The area was further developed between December 1914 and May 1915 and reinforced with trenches, dugouts and shelters. In Spring 1915, the gunner Roland Dorgelès, author of the novel Croix de Bois, was stationed there, as was Lieutenant Charles de Gaulle.

In March 2016, the Germans took control of the wood. On 10 March, along the River Aisne, the enemy opened artillery fire on the French positions on the Chemin des Dames ridge from the hamlet of Troyon around 10 kilometres west of Craonne through to Berry-au-Bac. On 17 March 1916, during one of these battles, the poet Guillaume Apollinaire received a shrapnel wound to the head  and was evacuated and trepanned. Weakened by his injury and the operation, he died of Spanish flu in November 1918.

The soldiers buried at the cemetery include the body of Jules-Gérard Jordens, who died two days before his 31st birthday. Born in Nice in1885, this French poet was called up to the 246th Infantry Regiment (IR) as a stretcher bearer. He was moved to the Aisne and then to Artois and was killed at Bois-de-Buttes in 1916. The name of this man of letters figures in the Pantheon in Paris, along with those of the 560 writers who were officially awarded the ‘Died for France’ distinction. Moreover, Robert André Michel, a well-known archivist and palaeographer, died on 13 October 1914 at Crouy.

A dedicated square plot contains the graves of 67 British soldiers killed in October 1914 and from May to October 1918. These remains were exhumed from neighbouring French military cemeteries. At the end of the Marne counter-offensive, the British Expeditionary Force engaged between the French 5th Army and the French 6th Army, where it was deployed in the direction of Laon between Soissons and Craonne. However, due to enemy resistance and troop fatigue, the German forces could not be dislodged. At the end of these exhausting battles, the British, at the request of their command, moved to Flanders. In Spring 1918, a few contingents returned to this region.

At the end of the war, the village of Pontavert was in ruins. Commended in the Army Order on 17 October 1920, Pontvaert was aided by the Cantal region to rebuild its village.

In Spring 1940, war once again wreaked havoc on Pontavert.

Pursuing the defeated enemy on the Marne, the French and the English crossed the Aisne region on 13 September 1914. However, the Germans got a hold of the Chemin des Dames plateau very quickly. After heavy fighting, the enemy managed to remain the sole master of the plateau in November 1914. This progressively turned into a fortress that was only definitively liberated in October 1918 by French and Italian troops.

The Craonnelle National Cemetery was built during the war near an aid station. It includes the bodies of soldiers who died in battle for France along the Chemin des Dames from 1914 to 1918. After the war, the cemetery was developed to accommodate other soliders buried on the Plateau de Californie and the Plateau des Casemates, or those buried in temporary cemeteries at the aid stations of Flandres à Oulches, Vassogne, Jumigny, Craonne, Moulin Vauclair. This cemetery is home to nearly 4,000 French bodies nearly half of which are in two ossuaries. In addition, 24 British soldiers and two Belgian soldiers are also buried there.

A regimental monument was erected in memory of those who died from the 163th infantry regiment in August 1917, including 58 soldiers who are buried on the site. Among the French soldiers, in a communal grave, lie François and Emile Texier. These two brothers from the Puy-de-Dôme died respectively on 20 September 1914 in Vic-sur-Aisne and 16 June 1917 next to Cuissy.

A nearby German cemetery contains 4,346 soldiers (3,993 in ossuaries). Major commemorative ceremonies are held at the Chemin des Dames memorial chapel, which is on the other side of the road. On the square in front of the edifice stands a “lantern of the dead” preserving the memory of the soldiers who died during the conflict. The memorial is completed by a British monument to the British Expeditionary Forces’ engagement in the sector, notably the first battalion of the North Loyal Lancashire Regiment, which in September 1914 fought around the old sugar factory overlooking the plateau.

Kanak riflemen in the Aisne: the Pacific Mixed Battalion

The Bataillon Mixte du Pacifique (Pacific Mixed Battalion – BMP) was formed of Kanak, Caledonian and Tahitian soldiers. From August to October 1917, these men shored up their position in the Ailette sector. In June 1918, they fought in the Battle of Matz. Attached to the 418th Infantry Regiment, this unit took part in the bloody attack on the Pasly plateau, near Soissons. On 25 October, the BMP distinguished itself during the capture of Vesles, Caumont and Le Petit Caumont farm. In the space of a few hours, 32 Kanaks, ten Tahitians and five Caledonians were killed. Today, the national cemeteries of Flavigny-le-Petit, Soupir, Ambleny and Cerny-en-Laonnois contain the remains of these soldiers, like Alosio Waangou, a native of Saint-Gabriel-Pouébo, New Caledonia, who was killed on 29 September 1918 on Hill 193 and is buried in grave no 3113.

The Chemin des Dames, a key sector on the First World War front

From the very first weeks, the Chemin des Dames plateau was fought over by the belligerents, who knew that, by occupying this strategic position, they could observe the plains of Reims and Soissons. After the Allied push across the Marne, the enemy retreated to the plateau, which was progressively fortified. In autumn 1914, violent fighting broke out in the sector of Vailly-sur-Aisne, Crouy and on Hill 132.

On the eve of spring 1917, the French planned to launch a massive offensive in this sector that had hitherto been spared. But the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line forced General Nivelle to rethink the focus of the operation. On the morning of 16 April, after an intense bombardment which proved to be of limited impact, the first waves went over. After climbing the slopes of the plateau, they came up against barbed wire, much of it intact, and were mown down by machine-gun fire. At a cost of major sacrifices, the French reached the plateau’s ridge. On the 17th, despite difficult weather conditions, they persevered in their efforts. Yet a lack of success saw Nivelle’s authority crumble. From 16 to 30 April, 147 000 men were put hors de combat, 40 000 of them dead.

On the verge of collapse, French morale wavered. With the failure of the offensive, mutinies broke out in the ranks of some units, who refused to go to the front. When protests became more widespread in May 1917, the military authorities reacted. Many arrests were made. Those held to be the ringleaders were tried and sentenced by military tribunals. Over 500 death sentences were passed, then commuted by the political authorities. Even so, nearly 30 were carried out. Meanwhile, a more effective system of rotation and leave was introduced.

During the summer, fresh attacks with more limited objectives were launched against strategic positions on the plateau, namely at Craonne and Laffaux. With autumn came the Battle of Malmaison. In the spring of 1918, the Chemin des Dames was once again fiercely contested. On 27 May 1918, the Germans surged forward, shaking up the French positions. They quickly occupied the Chemin des Dames. The front was broken. But on 18 July, the movement was halted. The Allies counter-attacked, pushing back the enemy. During the weeks that followed, the fighting raged. On 10 October, one month before the armistice, the Germans abandoned the plateau for good to French and Italian troops.
 

Today, this national cemetery is home to 1,077 soldiers including 598 French soldiers, 120 of whom lie in an ossuary. One French soldier from WWII also lies in the cemetery.

This national cemetery also includes a German section with 478 soldiers who died in 1918 during the Ludendorff fourth offensive, which started on the Chemin des Dames on 27 May and led them to Château-Thierry in June 1918.

A mausoleum chapel was built in memory of the artillery and infantry officers who died in 1917 and 1918.

Nearby is the only Danish cemetery from the First World War. It includes 79 graves of soldiers from the province of Schleswig, which was annexed by the German empire in 1866 and returned to Denmark in 1920 following a plebiscite. These soldiers were enlisted in the German army against their wishes. At the request of their families, their remains were removed from the German cemeteries and brought to Braine in 1934.

The village of Braine was awarded the Croix de Guerre (War Cross) on 21 October 1920.

The Vailly-sur-Aisne National Military Cemetery is the final resting place for soldiers who gave their lives for France during the Chemin des Dames offensive in April 1917. Established at the same time as the battles, it was enlarged in 1924 and 1935 to include bodies of soldiers exhumed from nearby interim cemeteries (Allemant, Jouy, Laffaux, Nanteuil-la-Fosse, Sancy and du Bois-Morin). The cemetery contains the individual and collective tombs of 1,576 soldiers, including 1,559 French combatants from World War I and 17 from World War II.  It adjoins a British military cemetery where 676 soldiers, who primarily fell in September 1914, are buried.