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Today, this necropolis contains 7,526 bodies: 3,533 (46 of whom could not be identified) resting in individual and collective graves, and 3,993 (3,080 of whom could not be identified) in the ossuary. The first work carried out by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge (German War Graves Commission) was completed in 1928, and the old wooden crosses were replaced with stone crosses in 1972. The German soldiers buried in this necropolis were killed on the Chemin des Dames, primarily during the fighting in the autumn of 1914, the spring of 1915, and the battles of 1917 and 1918.

At the center of the Chemin des Dames, the reconstructed village of Cerny-en-Laonnois is a major memorial center: the French cemetery is complemented by a huge German cemetery, two ossuaries, a memorial chapel, and a British monument. It was here that military and political authorities most often visited the Chemin des Dames after the war. A completely reconstructed site, it appears modest in comparison to the many events that made it one of the most disputed points of the Great War from 1914 to 1918. The memorial chapel, erected in 1951 and dedicated to reconciliation, is part of a complex that has included a lantern of the dead since 1960, intended to illuminate the "field of the dead" with a blue light.

on side of a local bar

on the side of the local bar

This is where you drive in and out of the tunnel. The fan is necessary to ventilate the approximately 2.3 km long tunnel. I looked into the tunnel from the other side – it was warm and stuffy.

a nice picnic area that is also well maintained - it had mown grass.

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 either side of the Chapelle-Mémorial there are two large cemeteries: one French and one German. The French necropolis, built between 1919 and 1925, has 5,150 graves, including 2,386 in an ossuary. It is also the resting place of 54 Russian prisoners of war and many tirailleurs from Africa and Madagascar, who died during the Nivelle offensives. Behind the French cemetery is the German military cemetery, established from 1919 onwards under the Treaty of Versailles. It has 7,526 graves, almost 4,000 of which are in an ossuary. In 1972, the site was redesigned with simple stone crosses. Together with the chapel and the “Lanterne des morts”, this place is a powerful symbol of memory and reconciliation.