Newsletter

Lexy National Cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Lexy. © ECPAD

 

Pour accéder au panneau d'information de la nécropole, cliquer ici vignette_necropole_Lexy

 

Lexy National Cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the Battle of the Frontiers in August 1914, in particular those who died on 22 August. Erected in 1922, this ossuary-monument houses the dead exhumed from graves in the town. Surmounted by an impressive monument, donated in 1922 by the family of one of the soldiers, the ossuary is built over a communal grave where 68 French soldiers lie buried.

 

> Return to results

Practical information

Address

Lexy
A l’ouest de Longwy

Weekly opening hours

Visites libres toute l’année

Baslieux French national war cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Baslieux. © ECPAD

 

Pour accéder au panneau d'information de la nécropole, cliquer ici vignette_Baslieux

 

The national war cemetery of Baslieux contains the remains of soldiers who fell during the Battle of the Frontiers in August 1914. Established between 1920 and 1921, this site contains the bodies exhumed from isolated graves or temporary military cemeteries located in the region of Baslieux and Doncourt. Located on the site of a mass grave dug in 1914, this war cemetery contains the bodies of 293 Frenchmen buried in an ossuary monument. This was financed by the family of second lieutenant Trochu, an officer of the 151th Infantry regiment.

A few hundred metres away, another monument marks the site of the fighting of 22nd August 1914 in which 800 French soldiers were killed.

 

> Return to results

Practical information

Address

Baslieux
Au sud de Longwy, D 125b

Weekly opening hours

Visites libres toute l’année

Ville-Houdlémont French national war cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Ville-Houdlémont. © ECPAD

 

Pour accéder au panneau d'information de la nécropole, cliquer ici vignette_Ville_Houdlemont

 

The national war cemetery of Ville-Houdlémont contains the remains of soldiers who died for France during the Battle of the Frontiers in August 1914. Created following the battles, in the centre of the village, this little cemetery bears witness to the extremely violent clashes that took place on 22 August 1914, in the Longwy region.  Today, the bodies of 92 French soldiers are buried there. Ten were placed in individual graves, while the remains of 82 others were placed in two ossuaries. Surmounted by a cross, a monument decorated with twelve marble plaques commemorates the French soldiers who died at this exact place on 22 August 1914.

 

> Return to results

Practical information

Address

Ville-Houdlémont
À l’ouest de Longwy, D 88

Weekly opening hours

Visites libres toute l’année

Summary

Eléments remarquables

Plaques commémoratives aux morts du 22 août 1914

The Villette national cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Villette. © ECPAD

 

Pour accéder au panneau d'information de la nécropole, cliquer ici vignette_Villette

 

The Villette national cemetery brings together the remains of 74 soldiers (52 of whom lie in two ossuaries) killed on 22 and 23 August 1914 during the Battle of the Frontiers, in particular in the sector of Longuyon and Villette. Created in 1917 by the German army, this cemetery was developed after the war in order to bring together bodies exhumed from temporary military cemeteries in the Villette area. Moreover, 36 Germans including 9 unknown soldiers lie here.

The Villette cemetery, which holds the mortal remains of French soldiers, is a typical example of military cemeteries of the start of the First World War, and of the treatment of the bodies of the dead soldiers. Indeed, at this time, officers were generally buried in individual graves, whilst the troops were buried in communal graves. This principle lasted until 1915, when individual graves for all soldiers became widespread. The law of 29 December 1915 grants soldiers who died for France the right to be buried in individual tombs.

 

> Return to results

Practical information

Address

Villette
À l’ouest de Longwy, D 29c

Weekly opening hours

Visites libres toute l’année

Summary

Eléments remarquables

Monument aux morts des 22-23 août 1914

Pierrepont French national war cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Pierrepont. © ECPAD

 

Pour accéder au panneau d'information de la nécropole, cliquer ici vignette_Pierrepont

 

The national war cemetery of Pierrepont contains the remains of soldiers who died for France in the Battle of the Frontiers in August 1914. Created in 1920, it bears witness to the extreme violence of the battles on 22 and 23 August 1914 around Pierrepont, which were among the bloodiest of the Great War. Established successively in 1920-1921, then in 1932-1936 to bring together the bodies exhumed from temporary military cemeteries in the region of Longwy and the Crusnes, Spincourt, the Othain and the Loison, this national war cemetery contains the remains of 3,758 French soldiers, 1,416 of which are in individual graves. The remains of 2,342 servicemen were placed in two ossuaries. Alongside them rest the bodies of 493 Russian, 141 Belgian, 2 British and 1 Romanian servicemen.

Several soldiers killed during World War II, including 20 French, 55 Soviet and 1 Czech, are buried at this site.

Erected in 1922 at the centre of the war cemetery, a lantern tower is dedicated to the memory of the allied soldiers who disappeared during the fighting at Pierrepont on 22-23 August 1914. The stones of the lantern tower come from a former cloth factory which was dismantled stone by stone and reassembled in the cemetery. The size of this monument is explained by the desire to emulate the imposing monument in the nearby German cemetery, where 3,017 soldiers were laid to rest.

 

> Return to results

Practical information

Address

Pierrepont
Au sud de Longwy, D 66

Weekly opening hours

Visites libres toute l’année

Summary

Eléments remarquables

Tour-lanterne aux morts des 22 et 23 août 1914

Thionville National Cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Thionville. © ECPAD

 

Pour accéder au panneau d'information de la nécropole, cliquer ici vignette_Thionville

 

Thionville National Cemetery was built during the First World War by the German Army. It contains the graves of 787 German soldiers, 86 of whom are buried in an ossuary, 692 Russians (including 1 civilian worker), 161 French (including one from Alsace-Lorraine and a civilian victim, Justin Bray, charged with revealing the position of a German sentry and killed by firing squad on 28 August 1914 - Grave n° 119), three British, three Luxembourgers (civilian victims killed on 16 July 1918) and two Belgians. This cemetery, which was further developed in 1924, houses a memorial to the 1914-1918 War.

 

> Return to results

Practical information

Address

Thionville
A 31

Weekly opening hours

Visites libres toute l’année

Summary

Eléments remarquables

Monument aux morts 1914-1918

Brandeville French national war cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Brandeville. © ECPAD

 

Pour accéder au panneau d'information de la nécropole, cliquer ici vignette_Brandeville

 

Established by the German army after the fighting of 29th August 1914 at Montmédy, this national war cemetery contains the bodies of 516 French soldiers, 506 of which were laid to rest in an ossuary. Ten bodies are buried in individual graves. Within the cemetery walls stands a monument with the dedication "Aux héros de la garnison de Montmédy - 29 août 1914 - Hommage aux morts et survivants de Brandeville - Leurs Enfants 30 août 1936" [To the heroes of the garrison of Montmédy - 29th August, 1914 - A tribute to the dead and survivors of Brandeville - their children, 30th August 1936]. In the church, Nancy’s master glassmaker Georges Janin created a stained glass window in 1929, in remembrance of the fighting of August 1914 and the resistance of the garrison of Montmédy.

 

> Return to results

Practical information

Address

Brandeville
À 33 km au nord de Verdun, lieu-dit "Les Magniers"

Weekly opening hours

Visites libres toute l’année

Brieulles-sur-Meuse French national war cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Brieulles-sur-Meuse. © ECPAD

 

Pour accéder au panneau d'information de la nécropole, cliquer ici vignette_Brieulles_sur_Meuse

 

Established in 1920, the national war cemetery of Brieulles-sur-Meuse contains the remains of soldiers initially buried in the numerous temporary military cemeteries such as those of Consenvoye, Damvillers, Dun-sur-Meuse, Lissey, Montmédy, Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, and Stenay. This war cemetery brings together 2,572 bodies, 1,520 of which were placed in two ossuaries. From the First World War, there are the remains of 2,389 French, 123 Russian, 35 Belgian and one British soldier, as well as 24 French servicemen including an unknown soldier who died during the fighting in May to June 1940.

 

> Return to results

Practical information

Address

Brieulles-sur-Meuse
À 30 km au nord-ouest de Verdun, à gauche du CD 964

Weekly opening hours

Visites libres toute l’année

Torcy French national war cemetery at Sedan

La nécropole nationale de Torcy. © ECPAD

 

Pour accéder au panneau d'information de la nécropole, cliquer ici vignette_Sedan

 

Created during the Sedan-Carignan battles in August 1914, the national war cemetery of Torcy contains 2,909 bodies. Established in 1923, from the First World War this remembrance site holds the bodies of 2,794 French servicemen, 2,050 of which are in ossuaries, 45 Brits, 38 Russians including 29 in a collective grave, 24 Romanians including 1 in an individual grave, and 4 unknown Italians.

From the Second World War, there are eight French and six Commonwealth aviators also buried in this cemetery.

 

> Return to results

Practical information

Address

Sedan
À l’est de Charleville-Mézières, D 977, D 6

Weekly opening hours

Visites libres toute l’année

Noyers-Pont-Maugis, “La Marfée” National Cemetery (Ardennes)

Nécropole de Noyers-Pont-Maugis en Ardennes, "La Marfée". © Guillaume Pichard

 

In the town of Noyers-Pont-Maugis, “La Marfée” National Cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the Battle of the Ardennes in August 1914 and the final offensive toward the Meuse in 1918. Established just after the battles, the cemetery was redesigned in 1920, after which it received the bodies of other soldiers buried in the sector of Sedan. Today, the cemetery holds 1,723 dead, including 1,202 in the ossuary, together with some foreigners (British and Romanian, among others). Adjoining it is a German cemetery established in 1922 where 14,055 German soldiers from the 1914-1918 war and 12,788 from the 1939-1945 war are buried.

 

 

> Return to results

Practical information

Address


Noyers-Pont-Maugis