List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Champagne-Ardenne explained

This is the List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Champagne-Ardenne.

The modern-day Champagne-Ardenne, bordering Belgium in northeast France, covers four departments: Aube, Ardennes, Haute-Marne, and Marne. This region saw much fighting in World War I (1914–1918) and many battles, of which arguably the most important were the First Battle of the Marne and the Second Battle of the Marne. The First Battle of the Marne, also known as the Miracle of the Marne, was fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. The battle effectively ended the month-long German offensive that had opened the war and the counterattack of six French field armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) along the Marne River forced the German Imperial Army to abandon its push on Paris and retreat northeast to the Aisne river, setting the stage for four years of trench warfare on the Western Front

The Second Battle of the Marne (a.k.a. the Battle of Reims), fought from 15 July to 6 August 1918, was the last major German attack of their five-phase Spring Offensive. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by French forces and including several hundred tanks overwhelmed the Germans on their right flank, inflicting severe casualties. The German defeat marked the start of the relentless Allied advance of the Hundred Days Offensive which culminated in the Armistice.

Needing to come to terms with the loss of so many lives in the conflict, particularly those whose remains went unidentified, war memorials – known in France as monuments aux morts, literally "monuments to the dead" – became a focal point and replaced individual graves and gravestones. Between 1919 and 1926, many thousands of memorials were erected throughout France, including large national monuments, civic memorials, war cemeteries, private memorials, halls and parks. Ceremonies are often held at the memorials, including those on Armistice Day and the Fêtes de la Victoire.

Battles of the Marne

Memorial to the First Battle of the Marne at Mondemont

Some images from Mondemont

Memorial to the Second Battle of the Marne at the Butte de Chalmont

Memorials to the Missing

These battles involved the deaths of many men and there are two major British "Memorials to the Missing" for the men lost whose remains could not be identified. The memorials at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre links to the First Battle of the Marne, and that at Soissons which links to the 1918 battle.

Monuments in Reims and the surrounding area

Reims was a front-line city throughout the four years of the war and suffered bombardment from German artillery. The Reims Cathedral was bombed and damaged on many occasions, and images of it became a rallying icon in the non-German world. Sixty per cent of Reims was destroyed during the 1914–1918 war, and 4,567 Reims men were killed in the conflict, with a further 740 civilian casualties.

The German Cemetery at Loivre

The German cemetery at Loivre contains the remains of 4,149 men of whom 1,913 could not be identified and their remains are in an ossuary.^[8]

The Monument to the 119th and 319th French Infantry Regiments and the 20th Territorials at Cauroy-lès-Hermonville

This monument is located at Cauroy-lès-Hermonville near Reims. Many men of the 119th had fallen in the Battle of Charleroi on 22 August 1914, one of the battles fought at the beginning of the war and known as the Battles of the Frontiers.One inscription is from Belgium and pays homage to the men of the 119th (aux frères – their brothers in arms)^[9]

Miscellaneous

The Monument to the United States First Division at Buzancy

The area to the east of Reims

Gallery

Notes and References

http://mondement1914.asso.fr/le-monument Memorial to the First Battle of the Marne at Mondemont
http://memorialdormans.free.fr/ Dormans Memorial
http://wwi-memorials.com/memorials/french/74-butte-de-chalmont Butte de Chalmont
http://www.memorial-genweb.org/~memorial2/html/fr/resultcommune.php?pays=France&insee=51454&dpt=51&idsource=100162&table=00 Monument aux Morts Reims
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/reims_infirmieres.htm Monument hommage aux infirmières Reims
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/reims_132_332.htm Monument to the 132nd French Infantry Regiment
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/loivre.htm Monuments to the 24th, 28th, 133rd and 363th French Infantry Regiments
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/cimetieres/allemands/loivre.htm The German Cemetery at Loivre
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/cauroy.htm 119th Infantry
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/le_buisson.htm Monument to the 72nd Infantry
http://www.champagne-ardenne-tourism.co.uk/wpFichiers/6/14/Ressources/file/Brochure_Circuit_14_18_GB_2011.pdf
http://battlefields1418.50megs.com/1st_loyals_1914.htm Memorial to the 1st Loyal North Lancs at Vendresse, Troyon
http://www.cwgc.org/search/cemetery_reports.aspx?cemetery=33402&mode=1 Memorial to the 1st Loyal North Lancs at Vendresse, Troyon
http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_chemin_33.htm Italian Cemetery at Soupir
http://www.webmatters.net/france/ww1_buzancy_usa.htm The Monument to the United States First Division at Buzancy
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/villages_detruits/02circuit_village.htm The destroyed villages of the region east of Reims
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/communaux/sillery.htm The monument aux morts at Sillery
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/cimetieres/francais/auberive.htm French Military Cemetery at Aubérive
http://www.polishwargraves.nl/fran/auber.pdf Polish Cemetery at Aubérive
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/auberive.htm Le Monument aux morts du 103e Régiment d'infanterie
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/auberive.htm Monument to the 103rd French Infantry Regiment and "Borne no.77
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/val%20de%20vesle.htm Memorial remembering the "Eugene" trench and the Monument to the 8th Army Corps
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/02pompelle.htm Fort de la Pompelle
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/blanc_mont.htm The Sommepy Tahure American Monument
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/cimetieres/francais/sommepy_tahure.htm French Military Cemetery at Sommepy-Tahure
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/monuments/03navarin.htm Ferme de Navarin
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/cimetieres/russes/saint_hilaire.htm#cimetiere Russian Chapel and Cemetery at Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand
http://www.cndp.fr/crdp-reims/memoire/lieux/1GM_CA/cimetieres/francais/wacques.htm The Cemetery at "Wacques Farm" and the 28th Brigade Memorial
http://www.hellfire-corner.demon.co.uk/charles36.htm The monument to the four corporals shot at Souain in 1915