AISNE HAUTS-DE-FRANCE FRANCE

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1 AISNE HAUTS-DE-FRANCE FRANCE Somme Cemetery at Bony Colin PRESS PACK 2017

2 Battle Archives départementales 02 AUGUST The Second Reich declared war on France. The next day, the United Kingdom entered the war against Germany. The troops thought that the fighting would soon be all over; little could they imagine that the conflict would spread to involve the whole world. 100 years later, the soil of Picardy is still imbued with the memory of this painful, tragic past. Monuments, cemeteries, underground galleries and other vestiges summon up powerful emotions among visitors to the places where so many gave their lives. Today, the Aisne department pays a tribute. TO DIG DEEPER INTO THE PAST : This Web site offers an immersive approach to the First World War: Archive photos, period maps and documents offer visitors deeper insights into the Great War heritage. Thematic tours will feature portraits of men and women whose commitment earned them a special place in History. Other tours will centre on themes including life under the occupation, on the front line or the way medical care was organised. «THE AISNE IN THE HEART OF WORLD WAR I» This brochure is designed to help to bring to life the story of WWI, with information on key sites, events and suggested tours. 2

3 1914 Trenches Archives départementales 02 The Caverne du Dragon Museum (Dragon s Lair) Horizon Bleu On August , the German army (600,000 men), steamrolling its seemingly inexorable way towards Paris, launched an offensive to cross the River Oise. The French army fought back and enforced a retreat. Though the Battle of Guise was a brief and slender victory, it unhinged the German strategy. It was also typical of the horrendous violence of the fighting. The toll among the French and German troops was enormous with some 20,000 men killed, wounded or taken prisoner on each side. In September 1914, the 100,000-strong British Expeditionary Force put up do-or-die resistance on the Chemin des Dames and, with the arrival of French reinforcements, famously ferried from Paris by taxi, the Entente turned the situation round. After what became known as the miracle of the Marne, the Germans had no option but to withdraw along the River Aisne and regroup in a new position around Soissons. The military dynamics changed as the traditional war of movement gave way to a new form of entrenched stalemate. Trenches, still visible today, were dug along the Chemin des Dames. LA CAVERNE DU DRAGON On the Chemin des Dames, the Caverne du Dragon (Dragon s Lair) is a former stone quarry that was occupied by German troops as from January It was they who rechristened it Drachenhöle. Transformed into a complete underground barracks, the cave was organized to accommodate the men while they were off-duty. The gun positions, dormitories, first aid room, chapel, cemetery, electrical wiring and well give an idea of how daily life was organized in the underground. The war dragged on, and by the end of 1917, the cavern had been divided into two by two walls. The Germans and French were living on either side. Traces of fighting are visible at the exits. The walls of the cave bear more intimate marks: engraved names and a sculpture of Jesus, hand-carved by the soldiers, still convey a sense of the unspeakable anxiety the men had to live with. Caverne du Dragon Oulches-la-Vallée-Foulon T. : +33 (0) VISITS «VICTORIA CROSS» AUDIO-GUIDE This audio-guide, available as a free download, suggests five itineraries that focus on the lives of 50 outstanding British soldiers whose acts of bravery earned them the Victoria Cross, the highest military distinction awarded by the British Army and the Commonwealth. 3

4 Life in the trenches Archives départementales 02 The Caverne du Dragon Museum (Dragon s Lair) Horizon Bleu KEY SITE NEAR THE CAVERNE IS: Plateau de Californie on the Chemin des Dames Horizon Bleu Surviving in unspeakable conditions, half-buried in the trenches, the men experienced the full horror of war. Both sides made massive use of artillery. Former underground quarries or creutes, like the infamous Dragon s Lair complex at Oulches-La-Vallée-Foulon, provided shelter for the troops. On November , 24 men were accused of dereliction of duty before the enemy. They explained that they were acting under the orders of Second-Lieutenant Paulaud, but the latter refuted the claim, laying the blame on his men. The War Council picked six of the men at random and condemned them to death. On December the six were shot in the village of Vingré to set an example. The Martyrs of Vingré, as they subsequently came to be known, were rehabilitated by an Appellate Court decision on January Facing the monument, is the cellar where they awaited execution. On the walls of the houses in the village are photos and extracts of the letters written by each of the soldiers. A short walk from the Caverne is the Constellation de la Douleur, a monumental sculpture by Lapie that pays tribute to the French colonial infantry corps from Senegal. AN IDEA FOR WALKERS: Sur les traces des poilus, a 14km (8 1/2 -mile) walk following the footsteps of the Martyrs of Vingré. The walk takes around 4h30. AN IDEA FOR WALKERS: Martyr of Vingré Dessirier 4

5 Coucy-le-Château Colin 1915 In September 1914, the German army occupied the towns to the north of the front, causing a mass exodus of the civilian populations in Saint-Quentin, Laon and Coucy-Le-Château became headquarters and hubs in the rail network from which fresh supplies could be sent. The shop fronts acquired German names. The Fort at Condé was requisitioned as a military hospital. In 1915, in a top-secret operation, the Germans installed a gun at Coucy with a range of 25 to 30 km (15 to 18 miles) targeting Compiègne, Villers-Cotterêts and Oulchy-le-Château, the three supply centres for the French front line. The already enormous toll from artillery was taken to new heights with the introduction of poison gas, with hundreds of thousands of soldiers losing their lives or being wounded. In the middle of September 1915, the French made a breakthrough in the Artois and Champagne regions, under a deluge of fire. Losses were enormous, but the front was again stabilised will be forever engraved in memory as the most murderous year of the war. Soldiers patrolled the Aisne from mid-june till March 1917 and attacks became rare. Platform for the gun at Coucy Dessirier AN IDEA FOR WALKERS: A walk for all the family: The Coucy Gun km - 1h A walk through fine countryside to the huge gun platform via the station and a wooden hut from the immediate postwar period. VISITS THE «COUCY GUN» AUDIO-GUIDE Learn all about the legends and mysteries that surround this gigantic piece of artillery and relive Coucy as it was during the occupation. Eye witness stories, contemporary footage and sound archives will plunge you back into the Coucy of World War I. 5

6 Saint-Quentin Archives départementales 02 Wilfred Owen 1916 In February 1916, the Germans decided to attack Verdun. Led by General Pétain, the French troops resisted and successfully staved off the German offensive. At the end of June 1916, the Allies, using their first tanks, attacked in the Somme. Military aircraft were also introduced in the appalling fighting that was to continue till mid-november, taking over 1 million lives. During this period the region around Saint-Quentin became a major strategic German base. In the winter of , the German armed forces built a vast system of defences and fortifications, the Hindenburg line, to which they retreated in March 1917, after destroying whole towns and villages, like Coucy-Le-Château, occupied since the start of the war. DID YOU KNOW? On December , the war poet Wilfred Owen set foot in France, where he would see action in the Somme and Nord departments before fighting in 1917 at Manchester Hill, near Saint-Quentin. Anthem for doomed youth What passing-bells for these who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifles rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them; no prayers nor bells; Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, The shrill, demented choirs of wailing shells; And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys but in their eyes Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls brows shall be their pall; Their flowers the tenderness of patient minds, And each slow dusk a drawing-down of blinds. Wilfred Owen Coucy-Le-Château Archives départementales 02 6

7 THE CHEMIN DES DAMES WORLD WAR I «La Constellation de la Douleur» Monument Colin 1917 Saint-Quentin Archives départementales 02 Observatory tower on the Chemin des Dames Horizon Bleu In 1917, the status quo began to shift in the region around Soissons. General Nivelle, at the head of the French armies, designed a plan of attack, the aim of which was to cross the Chemin des Dames stronghold where the enemy had dug in. On April , the offensive was launched, but the troops made no progress. The Germans were particularly well prepared to face up to the new attack. The offensive became a murderous fiasco the situation not helped by the first large-scale mutinies among the French army. A wind of revolt blew through the Aisne. The French military command decided to sentence 500 soldiers, with 49 going before firing squads to set an example. In mid-may, Nivelle handed in his resignation and was replaced by General Pétain. The new incumbent made painstaking preparations for the battle of Malmaison and forced the Germans to abandon the plateau high ground at the end of October Used by the daughters of King Louis XV on their way to visit their nurse at Boves Castle, the roadway along the ridge that runs along the north of the Aisne valley became known as the Lady s Way, the Chemin des Dames. It has now become wholly devoted to the commemoration of the First World War. One of the most sough-after prizes of the high command of the French and German armies, it became a front line and the scene of violent combat. The fighting in April 1917, initiated by the Nivelle offensive named after the French General was a mass-slaughter. Between April 16 and 25, nearly 100,000 men were killed or wounded on the French side alone. Many soldiers ended up refusing to be sent to what would be a certain death. The mutinous spirit that prevailed between May and June 1917 and led to death sentences is commemorated in the celebrated Song of Craonne. Cemeteries, the remains of destroyed villages, commemorative monuments, memorial sites, and a museum are all to be found along the Chemin des Dames, making this an invaluable site through which to discover and understand a tragic past. AUDIO-GUIDE With the free audio guide Between Sky and Earth on the Chemin des Dames take the opportunity to learn all about these historic sites in the company of Andrew Naylor, a British World War I stretcher-bearer. KEY SITES ALONG THE CHEMIN DES DAMES ARE: Cerny-en-Laonnois, its cemeteries, commemorative monuments (notably to British and Senegalese troops); the California plateau; the remains of Craonne village and its arboretum; the Monument to the Basques Audio-guide Balesse 7

8 Rainbow Division at Fère-en-Tardenois Viltart 1918 On March 21, the forces of the Reich launched a new offensive (the Michael offensive) in the Saint-Quentin sector, at the boundary of the French and British lines. The Germans fought relentlessly and made an impressive breakthrough in the Aisne and the Somme. The offensives continued until July. On May 27 the terrible Blücher operation was launched on the Chemin des Dames, bringing fresh victory to the Germans. A young soldier named Adolf Hitler was involved in this campaign. Paris was under direct threat. It was time for the Allies to counter-attack. On July 18, reinforced by the arrival of American troops commanded by General Pershing, they launched a major counter-offensive on the Marne. This was the 2nd Battle of the Marne. At the end of August, the Allies had worked their way back to the 1917 front line. The German forces were increasingly depleted and in difficulty. Mutinies began. Germany was on its knees. On November 8, near La Capelle, Marshal Foch spelled out the conditions for the Armistice to the Germany plenipotentiaries On November 11 the ceasefire took effect at 11:00 a.m. after the Armistice was signed between the Allies and the Germans in Compiègne Forest. Aisne-Marne Cemetery at Belleau Horizon Bleu AUDIO-GUIDE «Joyce Kilmer : an American in the great war» A parallel narrative, between yesterday and today, through which visitors can discover the American World War I monuments in the Aisne. Oise-Aisne American Cemetery at Seringes-et-Nesles abmc REMEMBRANCE SITES: the American cemeteries at Bony, Belleau and Seringeset-Nesles US monument at Bellicourt; Belleau museum the monument to the Rainbow Division in Fère-en-Tardenois; the Hill 204 monument in Château-Thierry; Paul Landowski s monumental statue Les Fantômes and more. 8

9 Blérancourt Château Dessirier THE AFTERMATH OF WAR Soldiers of no fewer than 42 nationalities fought in Picardy. Over 9 million soldiers from all over the world lost their lives during the four years of warfare. The local population had to learn to rebuild, physically and psychologically, without neglecting the memory of the enormous wartime sacrifice. Fortunately, donations arrived The city of Aix-en-Provence, Sweden, the USA contributed to the reconstruction. In fact, Anne Morgan, a wealthy American heiress, moved to Blérancourt in 1917 and contributed generously to the revival of the local population in the Soissons area by setting up the ACDF ( American Committee for Devastated France ) organization. With some 300 other women, she worked ceaselessly for nearly 7 years in the area, helping the community to build hospitals, housing, libraries, schools and other facilities. The landscape is dotted with cemeteries, commemorative monuments and other sites where the war is remembered. Anne Morgan & Anne Murray Dike Archives départementales 02 AUDIO-GUIDE «In the steps of Anne Morgan» This road tour accompanied by an audio-guide tells the incredible human adventure of American women in and around the city of Soissons. It takes you to five towns and villages where Anne had set up centres of operation for the ACDF (American Committee for Devastated France), including the rebuilding of schools, hospitals and libraries. Blérancourt Château Dessirier VISITS GUIDED VISITS TO THE CHÂTEAU DE BLÉRANCOURT EVERY DAY ON REQUEST Château de Blérancourt T : +33 (0)

10 MAIN EVENTS IN 2017 Côte Château-Thierry Cambon March 100th anniversary of the destruction of Coucy-le-Château during the German withdrawal. Ceremony, performance and conference at Coucy-le-Château. More information: M. Pantel T: +33 (0) April 100th anniversary of the Battle of the Chemin des Dames. Reconstructed WW1 army camp and evening sound and light display on the Chemin des Dames. Ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the battle of 16th April at Craonne. 13 May International ceremony at the Chemin des Dames Memorial, Cerny-en-Laonnois May Ceremony to mark the centenary of the first employment of French tanks at Berry-au-Bac. WW1 army camp with period tanks over the weekend. 25 June 100th anniversary of the taking of the Caverne du Dragon September Sporting event in remembrance of the French and British rugby players who fell on the Chemin des Dames. Unveiling of a memorial to the rugby players who died during the war at Craonnelle September «Coucy like it was in 1917». Reconstruction of how daily life was lived in Coucy at the beginning of the 20th century during the German occupation and after the return of French troops. More information: M. Pantel T: +33 (0) October 100th anniversary of the Battle of Malmaison at the Malmaison Fort and surrounding villages. 10 Last Sunday of May A day of commemoration in remembrance of the American soldiers: Memorial Day is commemorated in the three American cemeteries of Belleau, Seringes-et- Nesles and Bony. More information: ABMC T: +33 (0)

11 LAON REIMS 0H40 AMIENS 1H20 LILLE 1H40 PARIS 2H00 BRUXELLES 2H15 LONDRES 4H15 + channel crossing WORLD WAR I «Les Fantômes de Landowski» at Oulchy-le-Château Horizon Bleu British soldiers Archives départementales 02 AISNE TOURISM AGENCY Press contact : Parc Foch - Avenue Foch - CS Laon Cedex Tél. : + 33 (0) (0) Réalisation : Line Essique /