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.

Emile Paris is one of the Resistance fighters buried in Floing. Emile, along with his brother Adrien, was one of the first to join the Autrecourt maquis – Ardenne’s first underground organisation, founded in February 1943, where he was responsible for supply missions. He was arrested in June 1943 and sentenced to death by the German military tribunal in Charleville on 31 August. On 1 November 1943, he was shot on the Berthaucourt plateau in Mezieres. The cemetery also houses the remains of Alphonse Masier, a draughtsman and a member of the Resistance, involved in the Organisation civil et militaire (OCM, “Civil and Military Organisation”) was shot on 23 September 1943.

Vitry-le-François was at the centre of the fighting during the first Battle of the Marne. Following the French victory, it became one of the conflict's most important relief centres. Located 60 km behind the front, this "hospital town" took in between 2,000 and 3,000 wounded in around 10 medical facilities during the major offensives.

During the war, the inhabitants of Vitry-le-François maintained the graves and welcomed and provided information to the bereaved families. A chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary was erected between 1920 and 1921. In the foundations of this monument - which stands at the centre of the cemetery - lie the mortal remains of 1,127 unknown soldiers who were exhumed from the cemeteries at Blesmes and the Mont-Moret.  There is a plaque on the dome in memory of the 304 inhabitants of Vitry who died for France between 1914 and 1918.

In April 1915, following the violent battles at the Hurlus, four soldiers were accused of intentional self-mutilation.  Tried for "abandoning their posts", they were shot at Saint-Amand-sur-Fion on the morning of 3 April 1915. The war writer Maurice Bedel, who was awarded the Prix Goncourt (French literary prize) in 1927, recounts the story of this execution. Their names were not cleared.

The remains of these four men lie in this cemetery: Lucien Mervelay, soldier with the 174th infantry regiment (RI) aged 29, Louis Grard, soldier with the 127th RI aged 22, Charles Cailleretz, private with the 8th RI aged 25 and Marcel Pollet, soldier with the 72nd RI aged 25. The bodies of the four soldiers, who were previously buried in the temporary military cemetery at Courdemanges, have lain in the ossuary of the national cemetery since August 1922.

Located within the municipality of Minaucourt-Le Mesnil-Les Hurlus, Pont du Marson National Cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the various offensives that took place between 1914 and 1918 in this fiercely contended sector. The cemetery was developed in successive stages from 1922 to 1929, on the site of the temporary cemetery, then known as the Pont du Marson, established during the Battle of Champagne, in 1915. Over 21,000 French soldiers are buried here, including over 12,000 in ossuaries, together with 25 Czechs and 2 Serbians. One French soldier killed in the Second World War is also buried here. The monument dedicated to the heroes of the First World War was built from stones taken from the former church in Massiges.

This military cemetery bears witness to the bloody nature of the Champagne offensives and, more particularly, of the battles at the Main de Massiges, a geographical feature whose shape resembles a hand.

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.

Located in the place known as "La Crouée", the "Souain-Perthes-Les-Hurlus" National Cemetery holds the remains of soldiers who died for France during the battles that took place in Champagne between 1914 and 1918 and during the Campaign for France in 1940. The cemetery holds nearly 30,500 bodies, including over 22,000 in eight ossuaries. It is one of the largest First World War national cemeteries. Two French soldiers who died for France during the Second World War are also buried here. There is a monument commemorating those who died in the 1915 offensives.

Souain La Crouée National Cemetery adjoins the German cemetery where nearly 14,000 German soldiers are buried, including nearly 10,000 in two ossuaries. The men buried here include the Expressionist painter, August Macke, killed at the age of 27 on 26 September 1914, in Perthes.