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The Metz-Chambière national cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Metz-Chambière. © ECPAD

 

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Created in 1870, the Metz-Chambière cemetery contains – as a result of its history - the graves of 13,015 civilians and soldiers of all nationalities. French, Germans, Belgians, Britons, Canadians, Italians and Russian rest in this symbolic place of remembrance of modern conflict. These people died during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), the First World War and the Second World War in military hospitals in Metz or the surrounding area. In 1969, the mortal remains of 711 French soldiers who died between 1939 and 1945 and who were initially buried in 89 Moselle communal cemeteries, were brought here.

This site, which is a testament to this history and to the annexation of Lorraine to the Reichland, boasts one of the richest funereal heritages. At the end of the 19th century, the Germans erected a chapel in order to organise ceremonies dedicated to the soldiers buried in this garrison cemetery. Today this edifice enables ceremonies to be held in remembrance of those who died in all conflicts.

Finally, funereal emblems from all periods are kept here. In cast-iron or stone, they have - depending on the periods concerned - a different symbolism, but each respect the faith of the buried soldier.

 

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Metz
À Metz, rue des deux cimetières

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Eléments remarquables

Monument aux morts 1870-1871 - Chapelle-ossuaire des trois guerres 1870-1945

Choloy-Ménillot French national war cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Choloy-Ménillot. © ECPAD

 

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The national war cemetery of Choloy-Ménillot contains the remains of soldiers who died for France between 1914 and 1918. Established in 1914 to bury those who died from their wounds during hospitalisation in the various medical units in the Toul region, this cemetery was established until 1938, to hold the remains of other soldiers exhumed from other cemeteries, in particular that of Ménil-la-Tour. Nearly 2,000 French soldiers are buried there.

Alongside them are nine French soldiers who died in 1939-1945.

A military square was also built on this site designed to gather together the bodies of allied soldiers initially buried in temporary cemeteries in the south of Meurthe-et-Moselle and the Neufchâteau region. In total, 86 Russian, 49 Polish, six Romanian, two Serbian and one British servicemen are buried there.

Inside the war cemetery, a stone column was erected on the initiative of the association of the Loups du Bois-le-Prêtre, in memory of their comrades who died for France.

 

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Choloy-ménillot
À l’ouest de Toul

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Eléments remarquables

Monument aux morts des 73e et 128e DI des Loups du Bois-le-Prêtre 1914-1918

Commercy National Cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Commercy. © ECPAD

 

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Built in 1914 as a resting place for the bodies of the soldiers who had died in the town’s hospitals, Commercy National Cemetery was further developed up until 1922 so that it could accommodate the bodies exhumed from makeshift military cemeteries in the region of Vaucouleurs. Some 2,200 French soldiers, two British and two Russian soldiers killed during the First World War and a soldier who ‘died for France’ in 1940, Alfred Boiaubert (grave n° 1 785), have been laid to rest in this place.

 

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Commercy
À l’ouest de Toul, D 958

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Glorieux

Nécropole nationale de Verdun "Glorieux". © ECPAD

 

Verdun “Glorieux” National Cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the battles in Verdun from 1916 to 1918. Established in 1916, the cemetery was redesigned in 1967 to accommodate the bodies of other soldiers who fell in the sector of Verdun, including those exhumed from Froméreville Cemetery in 1983.

Covering 20,579 sqm, the bodies of over 4,000 French soldiers and 2 British soldiers killed between 1914 and 1918 are buried at the cemetery

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Verdun

Le Faubourg Pavé Verdun

Nécropole nationale du Faubourg-Pavé. © ECPAD

 

Located in Verdun, Faubourg-Pavé National Cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the battles in Verdun between 1914 and 1918 and of soldiers that fought in the Second World War. Established during the First World War, the cemetery was developed from 1919 to 1926 and redesigned in 1965 to receive the bodies of other soldiers who had originally been buried in cemeteries at Belrupt, the Chevert barracks and Eix-Abaucourt, or were found on the battlefield. From the First World War, over 5,000 French soldiers, a Chinese worker, an Indochinese man, a Luxembourg man and a Romanian are buried here in individual graves or in the ossuaries. From the Second World War, over 600 French, seven British, one Belgian and one Polish soldier are buried here.

In the middle of the cemetery are the graves of the seven unknown soldiers who were kept in Verdun after the ceremony held in the underground citadel in 1920 to choose the Unknown Soldier. The eighth soldier, chosen by Auguste Thin, lies ever since under the arch of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.

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Verdun

Summary

Accès :

Avenue du 30ème corps (à Verdun)

Eléments remarquables

Monument aux fusillés morts pour la France, 1914-18 et 1939-45.Carré et croix monumentale des Sept Inconnus de 1920 (Le 10 novembre 1920 : à Verdun, choix du soldat inconnu de 1914-18).

National cemetery of Bar-le-Duc

La nécropole nationale de Bar-le-Duc. © ECPAD

 

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The French war cemetery of Bar-le-Duc holds the remains of 3,183 soldiers, 63 in ossuaries, who died for France during the battles of Verdun in 1914 to 1918, as well as seven British soldiers.

Created in 1914 this cemetery received bodies exhumed from military cemeteries in the Brionne region up until 1931.

Bar-le-Duc, prefecture of the Meuse became an administrative, military and medical centre during the Great War. Upon mobilization, some buildings were turned into army hospitals. The town hall hosted the headquarters, while the schools were used as billets for the troops. On the eve of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, thirteen medical teams provided care in the seven hospitals in the town. At the train station, an evacuation hospital (HOE) ensured the transfer of the wounded to the various medical facilities in the region, depending on the severity of the wounds. With the growing number of dead, a military cemetery was opened in 1915, at the site of the current national war cemetery. The town was not spared by the bombardments which caused many victims. In recognition of their sacrifices, André Maginot, Deputy of Bar-le-Duc and Minister of Pensions, gave the town the Military Cross on 30 July 1920.

In 1941 then in 1945, the bodies of soldiers and victims who died during World War II were brought together there. Among these men, there lie six French (including resistance fighters shot by occupation troops on 28 August 1944, on the esplanade of the Federation: Robert Lhuerre, Jean Pornot and Gilbert Voitier), a Belgian lieutenant, Armand Jacob, who died at Bar-le-Duc on 15 June 1940 (grave no. 793) and a Soviet, Constantin Maskaloff (grave 2804 A to D).

 

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Bar-le-Duc
Chemin de Nauchamp

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Eléments remarquables

Monument aux héros de la Grande Guerre

Pargny-sur-Saulx National Cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Pargny-sur-Saulx. © ECPAD

 

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Covering 1,459 sqm, Pargny-sur-Saulx National Cemetery holds the remains of 284 French soldiers who were killed during the Battle of the Marne in September 1914. Established in 1919, it was developed up until 1920. The cemetery also holds the remains of three French soldiers and an Australian pilot who were killed during the Second World War. Since 1931, a commemorative monument has stood here, dedicated to the memory of the French soldiers killed in action at Pargny.

 

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Pargny-sur-Saulx
À l’ouest de Bar-le-Duc, D 395

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Eléments remarquables

Monument aux morts 1914-1918

Pierrepont French national war cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Pierrepont. © ECPAD

 

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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.

 

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Pierrepont
Au sud de Longwy, D 66

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Eléments remarquables

Tour-lanterne aux morts des 22 et 23 août 1914

Thionville National Cemetery

La nécropole nationale de Thionville. © ECPAD

 

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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.

 

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Thionville
A 31

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Eléments remarquables

Monument aux morts 1914-1918

Brieulles-sur-Meuse French national war cemetery

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

 

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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.

 

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

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