient, mutilé par le feu de la batille de juin 1940, a été reconstruit afin de perpétuer le souvenir de ceux qui sont morts pour le salut de la France. 22 juin 1958"

^[59]

The trench mortar was called a "Crapouillot" because the projectile fired from the mortar seemed to hop from the trench from which it was fired to its target, reminding the soldiers of a toad (Crapaud in French).

The monument bears the inscription

"Aux Morts de l’Artillerie de Tranchee- Les Crapouillots"

French soldiers handling trench mortar bombs

La Buisson is located to the east of Vitry-le-François. The inscription refers to the fighting which took place on 6 September 1914.^[60]

From April to November 1918 the Italians, led by Alberico Albricci, lost more than 9,000 men. Many were buried in the Bligny cemetery or moved there from other areas.

Opposite the Bligny cemetery a "Roman Way" has been established, lined with cypress trees and leading to a symbolic broken column. ^[61]

The battalion's first action was alongside the 2nd Royal Sussex of the same Brigade, at Priez on 10 September 1914, when Lieutenant Colonel Knight was mortally wounded. Following the charge of 4th Dragoon Guards, the battalion crossed the Aisne at Bourg on 13 September and advanced towards the Chemin des Dames, halting at Vendresse. From here the battalion attacked Troyon on 14 September 1914 and now under the command of Major (Acting Lieutenant Colonel) W.R.LLoyd. In this action the unit suffered heavy casualties, with nine officers being killed, five wounded and 500 other ranks killed or wounded. Among the dead was Lt-Col Lloyd, the second commanding officer to be killed since arrival in France. The survivors dug in on the slopes of the Chemin des Dames and held these positions until relieved by 1st East Yorks on 19 September 1914. The 1st Loyals remained on the Aisne until mid-October, when they were moved north to take part in the fighting in Flanders. It was here they lost their third commanding officer, Major A.J. Carter DSO, who was killed at Ypres in November 1914.

On the crest of the ridge at Troyon, the regiment erected a memorial to their dead. The inscription on it reads

"In memory of the Officers, Warrant and non-commissioned Officers and men of the 1st Battalion of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment who laid down their lives on active service 1914–1919"

^[62][63]

Files held at the National Archives in Kew covers the years 1919 to 1923 and gives us further background information on this memorial. We read that C.T. Atkinson, who served on the committee whose approval was needed for memorials to be erected and to approve where they were to be located, wrote

"The 1st Loyal North Lancashire formed part in September 1914 of the 2nd Brigade, First Division commanded by Brigadier General Bulfin which acted as the advance-guard of Sir Douglas Haig’s First Corps in the battle of September 14th 1914. The battalion, together with the whole of the 2nd Brigade, distinguished itself greatly by its attack on the portion of the Chemin des Dames, north of Vendress, Troyon and the services of the Brigade were warmly acknowledged both in the Divisional reports and in the published dispatches. There would be ample justification of the erection of a monument by the 1st Loyal North Lancashires at this spot….."

This area is known as Mont Sapin and was the subject of fierce fighting throughout the war. The 2nd Italian Army Corps arrived in France on 25 April 1918, as a sign of mutual aid from the Italian Government. Under the command of General Albricci, the Corps consisted of the 3rd and 8th Italian Divisions. They were initially positioned alongside French Divisions near Verdun in order to acclimatise themselves to conditions on the Western Front. Four months later on 15 July 1918 the Germans attacked when the 2nd Battle of the Marne opened. The Germans struck either side of Reims, in what was to be their last offensive of the war. The attack on the eastern side of Reims against General Gouraud's First Army came to a grinding halt on its first day. The western prong against Degoutte's Sixth Army made better progress and established some semblance of a breakthrough. Reinforcements from the French Ninth Army plus British, American and the two Italian Divisions were all used to shore up the front. The German offensive was brought to a halt and then pushed back. On 20 July 1918 the Germans ordered a retreat and by 3 August 1918 they were back on their starting lines. Following their participation in this success, the 2nd Italian Corps was positioned on the river Aisne just south of Soupir below the Chemin des Dames on 22 September 1918. On 1 October they took Soupir and spent the remainder of the month fighting along the Chemin des Dames as the Germans were slowly pushed north. During the course of the war the 2nd Italian Corps lost 4,375 killed and 10,000 wounded. The cemetery at Soupir contains the bodies of 593 Italian soldiers, the majority of whom fell in fighting along the Chemin des Dames. From April to November 1918 the 2nd Italian Army Corps, made up of the 3rd and 8th Divisions (The Brescia and Alpi Infantry Brigades) fought in the Reims sector between Vrigny and Jaulgonne, in the Ardennes sector and in the Aisne to the east of Soissons fighting under the 5th, 10th and the 3rd French Armies. The Italian forces commanded by General Alberico Albricci suffered more than 9,000 soldiers killed during its victorious campaigns. 592 of them rest in this Military Cemetery created and maintained by the Italian Ministry of Defence. The entrance to the cemetery at Soupir in shown here. ^[64]

The Italian Cemetery at Soupir

^[65]

Guards Grave at Villers-Cotterêts

^[66]

Memorial at Buzancy

The battle opened on 18 July 1918 and was one of the first actions of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) under General John J. "Black Jack" Pershing.

Much of the fighting was to secure Hill 204, 2 miles (3 km.) west of Château-Thierry. The monument was designed by the architect Paul Phillippe Cret of Philadelphia and was constructed by the American Battle Monuments Commission to

"commemorate the sacrifices and achievements of American and French fighting men in the region, and the friendship and cooperation of French and American forces during World War I."

The monument comprises a double colonnade which stands on a long terrace and on the west face of the monument are two enormous sculptures of figures representing France and the United States. These two figures were sculpted by Alfred-Alphonse Bottiau (1889–1951) who often worked with Cret and the American Battle Monuments Commission. The Château-Thierry monument is also known as the "Monument de la Côté 204" and was inaugurated in 1930. An enormous eagle and shield stand in front of the east face of the monument and although this has not been established to be the case this could also be the work of Bottiau as he worked with Cret in Philadelphia and was the sculptor of the eagle and allegorical reliefs on the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia building there. Bottiau had travelled to the United States of America in 1932 and worked on several commissions in that country. A photograph of Bottiau's two heroic figures is included in the gallery at the end of the article. The monument also includes a large map showing the battle area. ^[67]

The Memorial Chapel is in fact built over the site of front-line battle trenches dug in defense of Belleau Wood. Looking above the inside entrance door, one will see the following inscription

"The names recorded on these walls are those of American soldiers who fought in this region and who sleep in unknown graves."

The names of 1,060 soldiers missing in action are inscribed on the Chapel's walls. The site is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, and its dedication ceremony was held on Memorial Day, 30 May 1937.

During the 1914–18 war this was a temporary cemetery established by the Army's Graves Registration Service and was known as American Expeditionary Forces' Cemetery No. 1764-Belleau Wood. In 1921, Congress authorized its retention as one of eight permanent World War I cemeteries on foreign soil and an agreement was negotiated with the Government of France granting its use in perpetuity, free of charge or taxation.

Alfred-Alphonse Bottiau carried out sculptural work on the Chapel based on designs by William F. Ross and Company of East Cambridge in Massachusetts.^[69] Bottiau’s work on the Memorial Chapel includes the relief on the tympanum above the chapel entrance. In the centre of Bottiau’s composition is a crusader in armour, the defender of "Right" and on either side of this crusader are the shields of the United States and France these being intertwined with branches of oak a symbol of the traditional unity of the two countries.

Bottiau also carried out eleven carvings on the capitals of the belfry columns, these representing the various units involved in the war. Bayonets represent the infantry, cannon the artillery, tanks represent the tank corps, crossed heavy machine guns the machine gun units. We then have propellers representing aviation units and artillery rounds for both the artillery and ordnance. The engineers are represented by a plane-table, the medics by a Greek cross and caduceus. Airplane engines represent aviation repair units and a mule’s head, over which is engraved "8 Chev" the transport units, the "Chev 8" being the French railway boxcar used to transport 40 men or 8 horses. Finally oak leaves represent the Judge Advocate General Corps. These carvings appear again in groups of seven on each side of the chapel. On the north face is a mule’s head, bayonets, a plane-table, crossed machine guns, Greek cross and caduceus, airplane engines and cannon, on the south face the grouping is a plane table, crossed machine guns, oak leaves, Greek cross and caduceus, cannon, propellers and tanks. On the west face the grouping is artillery rounds, bayonets, plane-table, airplane engines, cannon, propellers and tanks and on the east face the grouping covers artillery rounds, mule’s head, bayonets, oak leaves, Greek cross and caduceus, cannon, propellers and tanks. The arches of the belfry openings carry carvings of small arms ammunition, the front view of a machine gun and projectile, field packs with entrenching tools attached and selected officer and enlisted insignia. Engraved on the sills are orientation arrows with distances to points of historic interest.

Finally below the belfry openings are sculptured heads representing some of the men and women who served in the Allied armed forces. We have a French soldier, a French nurse, an American aviator, a Scottish soldier, a Russian soldier, a Portuguese soldier, a Canadian aviator, and a British Women’s Army Corps driver. The same heads appear on each side of the chapel but in a different order.

On the capitals of the three columns on either side of the entrance to this Memorial Chapel are carvings by Bottiau which depict scenes from the trenches. On the right hand side are a group of soldiers preparing for a bayonet charge, some riflemen with automatic rifles and a further group of riflemen with non-automatic weapons. On the left hand side we have some artillery observers, a machine gun crew and soldiers launching grenades. The memorial chapel is a striking example of French Romanesque architecture. Its exterior steps, walls, and tartar are of native St. Maximin, Savonnieres and Massangis limestone. The archittects of the memorial features were Cram and Ferguson of Boston, Massachusetts.^[70]

^[71]

What were the villages of Nauroy and Moronvilliers are in the area of the Moronvilliers camp and here there is a small commemorative chapel that remembers them, erected in 1920, and positioned where Nauroy would have stood. This chapel has been restored by "L'Amicale des Diables bleus d'Épernay" The village name of "Nauroy" is now attached to that of the nearby village of "Beine" thus we have "Nauroy-Beine". The site where Moronvilliers stood cannot be accessed as it is within the military camp. Its name has been added to that of nearby "Pontfaverger". The villages located with the camp at Suippes were Perthes-les-Hurlus, Hurlus, Le Mesnil-les-Hurlus, Ripont and Tahure. East then of Reims and before we reach the battlefields of the Argonne and St. Mihiel, we have a portion of the Western Front which runs from the Mont de Moronvillers, across the ridge at Navarin, through the hills of Souhain, the Tahure du Mesnil and to La Main de Massiges. There were trenches all along this area of the front line and frequent fighting between the French and Germans but the area is difficult to explore now as the French Army Camps at Moronvillers, Mourmelon and Suippes cut across the old Front Line, although the French Army do allow access in the September of every second year, organising bus tours and the like. This allows visits to the five ruined villages which lie in the camp area: it is known as "La Journée des Villages Détruits"- Perthes-les-Hurlus/Hurlus/Le Mesnil-les-Hurlus/Ripont and Tahure are the villages. At Souhain there is a Monument and ossuary dedicated to the French Foreign Legion. In the winter 1914–15 there were many smaller skirmishes and on 25 September 1915, a French offensive gained some ground. In April–May 1917 the Massif of Moronvillers was retaken from the Germans and on 15 July 1918 General Gouraud’s 4th Army were able to repulse the German attack which formed part of their Spring Offensive. Finally a successful Franco-American offensive on 26 September 1918 saw the liberation of Sommepy and ended with the taking of Sedan on 11 November 1918. The area measures 30 kilometres in length and 4 kilometres in depth and in this small area over the four years of war, 103 different French Divisions were engaged along with 4 American Divisions and 2 Russian Brigades, as well as Polish and Czechoslovakian units.^[72]

In front of the cross is a young woman, totally distraught, who could be a mother, a sister or daughter and on the cross are inscribed the names of the dead and the words

"Sillery à ses morts glorieux 1914–18"

Just by this memorial is another dedicated to the martyrs of the Resistance. It is a Cross of Lorraine upon which are carved the faces of three of those deported by the Germans and the names of 8 people who died while deported. It reminds us of miseries yet to come for the people of France.^[73]

Monument aux morts at Sillery

^[74]

Ossuary at Aubérive

The outbreak of the 1914–18 war gave many Poles hope of a Polish renaissance as at that time so much of Poland had been absorbed into the empires of Germany, Russia and Austro-Hungary. There were numerous Poles working in the mines of Northern France as well as a good number of businessmen, traders and intellectuals living in Paris and many of these rallied to the Committee for Polish Volunteers' call in August 1914 and joined the Foreign Legion to fight against the Germans and Austro-Hungarians. Russia was another matter as Russia was now an ally of France so the Poles had to be pragmatic. These Poles were given military training in Bayonne and at the Reuilly barracks in Paris and then integrated into the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Regiments of the 1st Foreign Legion. In 1915 they joined the front line troops in Champagne, Picardy and Artois and Poland's red flag with white eagle was seen to fly in these areas. In June 1917 a Presidential Law was passed which created an official Polish army and in January 1918 the 1st Regiment "de chasseurs polonaise" was formed, its numbers swollen by Polish volunteers arriving from the United States of America and the enrolment of 1,500 German prisoners of war who were of Polish extraction. This unit was subsequently attached to the 163rd Infantry Regiment, part of Gouraud's IVth Army. Further volunteers joined the ranks and the 1st and 2nd Divisions of Polish Infantry were formed. They were to fight in Champagne, the Vosges and in Lorraine. On 11 November 1918, Poland was declared independent and Marshal Pilsudski asked for the Polish army in France to be repatriated. This Polish cemetery contains the bodies of Polish soldiers killed in both World Wars. There are 385 bodies buried in the cemetery and 129 of these were men killed in the 1914–18 war. At the entrance to the cemetery there is a small memorial dedicated to these 129 men and in the middle of the cemetery there is a monument to the men of the 1st and 2nd Divisions. It comprises an obelisk surmounted by a cross. ^[75]

The Polish monument in the Bois du Puits cemetery

The organisation "Souvenir Français" organised a memorial at the "Ferme d’Alger" inscribed "Aux héros de la Grande Guerre", 4 kilometres from Reims on the Route Nationale 44, direction Châlons-sur-Marne, as this was where most of the fighting took place to defend the Fort de la Pompelle. The monument was restored in 1998 on the 80th anniversary of the 1918 armistice and carries the inscription

"En mémoire des soldats tombés héroïquement pour la défense du secteur Septembre 1914-Octobre 1918"

^[78]

Photograph showing the damage done to the Fort de la Pompelle after constant bombardment

Monument in memory of the soldiers who were killed defending the Fort de la Pompelle

^[79]

La croix brisée

It was in 1921 that a committee was set up in Paris to look at the contribution to the war effort made by black soldiers and how this could be marked. General Archinard was the chairman assisted by General Marchand. The committee were charged with arranging for monuments to be erected in Africa and France which celebrated the memory of the indigenous soldiers who had given their lives in the service of France and they proposed two locations, one in Reims and the other in Bamako the capital of what was then the French Sudan and is now Mali. On 29 October 1922 the first stone was laid by the Minister for War, André Maginot. The location was at the place where the Boulevard Henry Vasnier crossed the avenue du Général Giraud and where one would leave Reims if travelling to Chalons. In his speech Maginot recalled the bravery of Sergeant Amadou Di'ale of the 34th Bataillon of tirailleurs sénégalais who had singlehandedly taken 130 Germans as prisoners and fought on for two days despite being wounded. Then in June 1924 shortly before the inauguration, the Marquis Melchior de Polignac of Pommery et Greno - Louise Pommery Fils et Compagnie had informed the mayor of Reims that this prestigious maker of champagne would cede to the town ownership of the ground upon which the monument stood. The inauguration took place on 13 July 1924 with Édouard Daladier, Minister for the Colonies, officiating along with various other dignitaries. In his speech General Archinard who attended alongside Daladier mentioned in particular the contribution made by the 1st Corps of the Colonial Army in holding the Fort de la Pompelle and thus saving Reims from German occupation. The monument itself was the work of two Parisiens, the sculptor Paul Moreau-Vauthier and the architect Auguste Bluysen. It comprised a pedestal of 4 metres in height upon which were carved the names of the principal battles in which African troops participated and on top of the pedestal Moreau-Vauthier sculpted a 3 metres high bronze depicting a group of four soldiers of the colonial armies gathered around a white officer who carries the French National flag. As stated earlier the Germans pulled the monument down and it left Reims in a railway wagon perhaps for the bronze to be melted down to make armaments. At the beginning of the 1960s and with the end of the Algerian war, thoughts turned to building a replacement and a committee was formed in 1961 to consider this in detail and a competition was organised to choose a design. Progress was slow but on 6 October 1963, the new monument was unveiled by the Minister of War Pierre Messmer. It is modern in design and two columns in Euville stone represent the union of African and French soldiers and the block upon which these columns stand was intended to represent Reims' resistance in the 1914–18 war.

The old Reims memorial to Black Soldiers

The new memorial in Reims to African soldiers who fought for France in 1914–18

"Erected by the United States of America to commemorate the achievements of her soldiers and those of France who fought in this region during World War I"

It was in July 1918 that United States troops entered the line near Souhain with the 13th and 170th French Divisions and successfully repulsed what was to be the last great German offensive.

The monument is in the form of a tower and inside the tower and visible through the grill in the door is a brief summary of the American operations in this area. It is possible to climb to the top of the tower to an observation platform when the tower is open to visitors. This monument was dedicated in 1937, the year of the 20th anniversary of the United States’ entry into the war ^[80]

American Memorial at Sommepy Tahure

^[81]

Ossuary at Sommepy-Tahure French Military Cemetery

The inscription reminds us that many men of the 60th French Infantry Regiment fell fighting in the woods of Courmont, Bonval and Cohette and the area around Ville-en-Tardenois in the attacks against the Germans from 26 July to 2 August 1918.

The Borne is one of the series created by Paul Moreau-Vauthier to mark the furthest points along the Western Front that the German army advanced to. Those bornes in France were made from pink granite from Andlau in Alsace. This borne bears the inscription "Ici fut repoussé l’envahisseur Juillet 1918 which would correspond with the date of the liberation of Château-Thierry.^[82]

Near to the village of Souhain is a Celtic Cross marking the memorial to the French 28th Infantry Brigade and also the imposing monument of the "Ferme de Navarin". The monument is a pyramid like structure with a sculpture of three soldiers at the top. It is a combined monument and ossuary within which lie the remains of 10,000 soldiers who fell on the plains of Champagne. The monument is situated in what had been a farm in 1916, the farm of Navarin. The story was that the farmer, when approached by soldiers for provisions, had replied in the local patois "Anhue n’ava rin"- "Aujourd’hui il n’y a rien"- "Today I have nothing." This became "Navarin" to the French soldiers. Navarin is a port where French, British and Russians had destroyed the Turkish fleet in 1827 during the War for Greek Independence. The middle figure of the three soldiers at the summit of the structure, the work of the sculptor Maxime Real del Sarte, is meant to portray Gouraud himself, the soldier on the right Quentin Roosevelt, a nephew of President Theodore Roosevelt who was killed in the Cambrai area on 14 July 1918 and the figure on the left represents del Sarte’s brother who was killed in the Champagne area. At the base of the monument are listed the numerous divisions who fought in Champagne- 93 French Infantry Divisions, 8 Cavalry Divisions, a general artillery reserve, an aerial division, 4 American Divisions- including the 42nd Division one of whose officers was the future General MacArthur, the 1st Polish Regiment, 2 Russian Brigades and a Czech Brigade. In the crypt are the remains of 10,000 soldiers, including the four sons of Paul Doumer a President of France in the 1930s and when General Gouraud died in 1946 he had asked to be buried with his men in the "Ferme de Navarin" and his tomb has pride of place in the crypt.^[83]

Ferme de Navarin War Memorial

Ferme de Navarin

Whilst the seeds of cooperation between France and Russia were sown during the visits to Champagne of NIcholas II back in 1896 and 1901, it was in December 1915 that the Russians signed an agreement with the French under which they were to be supplied with arms and munitions and in return they would send four infantry brigades comprising some 50,000 officers and soldiers to fight alongside the French and British forces. The 2nd and 4th Brigades would be sent to fight in Salonica in the Balkans, under General Sarrail, and the 1st and 3rd Brigades would fight alongside the French on the front-line in Champagne. In April 1916, Russian soldiers of the 1st Brigade, fully equipped and armed and wearing French issue helmets disembarked at Marseille and were sent to the military camp at Mailly and subsequently deployed in the sectors at Suippes and Aubérive from where they were replaced by the 3rd Brigade in October 1916. The 1st Brigade, comprised the 1st and 2nd Regiments made up by men from Moscow and Samara whilst the 3rd, formed by the 3rd and 6th Regiments and raised in Ekaterinenbourg and Tcheliabinsk, were commanded by General Palitzine. From early 1917 the two brigades fighting in France occupied the Fort de la Pompelle near to Reims and took part in the Nivelle offensive in which they participated in the attack on Mont Spin and sustained heavy losses. When the Russian Revolution broke out in October 1917, the brigades were disbanded and withdrawn from the front. The officers, with some volunteers from the ranks, formed a "Légion russe d’honneur" and continued to fight until the end of the war whilst other soldiers asked to be sent back home. Those who stayed wore French uniforms and were absorbed into the Moroccan Regiment. Between 1916 and 1918 some 4,000 men were killed and some of these are buried in the Russian Cemetery. After the war and in honour of these Russian soldiers the survivors formed an association and through their efforts this cemetery was opened and at a later stage a 15th-century style chapel was added to it, built in the Russian Orthodox style. The cemetery contains the bodies of 915 Russian soldiers either buried in ossuaries or individual graves and included in the gallery at the end of this article is a photograph of a typical headstone and the marker for one of the ossuaries in the cemetery. ^[84]

Plaque in the Russian Cemetery at Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand acknowledging the efforts of the Russian Expeditionary Force

Chapel in Russian Cemetery at Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand

The memorial consists of a large cross or calvary, which carries the inscription "Aux morts de la XXVIIIe Brigade" and is surrounded in a circle by many smaller crosses.

It was from 25 to 30 September 1915, that the 28th Brigade, comprising the 35th and 42nd Infantry from Belfort, fought in this area and lost 1,133 men including 39 officers. Another 1,362 men were injured including 48 officers. It was after the war that the chaplain of the 28th Brigade and several volunteers from the 35th and 42nd Infantry returned to the battlefield to locate and bury the rest of their colleagues killed in 1915, assisted by some Austrian prisoners and some labourers from Indochina stationed at Suippes. A committee was duly set up to arrange to raise funds to finance the erection of a calvary at Wacques and the monument and cemetery was inaugurated on 25 September 1919. In 1922 when the large cemetery at Souain called "La Crouée" was established it was agreed that the small cemetery at Wacques be left on its own rather than be absorbed into "La Crouée". This smaller cemetery is officially named the "Nécropole nationale de Souain - 28e Brigade"

There is a smaller memorial next to the "Wacques Cross" and this is dedicated to the men of the 44th Infantry and carries the inscription

"Aux camarades tombés pendant les journées du 25-26-27-28-29 Septembre 1915.Etat-Major"

and nearby another memorial dedicated to the 60th Infantry, this inscribed

"Aux morts du 60e RI Attaques des 25 au 29 - 09 - 1915"

^[85]

For many years Maupas' wife Blanche Maupas and others fought to have the men pardoned and in 1923 Blanche succeeded in having her husband's remains taken from its grave in Suippes and moved to the communal cemetery of Sartilly in La Manche and in 1925 a monument was erected over Maupas' grave at Sartilly commemorating the four corporals of Souhain. Paul Moreau-Vauthier carried out the sculptural work on the monument. Finally in 1934 the four corporals were given a formal pardon by a special tribunal which came to the conclusion that the order given to the 21st Company of the 336th Infantry Regiment on the evening of 10 March was "irrealisable" (unreasonable) The affair of the four corporals was considered most controversial in France and although Stanley Kubrick made the film "Paths of Glory" based on the events at Souhain in 1957, the film was banned in France until 1975 and was not shown on TV until 1982. In 1962 Blanche Maupas died and was buried alongside her husband.

There is a monument at Suippes which honours the four corporals following a decision by the local council in Suippes in 2004 to erect it given that the sentence by the military tribunal to execute the four men had been given in Suippes. The monument was inaugurated on 1 December 2007 and faces Suippes' town hall where the tribunal had sat on 16 March 1915. The inscription reads

"À la mémoire des caporaux de Souain Theophile MAUPAS, Louis GIRARD, Lucien LECHAT et Louis LEFOULON Fusillés pour l'exemple, à SUIPPES, le 17 mars 1915"

^[86]

Memorial to 4 corporals shot at Suippes

"..the unknown men whom all men know; dying we still live on"

Plaque over ossuary in Saint-Étienne-à-Arnes gives quotation from 2 Corinthians Chapter 6 verse 9