Verdun, which today is the capital of freedom, was once one of the most horrifying battlefields of the Great War. From February to December 1916, during 300 days and nights French and German soldiers lived here a real "hell".

The town of Verdun, in the Meuse département, is an old Gallic oppidum. Its name, made up of ver or "ford" and dun(o) "height" refers to a place that dominated an old crossing point on the Meuse river. Known as Virodunum, the Gallo-Roman castrum was later fortified, but in vain, since in 450 Attila reduced it to nothing. In Verdun in 843, Charlemagne's grandsons signed the treaty for the division of the Carolingian Empire; the document is considered to be the first written evidence of the French language. Between 870 and 879, the city, in the possession of Lotharingie, was incorporated into the kingdom of France, before falling under the rule of the Othonian Germanic empire in 923. The town was the subject of a contest of power between the lineage of counts, from whence came Godefroy de Bouillon, and the episcopal princes, supported by the Germanic emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. A bloody revolt allowed the middle-classes to escape from under their power in the 13th century. Henri II of France seized the town on the 12th June 1552 during the "Chevauchée d'Austrasie" (Austrasian wars). Charles Quint created the place de Metz on the 18th of October of the same year. Verdun thus became a border town, with the full threat of siege. In order to strengthen their power over the county, Henri and his successor, François the First, granted it special privileges and hastily modernised the medieval ramparts. Raised earth mounds and triangular bastioned flanks protected the walls from artillery fire; structures made of earth inside the square accommodated canons. One of the league towns during the Religious wars, Verdun would not submit until after Henri IV's conversion.
In 1611, Louis XIII renewed the town's protected status. In 1624, Richelieu decided to finish the Verdun citadel. He sent Marshal de Mardillac and engineers from Argencourt, Aleaune and Chastillon. The work lasted ten years: the old bastions were replaced by new ones, spaced at regular intervals around the citadel and linked together by a rampart. Vauban stared modernising the town's defensive system in 1675. He added demi-lunes in front of the medieval fortified enclosure and, between 1680 and 1690, built its bastioned enclosure, applying the principle of defensive flooding. Most importantly, he created a dyke to stop the Pré l'Evêque and closed the three crossing points on the Meuse upstream from Verdun with three bridge locks, the Saint-Amans, Saint-Nicolas and Saint-Airy bridges. In the 18th century, the town concentrated its efforts on controlling the flooding that affected the lower town. The Sainte-Croix Bridge, what is now the Legay Bridge, was rebuilt with wider arches. The Anthouard and Jeanne d'Arc barrages were created in order to end the residents' duty to provide accommodation for the soldiers of the garrison. The royal power no longer looked after the fortifications. Only the "Polygone des mineurs" (now at Thierville, near the Niel barracks) in the north was suitable to be used as an exercise ground for troops. During the revolutionary wars the town, under the command of Beaurepaire, was to capitulate on the 30th August 1792. The Germans thus occupied the town for six weeks before withdrawing on the 14th October when confronted by Kellermann. Under the First Empire, Verdun, at some distance from the front, did not really interest the fortifications commission. It was only after 1815, when France was back in the same situation as in 1789, that the authorities undertook work to reinforce the town along the lines of Vauban's fortifications: the new gate was opened (next to today's Carrefour des Maréchaux), to the North -East, a curtain wall strengthened the demi-lunes on Chaussée and Minimes (now the rue de la Liberté and rue du 8 mai 1945) and three networks of counterscarp galleries were dug under the glacis on the Saint-Victor side (Jules-Ferry school).
During the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, troops from Verdun (1,500 garrison soldiers, 2,000 mobile guards and 1,400 men from the national sedentary guard), consolidated by 2,600 survivors of Sedan, under the command of General Guérin de Waldersbach and General Marmier, defended the territory against the 10,000 recruits of the Prince of Saxony. On the 23rd September his army totally surrounded the town, commandeering the inhabitants of the neighbouring villages to commit to investment. The town, besieged and under fire from 140 heavy artillery pieces, surrendered on the 8th November. It would be governed by the prefect of Bethmann-Hollweg until the 13th September 1873. In 1874, the French government made rearming Verdun its top priority. It made General Séré-de-Rivières responsible for creating a defensive network from Verdun to Toul. And so, within forty years, the town became the strongest place in Europe: within a radius of 40 km around the town, the engineer built two rings of forts (19 in total, including 14 in concrete); seven kilometres of parallel underground galleries 20 metres below ground completed the structure (in 1888) with a railway network 185 km long with stone reinforced tracks for horse carriages and pieces of artillery. These alterations to the Meuse countryside were accompanied by social changes. The population and the economy became "militarised". There were soon to be more soldiers than civilians (27,000 compared with 13,300), the army became the largest employer in the area, the quarries and blast furnaces worked almost exclusively for the construction and arming of the forts and the countryside was used as a training ground for troops. Of the two sides who confronted each other for 300 days during the First World War, the Verdun sector had the largest concentration of troops; between February and July 1916 losses under General Nivelle's command totalled 62,000 dead, in other words, 812 deaths a day. The civilian population had fled the town. Only the general staff occupying the underground citadel and the Fire Brigade stationed in the cellars of the Mairie remained in the besieged town of Verdun. The town would be awarded the Légion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre with palms by the President of the Republic, Poincaré, on the 13th September 1916. The people of Verdun emerged battered from the fighting and peace returned. The French and American Red Cross and organisations from the Duchy of Luxembourg brought aid to the returning inhabitants: a canteen was set up in the railway station, a dispensary opened in rue Saint-Sauveur and a municipal cooperative association took up residence in the Town Hall. American troops remained until May 1919. The rebuilt cathedral, a reminder of the historic Verdun and a point of reference for the Poilu (slang term for a foot soldier) and the citadel, a symbol of resistance against the enemy, formed the basis of the city's memorial centre, along with the military cemeteries, the national necropolis at Douaumont and battlegrounds such as the Bois-des-Caures.
The reconstruction of Verdun, approved by two Meuse statesmen, Raymond Poincaré and André Maginot, was scheduled for 1917. The town centre, which was planned further to the north of the town on specially declassified military land, demonstrated the desire to emphasise its industrial nature through the construction of two railway stations and major development of its ports. The state made around 16,000 hectares of land, the principal battlefields, available for redevelopment, some of which would be replanted with trees. The soldiers' graves would be brought together in the national necropolis (Douaumont), or in more modest cemeteries (Glorieux and Bevaux). The tomb of the unknown soldier of Verdun was created in the citadel in 1920. The urban topography now conjures up the battle through the names of new streets and the renaming of others. A war museum was built and the monument to the children of Verdun who died for France was opened in 1928, followed by another one, dedicated to the Victory (inaugurated in 1929), as well as that to the 375 Territorials who died in the fire in the munitions store in 1916 (square d'isly); commemorative plaques have been put up in the citadel and in the barracks etc. When war was declared on the 3rd September 1939, Verdun took up its function as a garrison town once again.
It was used for assembling the troops to be sent into action along the length of the Northern and Eastern border. On the 13th May 1940, the Germans crossed the Meuse at Sedan and took the Maginot line from the rear. Following the capture of the La Ferté fort and the surrounding of Dunkirk, General Hutzinger gave the order to organise defending the Verdun area. The commander in charge of the town, General Dubuisson, had anti-tank obstacles constructed, artillerymen were sent to Séré-de-Rivières' forts and a halting line was set up in the Bois Bourru at the Besonvaux ravine. On the evening of the 15th June 1940, the German army arrived in Verdun. In the cemeteries at Bévaux and Faubourg-Pavé the bodies of its defenders were laid to rest. The occupying army set up headquarters in the place de la Nation (the Freiskommandantur) and in Coq-Hardi hall (the Feldgendarmerie). A prison was opened in rue du Rû, soldiers moved into the barracks (Verdun was used as a training centre for young recruits) and frequented the cafés such as the Café de la paix and Le Continental; the Thierville and Jardin-Fontaine barracks were converted into the Frontstalag. The liberation of the Mause took allied troops a week. The Wehrmacht was against a summary defence: tanks and artillery equipment were positioned, at the Voie Sacré crossroads and the road to Châlons and at a place called Moulin-Brûlé, in the suburb of Glorieux. The city could once again provide eyewitness accounts of war. The Beaurepaire bridge, saved from being blown up by the resistance fighter Fernand Legay, was renamed in his honour. The renamed avenues "de la DB US", "du 8 mai 1945" and "du Général-de-Gaulle" came to enrich the toponymy. Plaques and commemorative monuments sprang up: a plaque in honour of Legay on the bridge of the same name, the posts marking the Route of Liberty, the monument to the Resistance fighters slaughtered on avenue de Metz and the one to the Fusillés (those shot by firing squad) of Thierville.
France's participation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) left its mark, most notably in the American logistical buildings. The former Maginot barracks was restored in 1951 and was used for housing troops. At the Jardin-Fontaine (the former manoeuvring area for Thierville behind the Maginot barracks), US troops erected special prefabricated buildings to house the engineers and hold religious services, and other public facilities (gymnasia, car parks, garages etc.). Soldiers' tombs can still be seen in the public cemetery. The 50 hectares on the banks of the Etang Bleu were converted into depots and workshops and some of this equipment would be used in the making of the film "The Longest day". The "Chicago" zone, developed in 1953, first contained a laundry and later a bakery. The Fort du Rozelier was converted into a NATO munitions depot intended to receive atomic weapons. In 1958 a hospital was built on the former Faubourg-Pavé aerodrome in the Désandrouins sector. The Gribauval barracks became a place for accommodating troops. On the 22nd September 1984, the 70th anniversary of the start of the First World War, the West German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, and the President of the Republic, François Mitterrand, sealed the friendship between the two nations by mounting a plaque in memory of all servicemen at the German necropolis in Consenvoye. Three years later The United Nations (UN) awarded the Meuse city the statute of World capital of Peace, freedom and the rights of Man.
Some historic sites to visit in Verdun The underground citadel The underground citadel Visit the underground galleries of the citadel on board of a small train and discover the every day life of the "poilus" during the First World War. Open an entire year Tariffs : Adults : 6€ Children : 2,5€ Underground citadel Avenue du 5ème RAP 55000 VERDUN Tel : 03 29 86 14 18 The Douaumont ossuary The initiative to build an ossuary in Douaumont, comes from the bishop of Verdun, His Eminence Ginisty. Situated in the heart of the battlefield, this ossuary measuring 137meters in length, is dominated by an 46 meters high tower and was built between 1920 and 1932 thanks to a contribution launched in 1919. It shelters human remains of 130 000 soldiers. In front of this monument the national necropolis, inaugurated on 1929, contains tombs of 15 000 combatants. Open every day from March to November Tariffs : Adults : 3,50€ Children : 2€ Phone : 03 29 84 54 81 The Douaumont fort Interior visit on two gallery levels and casemates. Open every day Tariffs : Adults : 3€ Children : 1,50 € Phone : 03 29 84 41 91 The Verdun memorial Located in Fleury-devant-Douaumont, on the site of the old village station, the Verdun memorial, also known as the memorial of freedom, was built in the sixties, thanks to the initiative of the National Committee for the Memory of Verdun (Comité National du Souvenir de Verdun CNSB) chaired at that time by the writer Maurice Genevoix. The official opening took place in 1967. The museum has a strong historical und pedagogical vocation. Open every day from February to December Tariffs : Adults : 5€ Children : 2,50 € Phone : 03 29 84 35 34 Office de Tourisme de Verdun Avenue du Général Mangin 55100 Verdun E-mail :contact@tourisme-verdun.fr Tél : 03 29 84 55 55 Fax : 03 29 84 85 80

A castle was built here by the count of Hainaut in the 12th century. The entrance door and the sandstone cellars remain. The first strongholds, built by order of Charles Quint, date from 1528. After the city was taken by Turenne in 1657, Vauban began to modernise it in 1668. He created four pools with which to flood the ditches and remodelled the southern flank. The Saint-Martin and Gard strongholds are representative of Vauban's first system. In the 18th century, a large hornwork structure was erected to the east of Porte Fauroeulx.

In 1881, the fort was further strengthened.

The well-preserved enclosure has the shape of an irregular octagon. It is defended by eight bastions and has been fully restored. There are two walking circuits open to the public:

- The ramparts: hiking card available from the Conseil Général du Nord.

- Discovery of the trees on the ramparts of Le Quesnoy: Circuit designed by the Parc Naturel Régional de L'Avesnois.

As you walk around the fortifications, stopping to read the educational panels, you can admire the eight bastions and seventeen outwork constructions in the ditches. Worthy of mention are the 18th century gunpowder store, the medieval tower of Count Baudouin, the Porte Fauroeulx, the Fauroeulx hornwork from the 18th century and five bastions: royal, imperial, green, Gard and Saint-Martin. Outside, the Pont-Rouge pool which was used to fill the ditches is now a watersport site.

Every year during the Heritage Days, a military encampment of the revolutionary armies, animates the fortified site for two days, with over 400 participants. An association called "Le Cercle Historique Quercitain" is researching the past of Le Quesnoy and its two cantons. It has premises in the Cernay centre, or the Château Marguerite de Bourgogne, where it welcomes groups to look around two exhibition rooms covering the history of the fortification. Since 1987, the fortified cities have had a regional day on the last Sunday of April, and some citadels, which are now military barracks, regularly open their doors to the public. Lastly, the route of fortified cities, launched in 1993, gives the public the chance to discover these cities, armed with a map and explanation cards available from the Association des villes fortifiées and in the tourist offices of Ambleteuse, Arras, Avesnes-sur-Helpe, Bergues, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais, Cambrai, Condé-sur-Escaut, Gravelines, Le Quesnoy, Lille, Maubeuge, Montreuil-sur-Mer and Saint-Omer.

This war memorial commemorates the victory of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade, which liberated Le Quesnoy on 4 November 1918 from the German garrison which had occupied the town for four years. The New Zealanders climbed the fortifications with ladders, just like in the Middle Ages.

In 1999, Le Quesnoy opened the "Centre de documentation relatif à la libération de la ville en 1918", a documentation centre concerning the town's liberation in 1918. Le Quesnoy has become the main site for World War 1 commemorations for New Zealand in France, with a ceremony organised by the ambassador of New Zealand in Paris, the local authorities and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. During these ceremonies, a parade including the mayor and local authorities, war veterans, visitors and people from the region crosses the town up to the ramparts and the New Zealand war memorial of 1923 to lay a wreath. The procession then moves towards the French war memorial to lay another wreath. The ceremony ends at the town hall, where a tribal sculpture "teko teko maori" perpetuates the memory.

New Zealand is still officially represented at Le Quesnoy during commemorations for the Armistice, on 11 November. New Zealand parliament officials and other groups, such as the New Zealand rugby team, have been to this town several times. Le Quesnoy and Cambridge in New Zealand were twinned in 1999.

Association des villes fortifiées

Hôtel de Ville Rue Maréchal Joffre 59530 Le Quesnoy

Tel.: +33 3.27.47.55.54
 

Le Quesnoy Tourist Information Office

Tel.: +33 3.27.20.54.70

e-mail : OTSI.le.quesnoy@wanadoo.fr

Quizz : Forts and citadels

Emm Church is the Parish church of Metzeral-Sondernach, an ancient place of pilgrimage dedicated to the Virgin and a Memorial dedicated to soldiers of World War One (Haut-Rhin) who fell in the Vosges, notably at the Battle of Metzeral in June 1915.

Historical overview

The current Emm church and memorial is built on the site of a 15th-century chapel, which was destroyed during the Battle of Metzeral. It was built by Abbot Martin BÉHÉ(1887-1963).

From 1922 to 1923, a committee dedicated to the "Memory of Alsace" was formed, under the patronage of Mgr RUCH, Bishop of Strasbourg and General de POUYDRAGUIN, former major of the 47th division and former military governor of Strasbourg, members of which came from all over France. Charity sales were organised in France's large cities (Paris, Lyon and Bordeaux) and abroad (notably in Switzerland).

The building was consecrated on 4 October 1931 and the bells were consecrated on 3 July 1932. Both ceremonies took place in the presence of Mgr RUCH, General de POUYDRAGUIN, Madame la Général SERRET and many other well-known people.

Description

The main material is pink sandstone from the Vosges, from Rauscher d'Adamswiller quarries; this is the same material used for Strasbourg cathedral. A dedication in capital letters stands out on the harmonious façade: "A nos vaillants soldats, l'Alsace reconnaissante" (To our brave soldiers, to whom Alsace is grateful).
The bell tower is inspired by the tower on the old chapel of Fourvière, in memory of a charity sale in 1926 and has four listed bells. Along the nave, in the arcades which are 1.80 m high, there are plaques in yellow marble from Sienna on which the names of soldiers who fell in the Vosges are engraved. One window in particular recalls the sanctuary's vocation: above the side chapel, the stained-glass window known as the "Souvenir" window shows a soldier dying in the arms of a chaplain, to whom an angel brings the crown of the chosen.
A memorial mass is celebrated on the Sunday before 11 November with the participation of war veterans and their standard-bearer.

Emm Church

Colline de l'Emm (rue de l'Emm) 68380 METZERAL - SONDERNACH

Les Amis de l'Emm

18 rue du Hohneck 68380 METZERAL

The cemetery covers an area of 7.5 acres and the US was granted perpetual use of this land free of charges and taxation by the French government.

Established in 1917 by the Graves Registration Service, part of the army’s quartermaster corps, it was intended to shelter the remains of soldiers who fell during the First World War. Many of them died of their wounds or illness in the hospitals in Paris or were victims of the influenza epidemic of 1918- 1919. 

At the end of the Second World War, it was decided that this cemetery would be dedicated to victims of both world wars. Consequently, an additional plot of graves was reserved to hold the remains of 24 unknown soldiers killed during World War II.

Loggias and memorial rooms were added either side of the original chapel. The graveyard comprises four plots of burial places: three for victims of the First World War with a total of 1,541 graves, and a fourth plot where 24 soldiers, marines and pilots lie, all unknown and killed during the Second World War.

The exterior surface is limestone from Val d'Arion and the four peristyle columns are monolithic. Inside the chapel, the walls and columns are made from Rocheret limestone. The ceiling is oak panelled. Four bronze plaques bear the names of the 974 men buried or lost at sea during the First World War.

The door in the left-hand wall of the chapel leads to the First World War loggia, a covered walkway with a side opening through which visitors can see the graveyards further down and, in the distance, Paris. The walls are limestone. The door in the right-hand wall of the chapel leads to the Second World War loggia, similar to that dedicated to the First World War, with the exception of the inscriptions on the walls. The original chapel, designed by the architect Charles A. Platt from New York was completed in 1932. William and Geoffrey Platt, sons of Charles A. Platt, created the loggias and memorial rooms added to the chapel in 1952. The original cemetery was inaugurated in 1919, on Memorial Day. The inauguration of the Second World War cemetery was held on 13 September 1952.

American Battle Monuments Commission

The American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), founded by United States Congress in 1923, is an agency of the executive branch of the federal government. Its mission is to preserve the memory of the sacrifices and deeds of the American military forces wherever they have served since 6 April 1917, the date the United States entered the First World War.

Visits Open every day (except 25 December and 1 January) from 9 am to 5 pm.

Admission and guided tours are free of charge.

Information is available from the visitor information centre.

Getting there

By train (SNCF): From Paris Saint-Lazare or La Défense, take the train to Suresnes Mont Valérien.

By bus: take the 160, 241 or 360 (Stop: Cluseret Hôpital Foch)

By road: From Pont de Suresnes (bridge), follow the blue signs: American Military Cemetery and Memorial

Suresnes American Cemetery

123 bd Washington 92150 Suresnes - France

Tel: +33 (0)1 46 25 01 70

Fax: +33 (0)1 46 25 01 71

E-mail: suresnes@abmc.gov

American Battle Monuments Commission

68 rue du 19 janvier BP 50 92380 Garches

Tel: +33 (0)1 47 01 37 49

American Battle Monuments Commission

This 21-hectare cemetery is situated at the foot of the hill on which Belleau Wood stands. Many of those buried in the cemetery lost their lives in the wood.

The cemetery's official name, Aisne-Marne, refers to the Aisne-Marne offensive which took place between May and October 1918, mainly in the south of the Aisne department and the west of the Marne department. Of the 2,289 graves in the cemetery, 250 contain the bodies of unidentified service personnel. The servicepeople who lie here originated from the 48 American states which existed at the time and the District of Columbia. Most of them died during the second battle of the Marne.

The Chapel

The chapel was built above the trenches on the front line dug by the 2nd American Division to defend Belleau Wood after it was captured on 25 June 1918. The chapel, a fine example of French Romanesque architecture, is more than 24 metres high. The exterior steps, the walls and the terrace are built of limestone from St. Maximin, Savonnières and Massangis. The sculptures around the entrance depict trench scenes from the First World War. The names of the 1,060 personnel who lost their lives are written on the walls of the chapel.

The Memorial is the work of architects Cram and Ferguson from Boston, Massachusetts. The décor in the chapel was designed by William F. Ross and Co., East Cambridge, Massachusetts and crafted by Alfred Bottiau from Paris. In 1934, the President of the United States allocated responsibility for the management of the cemetery, which was inaugurated on Memorial day (30 May) 1937, to the American Battle Monuments Commission.

The Bois Belleau

The Bois (wood), a site covering 81 hectares bordering the cemetery behind the chapel, is a memorial dedicated to all the Americans who fought during the First World War. It features the remains of trenches, shell holes and artefacts from the war found in the surrounding area.

On an island in the road through the clearing in the middle of the wood lies a monument erected by the Marines and a flag pole. The monument is a black granite stele to which is attached a bronze bas-relief by Felix de Weldon depicting a life-sized Marine attacking with a rifle and bayonet.

This monument commemorates the 4th Brigade, 2nd Division Marines who were primarily responsible for the capture of the wood. On 30 June 1918 the wood was officially renamed "Marine Brigade Wood" by the Commander General of the 6th French Army.

American Battle Monuments Commission

This American government agency manages 24 American cemeteries and 25 commemorative monuments, war memorials and other remembrance sites in 15 countries. The Commission plays a part in achieving the vision of its first president, General of the Armies of the United States John J. Pershing. General Pershing, Commander in Chief of the American expeditionary corps during the First World War, vowed that "Time will not dim the glory of their deeds".

Visits

Open every day (except 25 December and 1 January) from 9am to 5pm.

Entrance is free and guided visits, also free, are organised on reservation. Information is available from the visitor information centre.

Access

Take exit 19 from the A4 motorway then follow the N3 to Belleau.

Aisne Marne American Cemetery

02400 Belleau - France

E-mail : aisne-marne@abmc.gov

American Battle Monuments Commission

68 rue du 19 janvier BP 50 92380 Garches

Tel: +33 (0)1 47 01 37 46

American Battle Monuments Commission

This 52-heactare (130-acre) cemetery was established on 14 October, 1918, by the US Army on land taken by the 32^nd Infantry Division. This land was ceded to the United States in perpetuity by the French Government to establish a permanent, tax-free burial site.

This cemetery contains the remains of 14,246 soldiers, most of whom fell during the US First Army’s operations of 26 September to 11 November, 1918. In 1922, the bodies buried in temporary cemeteries around the region, but also in the Vosges and in Occupied Germany, were brought here to their final resting place. Many of those who died at Arkhangelsk, Russia, were also buried in this cemetery. Among the tombs, 486 hold the remains of unidentified soldiers.

The Memorial, a typical example of Romanesque architecture, faces north at the top of a hill that slopes down to the tombs. It comprises a chapel flanked by two loggias, inside which is the Wall of the Missing. The outside walls and the columns are in Euville Coquillier stone, while the interior walls are in Salamandre Travertine.

The names of the 954 missing soldiers who gave their lives for their country and whose bodies were never found or identified are engraved on the Wall of the Missing. This necropolis was built by the architects York and Sawyer of New York. The infrastructures, as we can see them today, were completed in 1932. The cemetery was inaugurated on Memorial Day, 1937, for the twentieth anniversary of the United States’ entry into World War One.

This monument rises nearly 60 metres above the ruins of the former village of Montfaucon, built at the top of a hill overlooking the surrounding countryside. Before it was taken by the US 37^th and 79^th Divisions on 27 September, 1918, this site provided the German troops with a remarkable observation point.

The monument commemorates the victory of the US First Army in the Meuse - Argonne offensive of 26 September to 11 November, 1918, and honours the heroism of the French Army on the front before this period.

American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC)

This US government agency operates 24 American cemeteries and 25 commemorative monuments, war monuments and other memorials in 15 countries. The Commission works to fulfil the vision of its first chairman, General of the Armies John J. Pershing. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I, promised that “time will not dim the glory of their deeds”.

Meuse - Argonne American Cemetery

55110 Romagne sous Montfaucon - France

Tel.: 03 29 85 14 18

Fax: 03 29 58 13 96

e-mail: meuse-argonne@abmc.gov

American Battle Monuments Commission

68 rue du 19 Janvier BP 50 92380 Garches

Tel.: 01 47 01 37

American Battle Monuments Commission

The Musée de la Grande Guerre was officially opened on 11 November 2011 by the Pays de Meaux combined area council. The furthest point of the German advance and the site of the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914, Meaux and its neighbouring communes possess historic heritage which, until then, had been undervalued and was little known to the general public, since the Great War is not generally associated with the Île-de-France region. First off, then, the museum serves as a reminder that the front came right up to the edge of Paris, and that the “miracle of the Marne”, just one month after the outbreak of hostilities, was the victory that was to decide the course of the conflict. Besides its historical legitimacy, the museum, like any major structure, plays the role of a lever of development for the region. It contributes to shaping a new image while mobilising different actors around a shared project that can benefit everyone, both in terms of culture and tourism and in terms of networks.

Origins

The Musée de la Grande Guerre du Pays de Meaux has its origins in a meeting between Jean-Pierre Verney, a passionate, self-taught historian who, over more than 45 years, collected 50 000 objects and documents on the First World War – one of the largest private collections in Europe – and Jean-François Copé, chairman of the Pays de Meaux combined area council. Copé took the decision to buy the collection in 2005 and founded a museum on the First World War, at a time when Verney was preparing to sell overseas, having found no local authority willing to take it. It was an obvious choice, given the sheer scale of the Pays de Meaux area (18 communes with a total population of 85 000) and the fact that a number of its villages still bear visible traces of the Battle of the Marne (memorials, cemeteries, etc.), including the grave of French poet Charles Péguy, killed on 5 September 1914.

A museum on a human scale

From the outset, the Musée de la Grande Guerre du Pays de Meaux was intended to be for all visitors. Its bold design and contemporary layout, at once educational, sensitive and immersive, contribute to making it as accessible as possible.  This proximity to visitors can be explained in part by the desire to approach the conflict from a human perspective, through the everyday lives not only of the soldiers, but of women and children, continually switching between the front and the home front. All the nations that took part in the war are represented here, namely through the collection of uniforms, the overall intention being to present the universality of suffering and violence, whatever side of no man’s land your camp happens to be on

The object at the heart of the display

The exhibition is deliberately open and unconstrained, in order to allow each visitor to choose their own route, and thus build their own history. The main display, which presents the First Battle of the Marne (1914) alongside the Second Battle of the Marne (1918), clearly presents to visitors the passage from the 19th to the 20th century. Between these two key mobile battles at the beginning and end of the war, the presentation of the static war with its front comprised of trenches offers an insight into the notion of stalemate. Laid out in the main body of the museum, here is where the big hardware (lorries, aircraft, tanks, artillery pieces, etc.) is on show, making the museum a unique place where visitors can see the full range of objects and documents bearing witness to the conflict. This main display is complemented by a themed display: eight spaces look at topics that cut across the conflict (A New War, Bodies and Suffering, Globalisation, A Mobilised Society, etc.), adding new ways into the subject. The presentation is different for each of the spaces, thereby breaking up the monotony of the experience, as each new setting renews visitors’ interest. Obviously, the objects in the collection are at the heart of the display: they lend and take on meaning in their relationship with the space and in the dialogue they establish with the museum resources, and ultimately move visitors to ask questions about their own memories. By arousing interest and curiosity, the museum encourages visitors to interrogate their own personal history.

An innovative interaction

If visitors are greeted by ambient sounds even before they set foot in the museum, once inside, they find a whole series of objects to touch in the displays. Known as “martyr objects”, they belong to the collections and offer the public an opportunity to handle materials and shapes. There is also a wealth of interactive tools that aim to put the visitor in the driving seat: wearing special glasses to experience 3D stereoscopic views, feeling the weight of soldiers’ kit bags or coils of barbed wire, guessing what objects are in the archaeological niches, educational games to grasp the economic impact of the war or discover the different belligerent nations, interactive terminals to offer a deeper insight into the collection. All of this makes for an attractive and dynamic visitor experience, involving the different senses, thereby aiding the immersion in what is a complex subject.

The Musée de la Grande Guerre du Pays de Meaux is today an essential site for discovering the history of the First World War, and the area has become a remembrance tourism destination. The years of the centenary commemorations contributed to that process, which is sure to continue as the museum celebrates its tenth anniversary with a special season in 2021-22.

Sources : © Musée de la Grande Guerre

Arras and the First World War (1914-18)

Arras was at the centre of battle throughout the First World War. After falling into German hands in 1914 and then taken back by the French, it was defended by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) from spring 1916. Almost razed to the ground, the town had become an underground city organised into a maze of galleries several kilometres long (known as boves) that were used during the great offensive of 1917. At the start of April, at dawn, some 20,000 British soldiers emerged in the surrounding German trenches to the complete surprise of the enemy, managing to seize officers as they were having breakfast.

For the Commonwealth forces, this was an absolute massacre: 159,000 men lost in 39 days, or the equivalent of 4,076 deaths every day. While notching up the biggest death toll, this offensive was nevertheless a significant military victory, perhaps the only one achieved by the Allies in 1917. In 1918, the Germans attempted, in vein, to recapture Arras.

Within the walls of the cemetery, all men are equal. The memorials were created in this spirit, with soldiers and officers lying side by side. The Cross of Sacrifice symbolises the faith of the majority (Christian) whole the Steele Memorial was built in honour of the men of other faiths and atheists.

Used from March 1916 by the British forces, the cemetery was enlarged after the Armistice by the graves repatriated from the battlefield and two small cemeteries nearby. It is the site of 2,651 burial places of Commonwealth soldiers who fought in World War I. A further 30 graves hold men of other nationalities, mainly German. Seven graves date back to the Second World War, when Arras served as the headquarters of British troops until the town was evacuated on 23 May 1940. In German hands at the time, it was taken back by the Allies on 1 September 1944.

For those with no known grave

The cemetery features a memorial that pays tribute to the more than 35,000 missing soldiers whose bodies were never found. These men fought in terrible conditions, against the deadliest weapons of war the world had ever known. Sent from the United Kingdom, South Africa and New Zealand, they fell in the Arras region between spring 1916 and 7 August 1918, the eve of the March to Victory. The Canadian and Australian soldiers killed during this period are commemorated by the memorials in Vimy and Villers-Bretonneux. A specific memorial honours the men who fell during the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.

The Flying Services Memorial bears the names of around 1,000 men from the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force (following the merger of the RNAS and the RFC in April 1918) who were shot down on the Western Front and have no known graves. For the pilots involved in the Battle of Arras, April 1917 was dubbed Bloody April and life expectancy fell to three weeks at 5.30 p.m. Fiercely efficient, the German airforce decimated the RFC forces by a third in just one month.

Faubourg d'Amiens Military Cemetery

Boulevard du général de Gaulle 62000, Arras

Office de tourisme d'Arras

The Battle of Cantigny, which took place from 28 to 31 May 1918, remains extremely important in the history of the United States as it was the first major American battle in the Great War.

The Battle of Cantigny helped to contain the German offensives during the spring of 1918, giving newfound confidence and morale to the Allies and demonstrating the American soldiers’ fighting skills. General John J. Pershing wrote, "It was a question of pride for the American Expeditionary Forces that the division’s troops, in their first battle... should display the moral strength and courage of the veterans, holding on to land taken and refusing to let the enemy take the slightest advantage".

Over 1,000 American soldiers were put out of combat during this battle and 199 of them died. At Cantigny, the 1st Division began a series of American successes, powerfully amplified by the heroic position of the 2nd and 3rd US Divisions along the Marne a few days later. With nearly one million Americans in France at the time, the Allies’ morale was about to change, from a defeatist spirit to the certainty of victory soon to come. Cantigny was the first battle of the US 1st Division (now known as the 1st Infantry Division) which was again to make a name for itself in 1944 during the attack on Omaha Beach in Normandy on 6 June.

Many famous Americans fought at Cantigny, including George C. Marshall, Army Chief of Staff during World War II and later Secretary of Defence and the Secretary of State who implemented the Marshall Plan. Robert R. McCormick, owner of the Chicago Tribune who changed the name of his property to Cantigny when he returned to the United States. Upon his death, the property was transformed into a park open to the public in keeping with his last wishes; a foundation that bears his name was set up along with a museum dedicated to the history of the 1st Division from 1917 to the present, in Wheaton, Illinois. There are several monuments in Cantigny, in the Somme department, that serve to remind us of their exploits. A small private museum houses vestiges of the battle and can be visited by appointment.

"Pays de Parmentier" Tourist Office
5 Place du Général de Gaulle 80500 Montdidier
Tel.: +33 (0) 322 789 200 Fax : +33 (0) 322 780 088
Mail: ot-montdidier@orange.fr

Somme Somme Tourism Committee

“Pays Parmentier” Tourism

 First Division Museum

La Somme 14-18

During the First World War, the Hartmannswillerkopf, a rocky mountain spur dominating the Alsace plain to the south of the Vosges, occupied a strategic position. More than 150,000 men belonging to regiments that came from the whole of France, in particular the Chasseurs et les Diables rouges (Chasseurs and Red Devils) of the Colmar regiment, fought there for four years in order to re-conquer the Alsace. Around 25,000 officers, non-commissioned officers and soldiers fell on the "Vieil Armand", as the poilus or foot soldiers christened it. Situated in the Vosges mountain range at an altitude of 956 metres, the Hartmannswillerkopf site is one of four national monuments of the Great War, during which time it was a strategic battleground. About 25,000 French soldiers died on the slopes of the "Vieil Armand". Listed as a historic monument in 1921, it has been developed thanks to a national fund under the noble patronage of the President of the Republic and five Marshals of France. Several buildings were constructed between 1924 and 1929 at this important place of remembrance and the whole place was inaugurated in October 1932 by the President of the Republic, Albert Lebrun.

Today the site of the battlefield, well maintained and signposted, is one of the most well preserved in France. Forty-five kilometres of paths and trenches provide access to French fortifications, such as the Roche Sermet and the Roche Mégard and to some German structures (Aussichtsfelsen etc.). These paths also lead to a cemetery, to the monument to the 152nd infantry regiment and to the steles (Serret, Chambaud and the one recalling the sacrifice of lieutenant Pierre Scheurer, who died on the 28th April 1915) and finally, to some German monuments such as the one to the chasseurs, and to the staircase with 560 steps "to the sky".
Built on sloping land, the Silberloch cemetery has 1,264 graves of soldiers who could be identified and six ossuaries. Dominating the cemetery, an alter to the Homeland, facing east towards the summit of the Hartmannswillerkopf, has been constructed on a stone esplanade above the crypt. Identical to the one of 1790, it symbolises the mass movement of volunteers who rushed to the borders to defend the Republic. On its four sides are the names of the towns that took part in financing the collection of monuments: Paris, Strasbourg, Colmar, Mulhouse, Besançon, Metz, Lille, Rouen, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Nantes etc. An eighty metre long trench provides access to the cultural crypt, in the centre of which is the ossuary. Covered with a bronze shield six metres in diameter, it contains the remains of some 12,000 unknown soldiers. The word "Patrie" (Homeland) is engraved on the shield in gold lettering. The entrance to the crypt, which is closed by a wrought iron gate bearing the inscription Ad lucem perpetuat, is guarded by two archangels created by the sculptor Antoine Bourdelle.
Inside, weapons and equipment recovered from the battlefield are on display, as well as photographs and sculptures. On the walls of the corridor leading to the crypt are bronze plaques bearing the numbers of the 101 units, regiments et battalions that succeeded each other on the battle field over fifty-two months. A Catholic Chapel with a statue of the Virgin Mary on top, also by Antoine Bourdelle, is decorated with inscriptions composed by Monseigneur Ruch, the first bishop of Strasbourg after 1918. Sites for the Protestant and Jewish religions have also been built. A reinforced concrete cross 20 m high and 5.25 m wide stretches out towards the hills of the Vosges. It was illuminated for the first time on the night of the 10th November 1936.
The Vieil Armand Battlefield Route des crêtes 68700 Wattwiller Tel.: 03 89 75 50 35