The Battles of Champagne, 1914-18

The Franco-British counter-offensive on the Marne in September 1914 and the failed “Race to the Sea” signalled the end of the mobile war on the Western Front. To protect themselves from artillery fire, the belligerents dug in.

In the winter of 1915, General Joffre launched a series of attacks on the German trenches in Champagne, all of which failed. Intended to chip away at the German lines in the sectors of Souain, Perthes, Beauséjour and Massiges, these were particularly bloody operations. The front didn’t budge.

In the summer, to break the deadlock and provide support to the struggling Russians on the Eastern Front, Joffre, true to his doctrine, decided to launch a fresh offensive. Supported by another operation in Artois, the main operation took place on the vast, arid chalk plain of Champagne, on a front spanning 15 miles, from Auberive to Ville-sur-Tourbe. It was carried out by the 2nd and 4th Armies, against the Germans of the 3rd Army, who were dug into solid trenches. Further back, on the opposite slope, was a second position, hidden from aerial reconnaissance and out of range of the French guns.

After an artillery bombardment lasting three days, the attack was launched on 25 September. The French took the first lines easily, with the exception of the Butte du Mesnil. To the east of the formation, the Colonial Division took “Main de Massiges”, a key element in the German formation.

But the momentum was broken by the second position, which remained intact. The exhausted French troops had to go on fending off powerful counter-attacks, during which the two armies lost 138 000 men. By November, difficult weather conditions and the sheer scale of the losses forced Joffre to abandon the idea of carrying out further attacks. The front returned to relative calm.

The German offensive of July 1918 put this front once more at centre stage. Reims, under continuous fire from German artillery, came under threat once again. But General Foch, engaging all of his forces from the Meuse to the North Sea, and with growing support from the Americans, conducted a broad manoeuvre. In the Reims area, General Gouraud’s army successively took Navarin, Tahure, Le Mesnil and Sommepy, then advanced towards the Ardennes until November 1918. Today, the Suippes area preserves the memory of this bitter fighting, through the ruins of the villages of Perthes, Hurlus, Mesnil, Tahure and Ripont.

One of the most emblematic monuments of this conflict is erected here, a place that symbolises the second French assault on the Marne: the ghosts of Oulchy-le-Château. The work by the French sculptor of Polish origin, Paul Landowski, depicts ghosts keeping watch over a landscape that today is at peace. Seven dead soldiers, with empty eyes, in the middle of whom appears the naked figure of a hero and martyr, are a reminder of the suffering of the soldiers who died in July 1918.

In May 1918, General Foch turned to Pershing in order to quickly avail of military support from the United States, which had joined the war in April 1917. Two divisions were deployed in the Château-Thierry region in order to contain the enemy advance. For most of these men, it was a baptism of fire. On 4 June, at the cost of significant losses, the movement was halted and, on 6 June, the 2nd American division (DIUS) took over, in the Bois Belleau in particular.

At Château-Thierry, an imposing memorial, Rock of the Marne, was inaugurated in 1933, in memory of the offensive of 18 July 1918 during the second battle of the Marne. Built by the architect Paul Philippe Cret, assisted by Achille-Henri Chauquet, it is a reminder of the commitment of the Americans alongside the French during the second battle of the Marne, notably on Hill 204.

Only two soldiers from the Second World War are buried here: Charles de Rouge, officer cadet with the 1st tank battalion, who died on 10 June 1940 (grave n° 1378) and lieutenant Pierre Charles Pain (grave 585).

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.

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.