From 31st August to 13th September 1914, Montdidier was briefly occupied. After the Battle of the Marne, this town remained under fire from German artillery. Due to the numerous bombardments, it suffered major destruction. In the spring of 1917, the front retreated forty kilometres. After the German withdrawal at the Hindenburg line, Montdidier seemed to be finally free. But in spring 1918, Montdidier was occupied once again until 10th August, the date when the town in ruins was finally liberated.

A plaque commemorates the singular destiny of Montdidier during the First World War after which it received the Legion of Honour.

From the Second World War, there are 24 airmen from the Commonwealth buried here (13 British, 10 Canadian and one Australian), who died in April 1942 and in May 1944. On the outskirts of the city, a monument was erected in memory of the 212 French airmen who died in the skies over Picardy in May-June 1940.

These civilian victims include, notably, the remains of women and children, some of them very young, such as Madeleine Beaujeux aged 4 years (grave 157) and Louise Questroy aged 12 years (grave 89). Two sisters from Origny-en-Thiérache, Yvonne (aged 24) (grave 79) and Noëlla (aged 20) (grave 77) who died on 25 May and 7 June 1917 respectively, are buried there along with a father and his son from Colligies, Eugène Grenier (aged 21) and Ernest Grenier (aged 49) who died on 12 and 17 October respectively (graves 162 and 163).

Also, 428 French soldiers and one Soviet soldier who lost their lives in the Second World War are buried here. The site lies next to a German cemetery containing the bodies of 2,332 soldiers, 911 of whom are buried in a collective grave.

A commemorative monument in the form of an obelisk stands in the French section, bearing the inscription Dulce Et Decorum Est, Pro Patria Mori (It is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country).

At the beginning of 1916, there were riots in towns in the north caused by shortages in supplies. In April, the German authorities responded by sending workers to neighbouring areas. Faced with international criticism, this deportation was soon stopped. Some of the workers, including Arthur Jaspart, lost their lives. He was a worker from Valenciennes who died, aged 21, on 9 July 1918 in the isolation ward at the German military railways workshop in Guise. He is buried in Guise cemetery (Grave No.1236).

Amiens, a city right behind the front

After receiving the first contingents of the British Expeditionary Force, on 30 August 1914 the city of Amiens was captured by the Germans, who abandoned it after the Marne victory of September 1914. During this short occupation, the local population was treated very severely and suffered heavy requisitioning. Following the German retreat, the city, in French then British hands, remained very exposed to German artillery fire and aerial bombardments for the remainder of the war. In March 1918, this strategic location was bitterly disputed. At a cost of major sacrifices from the British Army and the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the pressure from the Germans was finally lifted in August 1918.

The Battles of the Somme, 1914-18

The first engagements on the Somme took place during the “Race to the Sea”, a manoeuvre which saw each of the belligerents attempt to outflank the other to the north. It was a failure: the front became entrenched and the Germans dug themselves in solidly along the Bapaume to Péronne road. From then on, the war in the trenches raged from Beaumont-Hamel to Beuvraignes, heightened by tunnel warfare. In July 1915, the British forces took over control of this sector from the French, whose 10th Army was assigned to the defence of Chaulnes to the south, while its 6th Army occupied both banks of the Somme.

In August 1919, the city of Amiens received an army citation, stating that “for four years, it withstood the bombardments and threat of the enemy with unwavering courage and dignity”.

The biggest offensive, carried out primarily by the British, took place in 1916, when General Joffre decided to attack in a “quiet” sector, at the juncture of the French and British armies.

The original plan to batter the enemy was upset by operations in Verdun, which reduced by half the number of French troops assigned to the offensive. The high command therefore decided to conduct a Franco-British operation, supported by strong artillery. General Haig lined up a large number of infantry battalions, all of them inexperienced, with the aim of making a large-scale breakthrough. On 24 June 1916, the artillery preparation got underway, but poor weather conditions meant that the assault was put back to 1 July.

The first days saw heavy losses, and the offensive soon descended into a war of attrition, in which the British, failing to secure any major successes, paid a high price. However, the Germans were forced to withdraw artillery from the Verdun area, so that one of the objectives of the Franco-British operation was achieved.

The progress of the French force, comprised of more experienced units, was more tangible than that of the British and Commonwealth contingents. With fresh reinforcements, the French attempted to develop their actions north of the Somme, but progress fell short of expectations. For ten weeks, the Allied troops chipped away at the German positions, without making a decisive breakthrough. The commanders-in-chief of the Allied armies therefore decided to suspend the overall offensive, but to keep up the pressure on the enemy by launching partial attacks at regular intervals and bringing the first tanks into play. On 18 November 1916, the offensive finally came to an end.

From the map, the Allied troops may appear to have made a dramatic advance, but in fact they moved forward only three miles during the whole battle. The human cost was extremely high. By the end of the offensive, the Germans had lost 650 000 men, the French nearly 200 000. For the British, the Somme remains the biggest military disaster of the 20th century, with the sacrifice of 420 000 men.

The French soldiers include Henri Gaudier aka Henri Gaudier-Brzeska (grave 936), a painter and sculptor, precursor in France of the British artistic movement vorticism. A sergeant in the 129th infantry regiment, he died on 5th June 1915 at the age of 23 in Neuville-Saint-Vaast.

The remains from World War II include those of Paul Nizan (grave 8189) and Jeanne Bartet (grave 8352). The latter, an army nurse who belonged to the Union des Femmes de France de Bordeaux, was killed on 21st May 1940 near ambulance number 257 (Labroye). Paul Nizan, novelist, essayist, journalist and translator, was killed on 23rd May 1940 in Oudricq during the German attack on Dunkirk.

A monument has been erected to the memory of the soldiers of the 15th army corps who fell in August 1914.

Nearby are the Cabaret Rouge British cemetery and also the biggest German cemetery in Europe, Maison Blanche, which contains more than 44,000 graves. To the north of La Targette, towards Souchez, are two monuments, one placed at the entrance to the Czechoslovakian cemetery, honouring the memory of Polish and Czechoslovakian Foreign Legion volunteers.

Covering an area of 25 hectares, the cemetery holds over 40,000 bodies, half of which are in individual graves, and the other half are divided into seven ossuaries. It is France’s largest national cemetery.

Some foreign soldiers (Belgian, Romanian and Russian) are also buried there. French soldiers killed in WWII were also buried there.

Amongst the graves, you can find the grave of a father and his son who died on the battlefield in 1915 and 1918. Six other graves hold the bodies of a father killed in WWI and a son killed in WWII.

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The Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp was mainly used for the internment of resistance fighters from across Europe, but homosexuals and Jehovah’s Witnesses were also interned here. The camp’s interns were made to do gruelling forced labour for the economy of the Third Reich. A number of those deported for racial reasons (Jews and Gypsies) were also sent here, to be subjected to horrific pseudo-scientific experiments.

Today, this listed historic site offers the chance to discover the workings of the only concentration camp in France, with its huts, crematorium and gas chamber.

Opened in 2005, the Centre Européen du Résistant Déporté has a definite educational approach to its visits. Touchscreen terminals, films, objects and photos chart the rise of fascism and Nazism in Europe and the setting up of the Nazi concentration camp network, whi

le at the same time paying tribute to the resistance movements that rose up against oppression.

A meeting place and discussion forum, the Centre holds regular temporary exhibitions and conferences. It aspires to spread the values of freedom, respect, tolerance and vigilance.
The camp, a major site for national and European remembrance, comes under the responsibility of the National Office for Veterans and Victims of War, an executive agency of the French Ministry of the Armed Forces.

Sources: ©Site de l’ancien camp de concentration de Natzweiler-Struthof - Centre européen du résistant déporté