Gateway to the sites and museums preserving the memory of the last three wars in the Ardennes department, the Museum of War and Peace in the Ardennes is located at Novion-Porcien.

Built by Agence Trois Arches at the initiative of the Ardennes Departmental Council, this site was inaugurated in July 2003.

Occupying four thousand square metres in two complementary spaces on the ground floor and on the first floor or mezzanine, national and local military aspects of the wars of 1870, 1914-1918 and 1939-1945 are presented.

The visitor reaches the museum from the East through an enclosed, semi-underground space.

The ground floor lets you experience the main events of the conflicts through ten large scenes, each accompanied by an explanatory video. The tone is set with the charge of Prussian infantry, the best trained and best equipped army of the day when Napoleon III declared war on Bismarck and Wilhelm I’s Germany after the Ems Dispatch. Then comes the fighting at the house of the last cartridge in Bazeilles, a village 8 km from Sedan where commander Lambert’s group of seventy men stood up to 2,300 Germans in September 1870.

World War I is depicted through the life of German and French troops in the trenches. The soldiers had left home with "flowers in their gun barrels", but found themselves in a war of positions in which men on both sides dug underground to protect themselves, giving rise to the figure of the French “Poilu” who suffered the rigors of the seasons, shortages and bloody attacks, which in the end led to mutiny.

This visit through five tableaux gives an idea of the military aspects of the last war. Everyday life on the Maginot Line during the Phoney War between September 1939 and May 1940, a fortified underground system desired by the French Army staff headquarters who were convinced that the Ardennes could not be crossed. Then "Case Yellow" is presented, the plan for invading France following the principle of the Blitzkrieg, a joint attack by armoured units and aviation that led to the Allied rout at Dunkirk and the establishment of the Vichy government after the armistice was signed on 22 June 1940.

Everyday life: STO (Service du Travail Obligatoire – Compulsory Work Service), deportation and resistance fill the next scene dedicated to the Allied landing in June 1944. The ups and downs and the importance of the logistical resources deployed to win the Battle of Normandy and the re-conquest of Europe form the narrative framework for the display of Anglo-American equipment such as jeeps, Sherman tanks, amphibious trucks and movable bridges.

Upstairs, the mezzanine lets you contemplate the scenes on the ground floor from a distance, but especially provides an initiation to the evolutions in warfare throughout history and the main progress made in weaponry. As before, information kiosks provide the scientific and technical explanations necessary for understanding each exhibit. The windows dedicated to changes in soldiers’ lives presents them in their uniforms, which trended toward keeping them invisible for the enemy, from red trousers to khaki outfits, not to mention the German feldgrau and the French bleu horizon, from the Pickelhaube (spiked helmet) and ceremonial uniforms to the Adrian helmet and the American M1 helmet, but also show their everyday life – packs and supplies, entertainment – and the progress made in health and hygiene – collective showers, toothpaste, shaving cream, etc.

The visit finishes with a look at the changes made in warfare through progress made in military techniques. Each main type is presented. You can take your time to delve into the revolution of rifled arms, cartridges, smokeless powder, shells, automatic arms and the machine gun (Maxim, Chauchat, M1 Garand), but also the continuity of ancestral battle techniques: knives, sabres, bayonets, and the headaches of cleaning out the trenches during World War I.

Museum of War and Peace in the Ardennes

Route Sery - 08270 Novion Porcien

Tel.: +33 (0)3.24.72.69.50

Fax: +33 (0)3.24.72.97.30

Motorway access, A4 to A34. Route de Sery.

Ardennes Departmental Council / General Directorate of Departmental Services /

Departmental Directorate of Tourism and Leisure Centres

Hôtel du Département

08011 Charleville-Mézières Cédex

Tel.: +33 (0)3.24.59.60.60

Fax: +33 (0)3.24.37.76.76 / +33 (0)3.24.52.48.02

Opening hours

The museum is open every day from June to September from 10 am to 7 pm

From 10 am to 12 pm and from 2 pm to 6 pm from October to May, every day except Tuesdays

Annual closing: 15 to 31 January, 1 January, 1 May and 25 December

Admission

Adults: €5 Under 18, military personnel, job seekers, veterans: €3 Families (2 adults and up to 3 children): €14 Groups (at least 20 people) Adults: €3.50 Schools: €2 Children under 6: free

Audioguide services available in French, English, German and Dutch.

Guided tours by reservation. The Museum is fully accessible to the disabled

Other resources – A temporary exhibition room is used to expand upon and round out the permanent exhibit – An auditorium can hold 70 people for conferences and projections – A leisure area

Ardennes Departmental Council

After the signing of the Treaty of Nijmegen, to command the respect of the Spanish garrison in Luxembourg and to close the opening in the Ardennes between the Meuse and the Moselle, Louis XIV decided to create a fortified town at Longwy. He had the old château and medieval Longwy-Haut destroyed in order to build the "new town" slightly further north, on the edge of the plateau which overlooked the Chiers valley and the lower town. Construction began in 1679. Longwy holds a very special place among the 160 towns on which Vauban worked: it was one of nine towns he constructed "ex nihilo" (from nothing) and which therefore best portray his vision of an ideal town.

The fortress was constructed to a star plan with six bastions. All the equipment needed for a wartime base was provided: a sizeable church, a large arsenal, eleven barracks and five wells. The wall was surrounded by ramparts, with two entrances: Porte de Bourgogne (destroyed in 1914) and Porte de France, which were built symmetrically north and south of the parade ground (today known as Darche Square, from the name of the colonel who defended the Longwy site in 1914) set in the centre of the hexagon.

Longwy was besieged four times, with the siege of 1914 causing the most damage. The north-western part was completely destroyed. The buildings around place Darche also suffered: the third floor of the tower of Saint Dagobert Church fell in 1871, and the governor's palace was destroyed in the same siege, whilst the interior of the town hall was bombed in 1914. Despite this, certain buildings survived and are now Historic Monuments: the Siege Well, the Porte de France (finely decorated for the king's visit) whilst others have been given new uses: the Ordener barracks, the military services building, etc.

Guided tours of these surviving buildings are now available to visitors. A large number of structures recount the history of Longwy.

Longwy fortified town

Tourist Office:

Place Darche 54400 Longwy-Haut

Tel: +33 (0)3 82 24 27 17 - +33 (0)3 82 24 94 54

Fax: +33 (0)3 82 24 77 75

e-mail: ot-longwy@wanadoo.fr

After the defeat by Germany in the war of 1870, France will loose Alsace and a part of Lorraine. Furthermore it is condemned to pay a war indemnity of five billion gold-francs and hasn't got the right to defend on the Eastern borders anymore. The technological progress achieved by the artillery since 1858 (loading with cylinder heads and the use of striped canons) considerably increased its range and precision: the existing fortifications, including those of Paris, are now completely obsolete.

The government of Adolphe Thiers react vigorously to this situation and charges General Raymond Séré de Rivière to draw up a report on the defence of France. The new Parisian defence plan includes the construction of a defence enclosure of 43 works, which measure six to seven kilometres of distance from the original enclosure of 1841.

The envisaged budget equals to 400 million gold pieces and will exceeded of 33 million!

Since in 1870 the Prussians used the Parisis Hillock as observatory and artillery position, the fort of Cormeilles is considered as a priority. Its mission is, on one hand, to block the peninsula of Argenteuil, market gardening zone, essential for a new eventual siege of Paris. On the other hand the fort of Cormeilles is used to protect the road, as well as the railway access to the Montmorency valley towards Pontoise and Rouen in crossing the shootings with the fort Monlignon.

It was built between 1874 and 1878, for a total cost of 3,3 million gold. This price includes the purchase of the grounds and the construction work of a public company, controlled by the civil engineering.

The fort has the shape of an irregular trapezoid, whose 1,2 kilometres long ditch consists of three clay kaponiers. This fort of first generation (central massive building and high levelled battery), possesses two fronts turned towards the attacker and two flanks turned towards Paris, in order to save in terms of earthworks and to ease an eventual re-conquering of the fort. Originally a grid, followed of a clay pit by two fusillade crenels, protected the entrance of the fort. Nowadays this pit is filled. A gantry makes the crossing of the obstacle possible, by being retracted on the left with the use of a winch.

A central massive building, protecting the officer's building, includes 7 cellars for canons and sheltering mortars intended to beat the slopes of the Hillock. Here the artillery peak wasn't possible to see. The garrison of the ford included 36 officers, more than a thousand men and 24 artillery horses. This fort being one of the first built among the defence enclosure of the Séré de Rivère program, serves as testimony and its plans are diffused among the engineers as an example.

From 1855 it is however out of date because of the shell-torpedo crises. The engineers modify many of the Séré de Rivière forts. The fort of Cormeilles will not profit from any modernization program.

During the first world conflict it is used as deposit and also as anti-aircraft battery against the zeppelins that came to bombard Paris.

During the short campaign of 1940, the artillery pieces of the fort open fire and shoot down several enemy planes. The Germans occupy the building and use it as ammunition deposit for the Kriegesmarine. From now on they shelter anti-aircraft batteries of 20 mm Flack instead of the old 75 mm guns.

Released by the FFI of the region the fort is then used as a prison to lock up the war prisoners, the collaborationists and the traffickers of the black market. The last officer leaves this place in 1955 and the prison will be closed in 1956. In 1967 the fort is assigned to the 23rd infantry regiment of the Navy and accommodates an initiation centre of the commando which will function permanently, in particular also for many reserve units, until the dissolution of this regiment, at the beginning of the 80's. Given up from the Ministry of defence to the Ile-de-France region, the fort is today managed by the association "Friends of the Cormeilles fort" (l'association des amis du fort de Cormeilles), which is at present looking for objects and documents relating to the work, in order to enrich the collection and build a military museum at the heart of the fort.

Le fort de Cormeilles

Contact  : Les amis du fort de Cormeilles

1, Route stratégique 95240 Cormeilles-en-Parisis

Tél. 06.80.92.48.57

E-mail : jean-pierre.mazier@wanadoo.fr

Visits The association Friends of the Cormeilles fort organizes each first Sunday

at 3 p.m. of the month guided tours of the fort. Access to Cormeilles-en-parisis

By car : 40 km from Paris. Take the A 115 in direction to Cergy-Ponyoise via Franconville

(exit n°2 Ermont-Cernay, Franconville, Sannois).

By train (RER) : SNCF railway station of Cormeilles

is connected during the rush hours by a shuttle service to the RER (A) station of
Sartrouville and to the RER (C) station of Montigny-Beauchamps during the whole day.

By train : 15 min from the Saint-Lazare station, direction Pontoise or Mantes-la-Jolie. 

Fort de Cormeilles

The Lion of Belfort in Place Denfert-Rochereau (Paris XIVème Arrondissement) in the Parisian Exhibition Saloon of 1878, Bartholdi exhibited his final plaster model, which measures one third of his Lion of Belfort. A piece that, since a couple of years opposed him to the city of Belfort. But this controversy does not seem to affect the local council of Paris which is very attracted by the lion and which will acquire/buy it for a total amount of 20000frs. The sculpture is then entrusted to the Monduit centre - executor of the "statue of liberty" - , in order to be create a replica of hammered copper and installed in 1880 in Denfert-Rochereau.

A place that Bartholdi didn't really expect, as a correspondence written to a friend in 1879 testifies : "Je voulais vous voir ce matin pour vous annoncer la bonne nouvelle. Le conseil municipal de Paris a décidé l'acquisition du Lion de Belfort ; il sera très probablement érigé aux Buttes-Chaumont. Je crois que cela pourra offrir des horizons nouveaux et nous essaierons de faire quelque chose avec la vente de photographies (...). La décision du conseil municipal n'est pas simplement une acquisition d'oeuvre d'art intéressante ; c'est un hommage au patriotisme alsacien ; c'est indirectement un hommage au patriotisme de la population de Paris pendant le siège. C'est un souvenir du passé mis sous les yeux de la population, en vue de l'avenir... Il peut être bon d'entamer un peu l'olifant sur cette belle matière, pour moi sculpteur dans l'intérêt de l'oeuvre, pour nous Français pour y attacher le véritable sentiment patriotique que cela doit entretenir sous les yeux du public. A vous de souffler dans l'olifant là ou vous pouvez. La décision a été votée à l'unanimité du Conseil... Zing... Boum... peut-être fera-t-on un fête patriotique, et cela embêtera les bons Allemands et leurs amis les bonapartistes " (Quotation: Batholdi's letter to his friend).
The monument measuring 4 meters height and 7 meters length is very successful in the capital. The first celebration of the 14th of July takes place the same year of its installation and attracts a huge crowd of people to the Denfert square. The celebrations include parades, concerts and all kind of attractions. A success that was not contradicted in more than a century, as Agnès VARDA testifies in the following words (journal Libération on august 22nd 2003): Taking Boulevard Rapail, passing through the Cartier foundation you reach Denfert-Rochereau square. It' is the Place de l'Etoile of the XIV arrondissement, with it's green avenues. At the time of the town dues it was the barrier of hell. This Lion, installed in the centre of the square is a copy of the one sculptured by Bartholdi, paying tribute to colonel Denfert-Rochereau who defended the city (in 1870). But why this Franc-Comptois Lion in Paris? And why there? To the question "what should be done to embellish the city?" André Breton had answered this way : "give a big bone to gnaw to the Lion of Belfort and turn him towards the west." As far as turning the sculpture towards the west is concerned, it was done. For the bone, I saw it one morning when I filmed the Lion "le Lion volatil (2000 et 2003), 12 minutes" (Quotation: Movie title). A fortune-teller apprentice and a catacomb employee use place Denfert as the surrounding of their romance and the lion as a witness of their end (it is possible to visit the catacombs. You can enter from one of the town dues buildings, cerated by Ledoux). For sure my short film will be presented in the little cult cinema the Denfert. Les Guichard make a special and varied scheduling. And two years later since 2000, once a week they prolong the exclusiveness of my documentary . Hello neighbours! And hello demonstrators leaving from Denfert ! " I live in Paris XIV and not in Paris. By convenience or simply by laziness I hang around the neighbourhood near where I live. I will be buried in the same place where Jacques rests, just some steps from our house and our final residence".
In 2001 the lion, worn by time, pollution and the student's demonstrations, was the object of an important restoration. And if one day you decide to discover this piece of art, don't forget to take a visit in the cemetery of Montparnasse, where the sculptor Frédéric-Auguste BARTHOLDI rests.

Deeply affected by the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871 in which he was actively involved, notably alongside Garibaldi, and devastated by the loss of Alsace, the region in which he was born, Auguste BARTHOLDI (1834 - 1904) created many works related to this conflict. Here is a brief introduction to his creations and to the museum dedicated to one of the most important exponents of sculpture in the 19th century ... Located at 30 rue des marchands, in the sculptor's childhood home - a vast 17th century private hotel in the centre of Colmar - the Bartholdi Museum houses the largest collection of sketches, models, and sculptures but also drawings, photographs and paintings produced by the creator best known for his Statue of Liberty and Lion of Belfort.

The decision to create a museum devoted to the famous sculptor dates back to 25 June 1907, when Jeanne-Emilie Bartholdi, the artist's widow, decided to bequeath the ancestral home on rue des Marchands to the town of Colmar, on the condition that the town would make it into a museum to protect and exhibit all the "furniture, sculptures, architectural works, paintings, engravings, objects of art, the library, etc." found at the time of his death in his house at 82 rue d'Assas in Paris, the address of the sculptor's last flat and workshop.
Although Jeanne Bartholdi died on 12 October 1914, the public had to wait until 18 November 1922 for the inauguration of the new museum. Spread over three floors, it occupied the north and west wings of the building. A series of photographs that were fortunately saved bear witness to the very first layouts of the permanent exhibition halls that mainly aimed to recreate the very Parisian and opulent lifestyle led by the artist in his childhood home. Thanks to a very praiseworthy museum technique, the grand hall on the ground floor, known as the "hall of models", was allotted to the meticulous presentation of a vast collection of models of statues and monuments (in terracotta, grey clays and plaster) created by the sculptor. Unfortunately, the increasing and widespread disinterest in 19th century art shown by many intellectuals and most of the museum visitors during the 20th century in general led to the "hall of models" being allocated for temporary exhibitions of modern regional artists and Bartholdi's works being relegated to various storage areas, a decision that was not without damages and losses. The building was even temporarily closed before reopening again in 1979. Since then, the renovation and extension of the permanent exhibition halls, the restoration and acquisition of works and the organisation of themed exhibitions with associated catalogues have all contributed to the conservation of the collections and the renown of the name of Auguste Bartholdi.
Visitors enter the museum courtyard via a covered passageway. At the centre of this courtyard lies Bartholdi's bronze group statue, 'Les Grand Soutiens du Monde' (The World's Great Bases) representing Justice, Labour and the Motherland, which was exhibited at the 'Salon de Paris' in 1902. The main entrance to the museum is located to the right of the courtyard. It is a Renaissance doorway, brought to Colmar and installed in the second half of the 19th century by Bartholdi during the refurbishment of the family home with three overhanging sculptures in moulded concrete, Bartholdi's work, representing two heraldic lions flanking a human-like ram. Inside, the museum occupies 3 stories and a total surface area of 700 m². On the ground floor, the Hall of Artworks from Alsace and Colmar unites Bartholdi's work linked to his native region - 'La Borne Frontière' (the border milestone), 'la Malédiction de l'Alsace' (the curse of Alsace) or 'la Suisse secourant les douleurs de Strasbourg' (Switzerland aiding the suffering of Alsace) - as well as models and certain original elements of monuments erected in Colmar (Monument Rapp, Le Petit Vigneron, Les Grands Soutiens du Monde, etc.).
In the left wing on the first floor are Bartholdi's living quarters, which include his office, a music room and notably the very elegant dining room with a coffered ceiling encrusted with China. It is also in this room that the visitor will find a series of portraits of Bartholdi's ancestors from between the 17th and 19th centuries. On the central table and the sideboards are china dishes and ceramics signed by Théodore Deck, the director of the Sèvres china factory and Bartholdi's friend. Finally, the Napoleon III room contains a large portrait of the sculptor's mother Charlotte Bartholdi, painted in 1855 by Ary Scheffer, as well as portraits of Auguste Bartholdi and his wife, painted by Jean Benner an artist from nearby Mulhouse.
The right wing of the house leads into the library, then on to the rooms containing Orientalist artworks allotted to the works produced by the artist during and after his first trip to the Orient (Egypt-Yemen, 1855-1856). On this floor, the visitor will also find the impressive hall of models containing models of most of the statues and public monuments created by Bartholdi for French towns, with the exception of Colmar: Vauban (Avallon, 1873), Gribeauval (Paris, courtyard of the Hôtel des Invalides, 1876), the Lion of Belfort (1880), Rouget de Lisle (Lons-le-Saunier, 1882), Diderot (Langres, 1884), Gambetta (Sèvres, 1892), Monumental Fountain (Lyon, place des Terreaux, 1892). It also contains numerous rough preparatory models in terracotta and a series of bronze models: The Lion of Belfort, the Statuette Equestre de Vercingétorix, Les Sept Souabes (1855), Le Génie Dans les Griffes de la Misère (1859), Statuette of Vauban (1870) and the Statuette du Fondeur Thiébaut (1899).
Finally, the second floor is totally devoted to American artworks. The visitor will discover original models, prints and old photographs related to the fountain in the Botanic Garden (New York), the low reliefs of Battle Street Church (Boston), the monument to La Fayette and Washington (New York and Paris), not forgetting, of course 'La Liberté Eclairant le Monde' (New York), better known as the Statue of Liberty. In stark contrast to certain bland museums built nowadays, the museum dedicated to Bartholdi has a soul. Through the works on display, it plunges the visitor into 19th century history, at the heart of the Third Republic born of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871.
Guided visits for groups in French, German, English, Italian, and Japanese on appointment through the Tourist Office Museum opening hours: Daily except Tuesday from 10:00 to midday and from 14:00 to 18:00 Closed in January and February and on 1 May, 11 November and 25 December Admissions:(ticket desk closes 1 hour before museum closing time) Individuals Adults: €4.10 Students: €2.50 Groups (10 persons +) Adults: €2.60 Students: €1.50 Free for children under 12 years old Contacts: Musée Municipal Bartholdi 30, rue des Marchands 68000 Colmar, France Tel.: +33 (0)3 89 41 90 60 Fax: +33 (0)3 89 23 50 77 E-mail: musees@ville-colmar.com

Despite the many restoration projects, the former Château of the Counts Deux-Ponts was in ruins when Louis XIV took Bitche in 1680. Aware of the strategic importance of the rocky crag overlooking the city and the region, Louis XIV decided to have a first citadel built, entrusting the work to Vauban, who completed it in 1683.

The citadel was razed by French troops in 1697, when the Treaty of Ryswick handed Lorraine over to Leopold I, Duke of Lorraine. Louis XV took possession of Lorraine on 21 March 1737 and ordered the reconstruction of the citadel using plans by the engineer Cormontaigne based on Vauban’s construction. The end of the work was marked by the installation of a marble plaque above the main entrance that we can still see today: “Louis XV, Roy de France, auguste, victorieux et pacifique, en réédifiant cette forteresse de fond en comble, a voulu qu'elle fermât les Vosges et la Lorraine à ses ennemis, qu'elle défendit la frontière de l'Alsace et qu'au pied de ses murs les camps des armées françaises trouvassent une puissante protection. Année 1754” (Louis XV, King of France, august, victorious and pacific, by fully rebuilding this fortress, desired that it should close off the Vosges and Lorraine from their enemies, that is should defend the Alsace border and that at the foot of its walls the French army camps might find powerful protection. Year 1754). From 1846 to 1852, the citadel was reinforced with the construction of a fortified perimeter wall, defended to the north by Fort St Sébastien.


During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, German troops laid siege to Bitche and carried out deadly bombardments targeting first the citadel, and then the city. The Bitche garrison resisted gloriously for six long months before opening the doors of the fortress on 27 March 1871, not before receiving Battle Honours. Now German, the citadel was once again refurbished to house a garrison: the perimeter walls were destroyed, the chapel was used to house troops and two barracks were built. When Alsace and Lorraine were returned to France, the city received the Legion of Honour from the hands of President Poincaré in testimonial to the suffering endured during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871.
During the Second World War, Bitche was the theatre of fighting starting in the winter of 1944, during which the population took refuge in the underground galleries of the citadel. Liberated by American troops, the city received the War Cross in 1949, and was commended in the Army Order.


The citadel still bears the scars of its close ties to the history of France. Some buildings of the bastioned central plateau central have miraculously escaped the many bombardments that have tried to conquer the legendarily invulnerable fortress. The chapel can still be admired – it is only vestige of the château built under Vauban – as well as the former bakery and the arsenal. Visitors to the site can notably admire the two bastions placed at the ends of the citadel, protecting the long south curtain wall, the “Grosse Tête” and “Petite Tête” walls, which defend the short curtain walls, and the wealth of the fortress’s underground network built by Louis XV’s engineers. A first museum is located on two levels in the chapel and presents a collection of weapons as well as a relief map of the citadel in the 18th century. In the former bakery, the second permanent exhibition houses a museographical area dedicated to Bitche during the Second Empire.

Visitors to the citadel can enjoy a unique feature: infrared transmitters placed along the itinerary provide commentaries in several languages through audio headphones, while olfactory effects give visitors a realistic perception of life at the citadel over the centuries.


Citadel of Bitche
Tel.: +33 (0)3 87 96 18 82
Fax: +33 (0)3 87 06 11 78

Opens the last Saturday of the month of March and closes the first Sunday of November. Every day from 10 am to 5 pm. Sundays, bank holidays and the months of July and August: 10 am – 6 pm.

Visits take 2 hours. Group visits by appointment

Access: From Strasbourg (65 km): Take the A4 motorway in the Strasbourg-Paris direction, and take the Haguenau Nord exit. Before reaching Haguenau, take the Sarreguemines exit and continue on toward Bitche. From Metz (110 km): Take the A4 motorway in the Paris-Strasbourg direction, take the Sarreguemines exit and continue on toward Bitche.

http://www.siegebitche.com

Website of the Pays de Bitche Tourism Office

Quizz : Forts and citadels

The House of the Last Cartridge "Thanks principally to the actions of Captain Aubert, the house was quickly readied as a last line of defence; taking a rifle, this brave officer positioned himself by one of the windows, and thanks to his wonderful example, his men kept their heads and followed his lead.

However, despite suffering heavy losses, the enemy continued to advance. Seeing that our house was about to be surrounded and being unable to walk, I tried to persuade the officers who were with me to leave me with a few men and to withdraw the majority of the division. Not a single one agreed and they all declared that they would remain with me to defend to the end... After two hours we were completely surrounded by the 15th Bavarian Regiment.

Our house was soon in a most piteous state; gaping holes in the doors and windows; our roof was half taken off by a shell that wounded four or five men. Despite this, the fight continued relentlessly. It only ended when our ammunition ran out." Commandant LAMBERT, Rapport sur la bataille de Bazeilles ("Report on the Battle of Bazeilles"), in HABENECK Charles, Martyr Regiments, Paris, Pagnerre, 1871.

The museum at the House of the Last Cartridge is one of the most striking sites commemorating the war of 1870; it recalls the two days of fighting between the two brigades of General de Vassoigne's Blue Division of Marines and the Bavarian soldiers commanded by General Von der Tann. The battle got properly underway around noon on 31st August when General Martin de Pallières's second brigade received the order to retake the strategically important village of Bazeilles, which had just fallen into enemy hands. After a day of fierce fighting and thanks to the reinforcements from General Reboul's 1st Brigade, which arrived around 4pm, the village was completely retaken by nightfall. But at dawn on 1st September, General Von Der Tann's soldiers attacked Bazeilles once again. Despite many assaults that enabled the enemy to be driven back several times, at the end of the morning the Marine Division - overwhelmed by the Bavarian numerical advantage and firepower - was forced to retreat towards Sedan. It was at this time that the episode known as the House of the Last Cartridge took place.

In a burnt out village, destroyed by artillery fire from the day before, around thirty officers, NCOs and men from the Marine infantry took cover, alongside Commandant Lambert, in the modest two-storey inn belonging to the Bourgerie family - the last house in the village of Bazeilles on the road to Sedan. Here, for almost four hours, they put up fierce resistance to the Bavarian troops. At last surrounded and out of ammunition, in mid-afternoon Captain Aubert fired the last cartridge from the window of the master bedroom on the first floor. A white handkerchief tied to a rifle then announced the marsouins' surrender with Commandant Lambert, wounded in the foot, the first to leave the house. Throughout the hours of the battle, the Marine Division lost 2,700 men including around a hundred officers.
The Bavarian soldiers lost more than twice that number; the day after the fighting they began a series of horrifying reprisals against the population of Bazeilles, some of whom had taken the side of the Marine Troops; the village was set on fire, with some inhabitants shot, burned alive or arrested and deported. Civilian victims from the village numbered more than forty. For this heroic resistance, Bazeilles was awarded the Légion d'honneur in 1900, an emblem still found today on the town's crest, alongside the anchor of the marine troops and a house in flames. Following the defeat, the town also became an important site of remembrance and pilgrimage. Thus, on 19th March 1875, the Courrier des Ardennes published an article in which a museum in Bazeilles was announced: "Mr Bourgerie and his son, along with others, have collected a considerable number of objects, which together form an extremely interesting museum. Objects were exhibited in one of the ground floor rooms of the house. In May of the same year, General de Vassoigne visited the ruins of the House of the Last Cartridge and an initial monument was erected there in November opposite the church. But the first major ceremony took place on 31st August 1895, 25 years after the events, attended by the former Commandant Lambert, who by then was a General.

But it wasn't until 1899 that Arthur MEYER, director of Le Gaulois newspaper, launched a public appeal to finance the purchase of the house in order to "convert it into a modest museum dedicated to the memory of the heroes who died there". On 1st August 1909, the paper finally handed it over to the French heritage organisation Le Souvenir Français. Nevertheless, it was not until 3rd September 1950 that the first national commemoration of the fighting of 1870 was held. That same year, with the agreement of le Souvenir Français, the upkeep, administration and management of the Bazeilles museum was placed in the hands of National Committee for the traditions of the Marines, which also owns museum collections. To this task was added the management of the ossuary, built between 1876 and 1878 a hundred or so metres from the museum that contains the remains of 3,000 German and French soldiers

The House of the Last Cartridge, which receives 2,000 visitors a year on average, is currently closed, following the decision of the National Committee for the traditions of the Marines to restore it. Part of the work will be to upgrade the facilities and make them safe. The museum-related work carried out by specialists Mostra Conseil, will enable the house to retain its authentic feel and moving character whilst making it more attractive through the use of new technology. On the ground floor, visitors will find a reception area and the first museum exhibition room, called the Lambert room, dedicated to the 1870 war and the role of the Marines in this conflict. On the first floor, the Delay Room presents the Battle of Sedan. But the museum's most significant exhibits will be found in the Aubert and Lambert Rooms. The former will recount the fighting over Bazeilles whilst the latter, including the bedroom from where the final action was fought, will honour the memory of The Last Cartridge. In this room visitors will find Alphonse de Neuville's famous work painted in 1873, entitled "The Last Cartridge". Eventually, the Marines' Museum will form part of the "Remembrance Centre" that the Sedan regional authorities hope to establish in Sedan itself, and which will enable the main remembrance sites of the area to form a network.
The issue of accepting disabled people was studied and partly resolved by the construction of a specially adapted toilet block. However, those in wheelchairs are unable to visit the first floor. To allow them to do so would have involved demolishing the house and rebuilding it around a specially adapted staircase. Eventually, the Marines' Museum will form part of the "Remembrance Centre" that the Sedan regional authorities hope to establish in Sedan itself, and which will enable the main remembrance sites of the area to form a network.
 

Nota (1) - This division, composed of the four infantry regiments (1, 2, 3 and 4) and the 1st Marine artillery regiment, had originally been assembled with a view to carrying out a deception manoeuvre in the Baltic sea. The disasters suffered in the Alsace and in Lorraine during the initial battles forced the French high command to regroup its available forces at the camp at Chalons sur Marne in order to lend a hand to its Eastern army (Bazaine) trapped in Metz. Christened the "Blue Division" because of the colour of their uniforms, it was part of the 12th Army Corps (General Lebrun), making up its 3rd division (the two others, having been hastily cobbled together from staff picked up in warehouses and enlisted or conscripted young people, did not constitute solid units). It comprised of soldiers, the majority of whom were enlisted and experienced and had undergone severe training in distant campaigns and were already hardened. Its officers had earned their stripes under fire and the upper ranks had acquired sound fighting experience. The civilian population was well aware of this, giving them a warm welcome wherever they went.
 

La Maison de la dernière Cartouche

12 rue Dernière Cartouche - 08140 Bazeilles

Tel: 03 24 27 15 86

http://musees-de-france-champagne-ardenne.culture.fr/musee_bazeilles.html

A tableau of a heroic episode during the 1870 war depicting the Marine division known as the "Blue Division" Now completely renovated, the museum tells the story of the battles from the 31st August until the 1st September 1870, with pictures, armour and uniforms of the time.

The museum is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

Closed annually from the 20th December until the 15th January.

Museum tours from the 15th June to the 30th September from 10 am to 12 pm and from 1.30 pm until 6 pm

From the 1st October until the 14th June 10 am to 12 pm and from 1.30 pm until 5 pm

Clearly visible from Place des Centenaires, the ramparts of Maubeuge, which date to Vauban's time, are an ideal site to visit. Only one gateway remains, the Mons, but its drawbridge and pediment have many interesting features. Nearby is the guardroom, which is similar to those on some of Vauban's other ramparts and structures.

Website of the regional tourist board for the Nord

Quizz : Forts and citadels