20의 이지-주이가지 명소 & 주요 장소

Marcel Duquenoy; Small memorial stone along the D18 between the Ferme de la Royère and the Ferme de Malval. It commemorates Marcel Duquenoy, a 20-year-old aspiring officer from Calais in the 350th Infantry Regiment, who was killed in the wood opposite the monument on 6 May 1917 during the Battle of La Malmaison. The inscription is from his parents: “En souvenir de notre fils disparu dans le bois en face” – a personal tribute in a landscape marked by collective loss.

Jean Dauly Memorial; This sober monument commemorates Jean Dauly, a soldier in the 350th Infantry Regiment, who was killed on 6 May 1917 at the age of 20 during heavy fighting in the forest opposite the current location. It stands along the D18 between the Ferme de La Royère and the Ferme de Malval. The inscription bears witness to the personal loss: “Regretté de sa mère, de toute sa famille et de ses comarades. Priez pour lui”.

This large German war cemetery is located near the Fort de La Malmaison, along the Chemin des Dames. It was created in 1941 by the Wehrmacht to centralise scattered graves from the Aisne region. After the war, the site was officially recognised by a Franco-German convention in 1954 and inaugurated in 1965. It is the resting place of almost 11,850 German soldiers, mainly those who died during the 1940 campaign and the fighting following the Allied landings in Normandy in 1944. Between 1960 and 1961, more than 6,800 bodies were reburied from six surrounding departments. The cemetery is sober and serene, with rows of dark crosses and a memorial stone. It is a silent reminder of the fierce fighting in this region and is an important stop on the remembrance routes along the Chemin des Dames.

During the First World War, Cerny-en-Laonnois was a strategic point along the Chemin des Dames, a ridge fiercely contested by French and German troops. In September 1914, the village was taken by the Germans, who used it as a defensive post. They dug deep underground networks in the limestone, which served as shelters and munitions stores. In the spring of 1917, the area became the scene of the Nivelle Offensive, a large-scale French attack that resulted in heavy losses and eventually led to mutinies within the French army. Cerny-en-Laonnois was completely destroyed by artillery fire and fighting. After the war, the village was rebuilt a little further south. Today, the military cemeteries, the memorial chapel and the “Lanterne des Morts” bear witness to the immense human suffering that took place here.

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For a brief stopover

Along the Chemin des Dames there are numerous memorial steles for individual soldiers, troops and units that fought here in 1917. You have to be aware that although today you can drive there comfortably on a highway, back then you were directly on the front line of one of the bloodiest battles of the World War.

As a memorial to the endless number of war dead, such places - usually referred to as "war cemeteries" or "soldiers' cemeteries" - are still very important today. "Now, Lord, let your servant go in peace, as you said." However, the many people buried here were by no means divorced in peace, but became victims of the war and an inhuman tyranny. The most important and at the same time everlasting function of the soldiers' or honorary cemeteries or war cemeteries is therefore to keep the memory of this suffering alive and – every generation anew (!) – to remind people of the lasting preservation of peace.