パイシーのおすすめツーリングルート

1914年、農村のアイユ（Ailles）村は約340ヘクタールに広がり、そのうち3分の1は森林でした。61軒の家がサン・マルタン教会（Saint-Martin）の周りに集まっていました。人口は減少しており、1901年の国勢調査では147人でしたが、1911年にはわずか118人でした。 1814年3月7日、クラオンヌの戦い（Bataille de Craonne）を記念して、壮麗なニレの木が植えられました。1世紀後、フランスとドイツの砲弾が村を地図から消し去ったとき、この木は新たな戦場の証人となったのです...

美しい静かな散歩場所

on side of a local bar

on the side of the local bar

Villers-en-Prayères - the lettering on the building shows the town hall and school in a beautiful building.

At lunchtime, we never encountered anyone in the villages on our journey through Champagne. It was deserted and quiet. Only occasionally did we catch the smell of food.

On the eastern edge of the Chemin des Dames plateau lies the Ferme d’Hurtebise, a place that played a crucial role during both the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War. In 1814, it was the scene of the Battle of Craonne, and exactly a century later it again became a strategic junction in the struggle between French and German troops. From September 1914 onwards, fierce fighting took place here. The farm overlooked the Ailette and Aisne valleys, making it a fiercely contested observation post. French units, including Zouaves and the 12th and 49th Infantry Regiments, tried to hold or retake the farm, often with heavy losses. The family that owned the farm sheltered in the cellar for days while the building was under fire. After months of fighting and bombardment, the farm was reduced to ruins, crisscrossed by trenches. Today the site is a symbol of resistance and sacrifice, and is part of the Chemin des Dames memorial landscape.

Louis Astoul: Along the D18 on the Chemin des Dames, between Cerny-en-Laonnois and the Caverne du Dragon, stands a modest monument to Louis Astoul, a young French second lieutenant in the 70th regiment of tirailleurs sénégalais. He was killed on 16 April 1917, on the first day of the disastrous Nivelle Offensive, at the age of just 24. The monument honours not only him, but also his comrades – mostly colonial soldiers from West Africa – who gave their lives in this region in the hope of a breakthrough that never came. Astoul was reported missing near the village of Paissy, and his body was never found. Today, this memorial recalls the often forgotten role of colonial troops in the Great War, and the personal drama behind the great history.