The Battles of the Oise, 1914-18

In August 1914, as set out in the Schlieffen Plan, German troops entered Belgium and marched on Paris. They crossed the Oise and the Aisne before being stopped by the French counter-offensive on the Marne. The two armies then established a front from Verdun to Dunkirk; the right bank of the Oise was occupied by the Germans, while fierce fighting took place on the left bank, with the zouave regiments particularly distinguishing themselves.

For three years, from September 1914 to March 1917, the front didn’t budge. Noyon came under one of the strictest occupations, and the Oise saw no major military operations; it was a “quiet” sector. The French and German troops consolidated their positions, occupying underground quarries, which they decorated and carved.

At the end of 1916, the German command wanted to strengthen the front, and therefore decided to abandon the Noyon sector. Applying a scorched earth policy, the Germans retreated to the Hindenburg Line, which they had just established, thereby limiting the effects of an Allied offensive in this sector. By mid-March 1917, the area was liberated, but in ruins: the houses had been dynamited, the fields flooded, and the bridges and junctions destroyed.

However, the respite was short-lived. Less than a year later, 27 German divisions broke through the British front across 80 km and swept towards Noyon which, on 25 March 1918, found itself occupied once again. Entrenched on Mont Renaud, overlooking the town, the French drove back 23 German attacks, and for over a month shelled the enemy positions. Spared up until now, Noyon was completely destroyed.

On 9 June 1918, the German command ordered a fresh offensive. The Oise then became the scene of a bitter struggle, known as the Battle of Matz, during which the two enemy armies employed heavy artillery and tanks without reserve. Over the first few days, the German army made rapid progress. But due to major losses, their advance was halted at Compiègne. Led by General Mangin, the French army regained the initiative, liberating the Thiescourt massif and crossing the River Divette. On 30 August, Noyon was liberated for good.

The first department on the front line to come back under French control, the Oise has preserved the memory of that bitter fighting and, with the signing of the Armistice on 11 November 1918 in the forest of Rethondes, it became one of the symbols of the Great War.

Catenoy, military hospital no 36

For the duration of the war, the village of Catenoy was a key site for the stationing of troops by the French Army. The writers Roland Dorgelès and Charles Péguy stayed here before going to the front. 

However, in January 1918, the 3rd Army, which had its command in Clermont and the headquarters of its medical service in Nointel, decided to install a military hospital there.  Ever increasing numbers of wounded were arriving each day, and required triage, treatment and evacuation to more appropriate care facilities. From 8 April 1918, the village was home to a military hospital with 1 500 beds (900 for the wounded, 400 for the gassed and sick, and 200 for the lame). The proximity of the N31 road and the Beauvais-Compiègne railway line made for the efficient treatment and rapid evacuation of the wounded who flooded in from the front. By the end of May, the hospital was up and running. Within less than ten days, it had received some 2 500 sick and wounded men, and contributed to 15 ambulance trains.

During the Battle of Matz, from 9 to 14 June, Catenoy hospital, with its 12 surgical teams, received a continuous stream of ambulances from the battlefield. Stretchers piled up in the triage shelters. Surgical staff worked tirelessly, attending to each of the wounded in turn and carrying out more than 700 serious operations in the two operating wings. Over 5 000 soldiers passed through the hospital, which was the 3rd Army’s largest. Owing to the dedication of chaplain Père Fonteny, some of the soldiers who did not survive their wounds are laid to rest in Catenoy National Cemetery.

Among the 2,237 soldiers who lie here are the bodies of Major Bouquet, Captain Speckel and the infantrymen Lena Faya and Aka Tano, who were summarily executed in June 1940 in the Bois d'Eraines. The remains of the liner Meknès were also brought to the Cambronne-lès-Ribécourt cemetery. On 24 July 1940 this ship was torpedoed at sea, leaving 430 dead - including Christian Werno.

Among the soldiers buried here is a soldier who died for France in 1939-1945.

Next to this cemetery is a German cemetery created in 1920, containing the remains of 1,095 German soldiers, 388 of them in two ossuaries. Buried with these soldiers are four British soldiers, two of them officers from the Royal Air Force (RAF), and two French soldiers.

A German cemetery next to this site, created at the same time as the French military cemetery, contains 5,333 bodies, 3,802 of them in individual graves.

Ten French soldiers who died during the Battle of France in June 1940 and one Russian were also laid to rest at Cuts National Military Cemetery.

At the entrance to the village, the La Pommeraye calvary monument commemorates the fighting in 1914 and the destruction in 1917. Nearby there is a monument paying tribute to the Somalis who died for France at Douaumont in 1916, Chemin des Dames in 1917, La Malmaison in 1917, Mont de Choisy in 1918, Longpont in 1918 and Pointe de Grave in 1945.

Occupied by the Germans on 30th August, Noyon, one hundred kilometres from Paris, was the scene of fierce fighting from 15th to 18th September 1914 but remained in the hands of the enemy, who imposed strict living conditions on the civilians. Following the German withdrawal on 18th March 1917, the French retook the ruined town but it was occupied again on 25th March. Intense shelling finally destroyed Noyon, whose cathedral still bears the scars. The allies resisted and decisively turned the course of the war in July 1918, eventually liberating Noyon, four-fifths destroyed, on 30th August 1918. A strategic and symbolic town, Noyon received the Legion of Honour for enduring this harsh occupation.

At Bois du Loges there now stands a stele marking the execution site of Lieutenant Chapelant. He was the first officer to be executed as an example. Found injured, not far from French positions, he was brought before a military tribunal and found guilty of cowardice. As his leg injury prevented him from standing up, he was shot, tied to his stretcher, on 11th October.

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.