Télécharger la plaquette

Click here to view the cemetery's information panel 

Creation of the cemetery

The National Cemetery of Fleury-devant-Douaumont contains the remains of French soldiers killed in the fighting that took place in the Verdun area from 1914 to 1918, and in particular the Battle of Verdun. Created in 1923, the cemetery was developed until 1936. Once the site had been chosen, in 1923, the War Graves Department, with the aid of the Metz engineers’ regiment, levelled a plot of land of several hectares, where major clearance work had been carried out to recover any abandoned hardware and hazardous munitions.

Once the land was level, the avenues and graves were laid. In August 1925, the bodies buried in small cemeteries around Verdun were transferred to the right half. In November, the cemetery received the exhumed bodies from the disused Fleury cemetery. In October 1926, it received those from the Fontaine de Tavannes cemetery. Over subsequent years, as bodies went on being discovered in the “red zone” – up to 500 per month – they were laid to rest here, over half of them identified. The cemetery also received the bodies from the cemetery of Bois Contant.
In accordance with the Law of 29 December 1915, which instituted a perpetual resting place for servicemen killed in action, the cemetery contains over 16 000 bodies in individual graves, and a Muslim plot containing 592 graves. Of the 1 781 Muslim graves laid in plots or rows in 16 cemeteries, the largest plots are to be found at Douaumont, with 592 graves, Bras with 254, and Dugny with 201. Each grave is marked with a Muslim gravestone, engraved with the words “Here lies” in Arabic, followed by the name of the deceased. There is also a special burial plot for unknown soldiers whose bodies were discovered recently. Six French soldiers killed in the Second World War are buried here.

Historical information

 The Battle of Verdun

Forty kilometres from the German border established in 1871, the village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont had a population of 422 in 1913. By September 1914, at the end of the First Battle of the Marne, the front line had reached the outskirts of Fleury and became entrenched to the north of the village. Located on the road between Verdun and Douaumont, at the heart of a major fortified position, in 1915 Fleury was naturally incorporated in the fortified area of Verdun, i.e. at the convergence between the two opposing armies.

On 21 February 1916, Operation Gericht, the brainchild of General Falkenhayn, was launched against the French positions. From February to December 1916, French and German troops fought one another in what was one of the most terrible battles of the Great War. From the outset of the offensive, the village came under severe bombardment, and was immediately evacuated. After the fall of Fort Douaumont, on 25 February, Fleury became particularly exposed to pressure from the enemy. Situated between the fortifications of Froideterre and Souville, it lay at the heart of the defence of Verdun.

By May 1916, the village was in ruins. After the loss of Fort Vaux, on 7 June, Fleury became decisive in the battle for Verdun. Fierce grenade battles took place here, giving the French considerable cause for concern. Between June and August, the village changed hands 16 times. In this fiercely contested sector, where the units engaged soon reached the limit of their strength, the French troops of the 128th and 130th Infantry Divisions vied with each other in audacity against the Bavarian guard and the elite units of the Alpenkorps. Stepping up the battering, the Germans were now no more than four kilometres from Verdun. On 11 July 1916, they captured the Fleury powder magazine, a munitions store dug out of the rock, ten metres below ground.

Yet the German impetus was halted, because the French soldiers had received orders to stand firm everywhere and counter-attack with whatever resources were available. At considerable human cost, the French clung to their positions and succeeded in defusing the pressure from the enemy. The ruins of the village were finally retaken on 18 August by the marsouins of the Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco, and were used as a base for the autumn offensives whose objective was to recapture the forts of Douaumont and Vaux.

There is nothing left of the village and surrounding farms. In 1918, the village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont was one of 12 villages in the department awarded the status of “village meusien mort pour la France” (Meuse village that died for France). After receiving an army citation in September 1920, the ruins of the village of Fleury were included in the “red zone”, over time becoming a key remembrance site of the Battle of Verdun.

The ossuary

Officially opened on 23 June 1929 by President Gaston Doumergue, the national cemetery was bound up with the construction of the Douaumont ossuary, since there had been no front-line cemetery here during the First World War. Dominating the cemetery, this imposing monument was erected on the initiative of Monseigneur Ginisty, bishop of Verdun. From as early as 1919, it was often impossible to attribute an identity, or even a nationality, to hundreds of thousands of remains found scattered across the sectors of the Verdun region. Monseigneur Ginisty, chairman of the ossuary’s committee, travelled throughout France and across the world giving talks to raise the funds needed to erect the final monument.

The first stone was laid on 20 August 1920 by Marshal Pétain, honorary chairman of the ossuary’s committee. The transfer of the bones from the temporary ossuary to the permanent ossuary took place in September 1927. It was officially opened on 7 August 1932 by President Albert Lebrun, at a ceremony attended by French and foreign dignitaries and a huge crowd of veterans, pilgrims and families of the dead and disappeared.

With its grandness and clean lines, this imposing structure was designed by Léon Azéma, Max Edrei and Jacques Hardy. The main body of the monument consists of a 137-metre-long cloister, with recesses housing the 46 tombs (one for each main sector of the battlefield, from Avocourt to Les Éparges) containing the remains of 130 000 French and German soldiers. In line with the cloister, above the main porch, stands a “Tower of the Dead” in the form of a lighthouse whose rotating beam illuminates the former battlefield.  Rising to a height of 46 metres, the tower offers panoramic views and from it a two-tonne bell, the “Bell of Victory”, rings out at each ceremony.
Today, the monument is part of the Meuse landscape. For some, it resembles a sword embedded in the earth up to its hilt, with only the handle showing, serving as a lantern. For others, the tower evokes a shell, a symbol the industrialisation of this major battle of the First World War. Meanwhile, the cloister may evoke the soldiers’ heroic defence of Verdun, or embody the Verdun fortifications, against which waves of enemy attacks proved in vain.

Close to the cemetery are two other religious monuments. One, erected in 1938, is in memory of the Jewish soldiers who died for France in the First World War. The other, located in the commune of Douaumont and unveiled in 2006, honours the Muslim soldiers killed in that conflict.

At the foot of the main staircase, the remains of General François Anselin, killed in action on 24 October 1916, were buried in 1948. Assigned on request to the command of the 214th Brigade, he was mortally wounded by shrapnel while conducting operations in the Poudrière ravine aimed at recapturing Fort Douaumont.

Facing the cemetery, a plaque remembers the historic handshake between President François Mitterrand and Chancellor Helmut Kohl that sealed Franco-German reconciliation in 1984.

The complex comprising the National Cemetery of Fleury-devant-Douaumont and the Bayonet Trench is classed as a Major National Remembrance Site, in honour of the sacrifice made by French soldiers in the Great War at Verdun (1914-18).

Ossuaire de Douaumont

55 100 Douaumont

Tél. : 03.29.84.54.81

Fax : 03.29.86.56.54

Mail : infos@verdun-douaumont.com

Departmental Tourist Board
Tel.: +33 (0)3.29.45.78.40

Verdun National Cemeteries Department

13, rue du 19ème BCP

55100 Verdun

Tel.: +33 (0)3.29.86.02.96

Fax: +33 (0)3.29.86.33.06

Email: diracmetz@wanadoo.fr

Opening times

The National Cemetery of Douaumont is open to the public all year round.
Douaumont Ossuary is open to the public free of charge from September to November. 9 am to 12 pm and 2 pm to 5 pm / 6 pm - December: 2 pm to 5 pm - 
Closed from 1 February to the February school holidays - March: 9 am to 12 pm and 2 pm to 5.30 pm - April to August: 9 am to 6 pm / 6.30 pm

Douaumont Ossuary

Meuse Departemental Authority

Meuse Tourist Board

Verdun tTrism Office

The Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure National Cemetery and Memorial (Nécropole nationale et mémorial de Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure) were erected shortly after WWII to the memory of soldiers killed in action and of the 1,465 martyrs of the Resistance.

Shortly after vanquishing German occupants in October 1944, a handful of soldiers and resistance fighters decided to erect a Resistance memorial in Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure cemetery to the memory of the men and women who had served as volunteers and fallen "Pour la liberté and la grandeur de la patrie" ("For the freedom and grandeur of the nation").

This necropolis spans over two hectares. Most of the 2,255 soldiers and resistance fighters buried here were from Southwest France. This cemetery's distinctive feature, however, is that it is perched on a hillside. A large-scale refurbishing project involved refacing the memorial, renewing the plantations and building a car park. In 2000 and 2001, a sizeable promotional drive involved publishing a flyer, providing visitor-information boards, and refurbishing the reception area and memorial crypt.

Efforts to "rekindle the flame of remembrance" began very shortly after the Liberation in October 1944, at the hands of a group of soldiers and resistance fighters under Colonel André Chabanne, who had led the Bir'Hakeim maquis and the Charente Secret Army. F. Poncelet, an architect and resistant, designed the cemetery and memorial. Work began in 1945 (German prisoners erected the buildings by hand) and ended in 1951 thanks to a franc 5,000,000 grant from the French State prompted by Félix Gaillard's 10 August 1950 speech in the National Assembly. French President Vincent Auriol (1884-1966) inaugurated this memorial on 21 October 1951 alongside Minister for War Veterans Emmanuel Temple and then Deputy Minister for National Defence Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury.

The building faces maquis bases. It is 21 metres high and features a victory V (the emblem of the Resistance) and the Cross of Lorraine. Considerable financial and physical resources went into this memorial. It took five years to build, cost francs 13,000,000, and weighs 2,000 tonnes.
The blocks weigh as much as two tonnes each. The bas-reliefs span 80 sq m. Builders had to dig a 1,125 sq m hole for the 2,000 cubic metres of concrete and 30 tonnes of steel used to build the crypt and nine supporting pillars.

Messrs Peyronnet, Guiraud and Lamourdedieu carved the bas-reliefs depicting the lives of civilian and military resistance fighters, and their sacrifices to liberate France. The 28 alcoves in the crypt hold the remains of 30 fighters, including Colonel Chabanne and the military delegate for Southwest France Region B. Visitors entering the crypt will see an inscription overhead: "Français, ne les oubliez pas" ("People of France, do not forget them").
 

ONAC de la Haute Vienne

6 rue Haute de la Comédie - 87000 LIMOGES

Tél. : +33 (0)555 33 51 30

Tourism Office Haute-Charente

Maison des Lacs - 16310 Massignac

Tel : 05.45.65.26.69

Fax : 05.45.64.90.83

Chasseneuil-sur-Bonnieure is 30 km from Oradour-sur-Glane, on the road from Limoges to Angoulême.

Cemetery and memorial admission is free of charge all year round. Guided tours are available working days and by appointment on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays.

Covering an area of hectares, The American Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer is one of fourteen American Second World War cemeteries on foreign soil, and is managed by the ABMC, American Battle Monuments Commission.

9,386 graves are arranged in rows on this huge rectangular area, each marked by a stele in white Italian marble, in the form of either a cross or a star of David. On the right hand side of the entrance there is a capsule that will be opened on 6th June 2044, a century after D-day: it contains press articles from the time, and a message from Eisenhower to future generations.

The cemetery memorial consists of a colonnade with a seven-metre bronze statue symbolising American youth at its centre. Opposite the rows of graves, on the plinth of the work created by Donald De Lue, the following inscription can be read: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Both ends of the semi-circular colonnade overlook loggias guarded by two great urns crowned by statues. The walls display maps carved into the stone representing the successive phases of the battle: the action of the airborne commandos, the naval plan of the landings, and the fighting on the four beaches. To the east of the memorial, the arc of the circle described by the garden to the missing holds the mortal remains of 1,557 American soldiers who were either drowned or unidentifiable. A chapel stands amid the graves, housing a coloured mosaic symbolising America blessing its children as they left to fight for freedom. A flight of steps leads to the sea, from where visitors have a wide panorama over Omaha Beach, as shown by the viewing table. Twelve kilometres away, rises the Pointe du Hoc monument erected by the French, and accidentally glimpsed in scenes from the 1962 film, "The Longest Day"

The remains of the heroes of the Normandy campaign have rested in peace since the official inauguration of the cemetery on 18th July 1956. Their final resting place was given in perpetuity by the French Republic to the United States of America.

Tours

Opposite the memorial, the American flag flies every day over the great bowl formed by the site, which is closed on 25th December and 1st January.

Access

Seventeen kilometres north-west of Bayeux, via Surrain.

The Normandy American Cemetery "Omaha Beach"

14170 Colleville-sur-Mer

tel. +33 2.31.51.62.00

fax. +33 2.31.51.62.09

American Battle Monuments Commission

Courthouse Plaza II, Suite 500 2300 Clarendon Boulevard Arlington,

VA 22201 United States Of America

tel. (00 1) (703) 696-6897

At the end of the Second World War, the radar was in its infancy; however, some models were capable of detecting movements at sea, day and night, at a distance beyond the reach of the human eye.

The occupying forces and the allies stepped up their research into and installation of these “wizard’s ears”.

In Douvres, due to its altitude, a long-range radar was installed in late 1942 as a means to notify the military staff of any attempt to land in the region. 

However, as happens each time a weapon of war is invented… a means to neutralise it quickly follows suit. The countermeasure of fog and false echoes were extremely popular during the night of the 5^th of June 1944!

The Radar Museum

The radar station remained an entrenched camp until 17 June (10 days after the liberation of Douvres itself).

Today attached to the Memorial of Caen, the radar station is the only one of its kind on the coast.

Two remarkably preserved bunkers and original displays help visitors to understand the role of radars and their technical development.

A couple of miles from the Juno landing beaches, the German radar station in Douvres, along the Route de Basly, served as an entrenched camp for several days. An advanced surgical unit was set up near a convent in La Délivrande. 

The first bodies buried here were soldiers killed on 6 June 1944.

Later, the bodies of soldiers killed between the coast and Caen were buried here.

The British cemetery

At the entrance to the town, on the road from Caen, the entrance to the cemetery is immediately identifiable.

A square pavilion with a peaked roof covered in stone is surrounded by pergolas. In line with the porch, the Cross of Sacrifice stands at the far end of the central walkway. It is erected on a small grassy mound and surrounded by low walls.

The steles are symmetrically placed either side of the central walkway bordered by trimmed yew trees. The German plot with the various stone stele and two-sloped roof stands in the right section of the site. Curiously, the grave of the only Polish soldier is set apart.

Big lime trees and magnolias mainly planted around the edges of the site separate the cemetery from neighbouring houses. The cemetery is enclosed by trimmed hedges of hornbeams or beeches.

Musée Franco-Allemand « Station Radar 44 » Route de Bény – CD83 – 14440 Douvres-la-Délivrande

Tél. : 07.57.48.77.32

Site internet : www.musee-radar.fr - Courriel : contact@musee-radar.fr

Choisissez votre mode de visite :

 en autonomie : en suivant les panneaux

 Avec Audiospot : en téléchargeant une application gratuite qui transforme son propre smartphone en Audioguide

 Visites Commentées (par un guide bénévole) réservation sur le site internet obligatoire

 Musée du Radar - Douvres-la-Délivrande. Michel.dehaye@avuedoiseau.com

In West Africa, tata is a Wolof word meaning “plot of sacred land”, the place where warriors killed in combat are buried.

In Chasselay, in the Rhône, this name takes on its true meaning when you delve into the local annals and learn the history of the events that took place here during the Second World War.

The battles

On 19 and 20 June 1940, ignorant of the fact that Lyon had just been declared an “open city”, the 25^th Senegalese Infantry Regiment confronted the German army in Chasselay and the surrounding area.

Despite their bravery, they were finally forced to lay down arms. The battles were terminated by the massacre of African prisoners by the SS division Totenkopf (Death’s Head).

The tata

Rectangular in shape, surrounded by high walls surmounted on each corner and above the entrance by a spiked pyramid, the tata is architecturally inspired by Sudanese architecture.

The massive oak door bears eight different stylised sculpted masks displaying idols that keep watch over the deceased at rest. The surrounding walls and grave stones are red ochre in colour.

The cemetery holds the remains of 196 infantrymen of various nationalities from West Africa. They originated from Senegal but also Burkina Faso (Upper Volta at the time), Dahomey, Sudan, Chad and other nations.

The origins of the cemetery

This unique building in France is owed to Jean Marchiani. A veteran of the war of 1914-1918, in 1940 he held the position of General Secretary of the Departmental Office of disabled ex-servicemen, veterans and victims of war.

As soon as he heard about the events of 19 and 20 June, he decided to bring together the bodies of the African soldiers, some of whom were buried in local cemeteries while others were often simply left to lay in ditches in the middle of the countryside.

After identifying the villages where bodies were buried, Jean Marchiani bought a plot of land in Chasselay, near the locality of Vide-Sac where 50 Senegalese prisoners were shot by the enemy, and raised funds. He was backed by General Doyen, former commander of the Army of the Alps, and Senegal Deputy Calendou Diouf.

The inauguration took place on 8 November 1942, three days before the invasion of the free zone by the Germans.

This memorial and site for contemplation was classified as a national cemetery in 1966. The property of the Ministry of Defence, it is managed by the interdepartmental department of veterans’ affairs for the Rhône-Alpes region.

Nécropole nationale de Chasselay (Chasselay National Cemetery)

Getting there: Take the D100 in the direction of Les Chères Chasselay (Rhône)

Opening times: 10 am to 6 pm

Guided tours: 10 am to 12 pm and 2-5 pm

Admission: free of charge

The soldiers buried here include Marcel Gueugnon, who died for France on 9 June 1940 and is buried alongside his father, Lieutenant Marius Gueugnon, who died on 20 August 1918. Grave 8 contains the remains of two brothers killed in 1917, Georges and Prosper Humbert.

The cemetery on the Route de Solesmes

Located on the road to Solesmes, this cemetery not only evokes the fate of this town, occupied by the Germans from 26 August 1914 to 9 October 1918, but most importantly the first battle of Cambrai, from 20 November until 3 December 1917, the German offensive of March 1918 and this second battle of Cambrai, the last battle on the Hindenburg line, which was to finally liberate the city in October 1918, the town by then having endured terrible destruction.

Later the town was "adopted" by the County Town of Birkenhead. The cemetery had been created by the Germans during their occupation from March 1917. They had constructed a few monuments and a stone cross there. On 11 August 1918, the Bavarian commander of the town had handed over the maintenance of the cemetery to the town. Afterwards the German Military cemetery that was in Cambrai was transferred there to the Saint-Sépulcre cemetery. The graves have now been regrouped. The remains of 10,685 Germans, 192 Russians, 6 Romanians and 502 British are to be found there.

13 km to the north east of Bapaume on the road between Cambrai and Bapaume is the Louverval Memorial. It commemorates the 7,048 British and South African soldiers who died at the Battle of Cambrai in November and December 1917 and whose graves are unknown. The Battle of Cambrai, marked by a breakthrough on 20 November, a cessation on positions on 22 November and a German counter attack between 23 and 29 November, resulted in a limited gaining of ground but taught the Allies some valuable tactical and strategic lessons. For their part, the Germans had discovered that their line of defence was vulnerable. The Memorial, situated on a terrace at the far end of the military cemetery, was designed by H. Chalton Bradshaw and the sculptor C.S. Jagger, whose two bas-reliefs illustrating battle scenes are to be admired.

1917 had been a terrible year for all the fighting nations during the ongoing First World War. At the end of the year, the British, seeking to destroy the Hindenburg line (the defensive system for the territories occupied by the Germans), decided to launch an offensive to the south of Cambrai involving the large-scale use of tanks. The battle was merciless: the first battles were a great success for the British troops, except at Flesquières, but the Germans, at first thrown into confusion, very quickly started a powerful counter-offensive. For 15 days, attacks and counter-attacks were to follow in succession, with neither of the two armies chalking up decisive success. The human losses were enormous: 45,000 British and 55,000 Germans were killed, as whole villages were destroyed. During the First World War, a new weapon appeared on the battlefields: the tank. Tanks were designed to support the attacks of the infantry, driving them across enemy lines. During the battle in November 1917, the "Tank Corps" of the third British Army (a total of 476 tanks) was engaged to break through the Hindenburg line.

The objective of the battle was to take the strategic positions of the Flesquières ridge and the Bourlon woods before targeting the liberation of Cambrai. At Flesquières, the British attack came up against fierce resistance from German troops, who managed to destroy or immobilise several tanks. One of those destroyed was buried by the Germans in the spring of 1918. In November 1998, thanks to a handful of enthusiasts, it was unearthed. Today this war relic can be seen in Flesquières. At Cambrai, the memory of this battle lives on through the monument to the soldiers from the Cambrai regiments, opposite the gate to the citadel and through the French Remembrance monument listing all those from Cambrai who died in combat during the Great War. The Louverval cemetery is an important place of remembrance for them.

Characteristics: - 26.5 tonnes - 8.50 metres long - 3.20 metres wide - 52 cm wide tracks - 5 machine guns with 13,000 to 30,000 cartridges - Crew of 8 men.
It was on the Flesquières ridge that the most important episode of the Battle of Cambrai took place. Overlooking the valley, it is possible for us to imagine the starting point of the British attack on 20 November 1917, on a front of about 8 km stretching from Havrincourt to Bonavis. There used to be a mill there, but since it could be used as a reference point for the British artillery, it was destroyed by the Germans. Today there is a project to build an orientation table showing the Hindenburg line's defensive system and erect a monument to the glory of the soldiers who fell on the battlefield.

This raised German bunker is characterised by its shape and its use, as it served as an observation tower. In fact, its position allowed communication with Cambrai using visual signals. The observation post was attached to the château garden. The building is still very well preserved today.

An exact replica trench was created for the filming of the documentary "he Trench" by the BBC. Tours of the site are possible on request to complement a tour of the tank.
 

Flesquières Hill British Cemetery

In this cemetery, as in all those with more than 400 graves, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission has built a "Remembrance Stone" on which is engraved the inscription "Their Name Liveth For Evermore". In addition, the cemetery contains the graves of 589 known and 332 unknown soldiers. Next to the British are buried the soldiers from New Zealand and Australia who took part in the fighting at the end of the war.

Orival Wood British Cemetery

The remains of the famous English poet, Lieutenant Ewart Alan Mackintosh are buried here. In the same place there are also the graves of Canadian and German soldiers killed in the Flesquières sector.

Located just six miles northwest of Lens, this cemetery was started in August 1915 during the Battle of Loos-en-Gohelle, when the chateau was used as a medical clinic. This site contains the bodies of over 2,000 fallen soldiers, 200 of which were never identified; special memorials were erected to six soldiers from the United Kingdom, known to be buried among them. Seven French soldiers are also buried here.

At the entrance to the cemetery, the chapel of Notre Dame de Lourdes built before the war by the Bréhon family has been reconstructed in its original spot.

MINDEF/SGA/DMPA Northern territory