“… I fear’d to set my foot upon a dead man’s cheek” - Anselm in northern France
Nov 26th, 2007, 03:08 AM
#21
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Anselm:
A fine report, as usual.
Verdun is indeed a chilling place, and I can remember my first visit over 35 years ago when one could walk through the basement of the Ossuaire amid the bones. It certainly brought home the horror that Verdun must have been.
If you have not done so, you might want to read Alistair Horne's "The Price of Glory: Verdun", to my mind the best account of Verdun in English.
You wondered about Verdun and Charny in Québec. They were both named in the 17th century during the French regime, and not during the First World War. However your question intrigued me and I set out to discover whether the names of any towns or cities in Canada had been changed during or after the war (aside from thw well-known Berlin to Kitchener). According to Alan Rayburn's informative "Naming Canada", there were many townships, streets, lakes and mountains named or renamed after WWI battles, but very few towns. Verdun is commemorated by a lake in Québec, a township in Northern Ontario, and a glacier in the Rockies.
I'll look forward to your next report whenever that may be.
A fine report, as usual.
Verdun is indeed a chilling place, and I can remember my first visit over 35 years ago when one could walk through the basement of the Ossuaire amid the bones. It certainly brought home the horror that Verdun must have been.
If you have not done so, you might want to read Alistair Horne's "The Price of Glory: Verdun", to my mind the best account of Verdun in English.
You wondered about Verdun and Charny in Québec. They were both named in the 17th century during the French regime, and not during the First World War. However your question intrigued me and I set out to discover whether the names of any towns or cities in Canada had been changed during or after the war (aside from thw well-known Berlin to Kitchener). According to Alan Rayburn's informative "Naming Canada", there were many townships, streets, lakes and mountains named or renamed after WWI battles, but very few towns. Verdun is commemorated by a lake in Québec, a township in Northern Ontario, and a glacier in the Rockies.
I'll look forward to your next report whenever that may be.
Nov 26th, 2007, 04:03 AM
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"... a rose bush planted in front of every cross or crescent."
kerouac, I'm glad you mentioned the crescents. While crosses certainly outnumber crescents, they are a reminder of the conscripted "colonials" who fought for France.
Was that NATO base in Étain? I ask because there is a Bois de Clairs Chênes just north of the American cemetery at Cunel.
hanl, thanks for looking up sillure (it may have only one "l"; I am an error-prone speller in both English and French). Monsieur Tisserant said it was a huge fish.
Laverendrye, thanks for clarifying the origins of Charny and Verdun. I will add one more that may have a First War origin: Charny, Quebec was a railway town (a division point, if I remember correctly) and the railway name for it was "Joffre".
I did read "The Price of Glory." In fact, I lugged it and several other books along on this trip. I'll post on that at the end of the trip report.
kerouac, I'm glad you mentioned the crescents. While crosses certainly outnumber crescents, they are a reminder of the conscripted "colonials" who fought for France.
Was that NATO base in Étain? I ask because there is a Bois de Clairs Chênes just north of the American cemetery at Cunel.
hanl, thanks for looking up sillure (it may have only one "l"; I am an error-prone speller in both English and French). Monsieur Tisserant said it was a huge fish.
Laverendrye, thanks for clarifying the origins of Charny and Verdun. I will add one more that may have a First War origin: Charny, Quebec was a railway town (a division point, if I remember correctly) and the railway name for it was "Joffre".
I did read "The Price of Glory." In fact, I lugged it and several other books along on this trip. I'll post on that at the end of the trip report.
Nov 26th, 2007, 04:57 AM
#23
Yes, the Clairs Chênes neighborhood where my great uncle lived was in Etain. On the link to the satellite map that Gertie gave, you can easily locate Etain and see the whole neighborhood of the American houses north of the old town. And to the right of that, you can also see the airfield.
While Googling "Clairs Chênes" to see if there was any relation to the cemetery in Cunel, I even came across a real estate agent selling a house there, so you can even see some photographs of a typical Clairs Chênes house if you do the same.
While Googling "Clairs Chênes" to see if there was any relation to the cemetery in Cunel, I even came across a real estate agent selling a house there, so you can even see some photographs of a typical Clairs Chênes house if you do the same.
Nov 26th, 2007, 05:33 AM
#24
Just found this informative and beautifully written report. Anselm, thanks (I think!) for bringing the horrors of WWI so vividly to life. We hear so much about WWII, but the violence and destruction of WWI seems to be forgotten. The lost generation, rather than the greatest.
Nov 26th, 2007, 07:30 AM
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kerouac, I found both the aerial view and the real estate listing. I drove between the housing estate and the airfield on my way to Longuyon and had no idea either was there.
thursdaysd, thanks for the comments. As Gertie said above, we have to keep remembering.
thursdaysd, thanks for the comments. As Gertie said above, we have to keep remembering.
Nov 26th, 2007, 07:31 AM
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Le Château de Labessière
From Souilly, it was only another 10 kilometres east to Ancemont, a small town on the left bank of the Meuse. I was greeted by Monsieur Eichenauer, the owner of Le Château de Labessière, who showed me the lounge where we were to meet at 7 for an apéritif. My room was on the second floor, a huge affair with two beds, a giant wardrobe, several chairs, and a large glass-top table, where I sat to write these notes. There were tall doors leading out onto a private terrace and, once again, a very modern bathroom.
There were only two other guests that night, a French couple from the Loire. We sat in the lounge, chatted with Monsieur Eichenauer, and sipped our drinks. The conversation turned to the war and the battlefields. The woman from the Loire said that her grandfather had been a physician at Fort de Douaumont, although she didn’t say when. They were planning to visit the battlefields the next day.
Our host served dinner, an excellent jambon cru with melon, and then a superb magret de canard. There was ample red wine: Fronsac, I think, but I didn’t write it down. The cheese was a young chevre and a gentle blue that we concluded was brebis. Dessert was profiteroles.
We moved back into the lounge, where Monsieur Eichenauer joined us for coffee and a glass of mirabel. He told us that the château had stood vacant for many years and had fallen into disrepair. By the time he bought it in the early 1980s, it was uninhabitable. He gradually refurbished it, installing heating, water, electricity, insulation, panelling, and flooring. There are places where you can see the work of a do-it-yourselfer, but the overall restoration has been remarkable.
www.chateau-labessiere.fr
“… collective acts of defiance …”
I left Verdun and drove west past Reims to Laon. Michelin describes this city as “splendid … perched like an acropolis on a rock, crowning a tall outcrop of land which overlooks the plain.” From a distance, it is indeed very striking. But on a Monday, when most of the shops are closed and an icy wind swirls around each corner, it will leave you cold. If you do visit, park on the north side of the lower town and take the funicular up to the top. A round trip is only one euro, but watch that you don’t get trampled by the school children racing for the seats.
Chemin des Dames is a long narrow flat-topped outcropping some 200 metres in height. A natural barrier, it runs in an east-west direction just north of the Aisne. After the battle of the Marne in 1914, the German army retreated to the hilltop and dug in.
If you stand on the edge of the escarpment and look down on the Aisne, you immediately understand what a well-protected defender could do to anyone attempting to climb to the top. Add in a scalloped edge, which provides what amounts to arms reaching out towards the river, and you can fire at your attackers from three sides.
Some historians have suggested that there was scarcely a worse place on the entire Western Front to launch an assault. Nonetheless, Neville, the new chief of the French General Staff, chose Chemin des Dames for the spring campaign of 1917. Heavy losses overshadowed small advances. French soldiers, scarred by Verdun, lost confidence in their leadership. Isolated refusals to move forward spread into mutiny.
I drove west to east along the top of the ridge. The wind, cold in Laon, was sharp and unrelenting on this exposed outcropping. The beetroot harvest was in full swing. An immense machine hoovered beets out of the ground and pitched them into dump trucks. I stopped at La Caverne du Dragon and peered down at the Aisne, my imagination working overtime. General Neville was packed off to North Africa, relegated to obscurity. Pétain, the savior of Verdun, was brought back in to quell the “collective acts of defiance,” as they are referred to at the Musée de l’Armée in Paris.
Looking to escape the battlefield, I drove down the north side of the ridge to L’abbaye de Vauclair. As one might expect, the 12th century Cistercians chose a sheltered and isolated location to build their simple beauty. That was unfortunately no protection from Great War shelling; it is today a tranquil ruin.
www.chemindesdames.fr
From Souilly, it was only another 10 kilometres east to Ancemont, a small town on the left bank of the Meuse. I was greeted by Monsieur Eichenauer, the owner of Le Château de Labessière, who showed me the lounge where we were to meet at 7 for an apéritif. My room was on the second floor, a huge affair with two beds, a giant wardrobe, several chairs, and a large glass-top table, where I sat to write these notes. There were tall doors leading out onto a private terrace and, once again, a very modern bathroom.
There were only two other guests that night, a French couple from the Loire. We sat in the lounge, chatted with Monsieur Eichenauer, and sipped our drinks. The conversation turned to the war and the battlefields. The woman from the Loire said that her grandfather had been a physician at Fort de Douaumont, although she didn’t say when. They were planning to visit the battlefields the next day.
Our host served dinner, an excellent jambon cru with melon, and then a superb magret de canard. There was ample red wine: Fronsac, I think, but I didn’t write it down. The cheese was a young chevre and a gentle blue that we concluded was brebis. Dessert was profiteroles.
We moved back into the lounge, where Monsieur Eichenauer joined us for coffee and a glass of mirabel. He told us that the château had stood vacant for many years and had fallen into disrepair. By the time he bought it in the early 1980s, it was uninhabitable. He gradually refurbished it, installing heating, water, electricity, insulation, panelling, and flooring. There are places where you can see the work of a do-it-yourselfer, but the overall restoration has been remarkable.
www.chateau-labessiere.fr
“… collective acts of defiance …”
I left Verdun and drove west past Reims to Laon. Michelin describes this city as “splendid … perched like an acropolis on a rock, crowning a tall outcrop of land which overlooks the plain.” From a distance, it is indeed very striking. But on a Monday, when most of the shops are closed and an icy wind swirls around each corner, it will leave you cold. If you do visit, park on the north side of the lower town and take the funicular up to the top. A round trip is only one euro, but watch that you don’t get trampled by the school children racing for the seats.
Chemin des Dames is a long narrow flat-topped outcropping some 200 metres in height. A natural barrier, it runs in an east-west direction just north of the Aisne. After the battle of the Marne in 1914, the German army retreated to the hilltop and dug in.
If you stand on the edge of the escarpment and look down on the Aisne, you immediately understand what a well-protected defender could do to anyone attempting to climb to the top. Add in a scalloped edge, which provides what amounts to arms reaching out towards the river, and you can fire at your attackers from three sides.
Some historians have suggested that there was scarcely a worse place on the entire Western Front to launch an assault. Nonetheless, Neville, the new chief of the French General Staff, chose Chemin des Dames for the spring campaign of 1917. Heavy losses overshadowed small advances. French soldiers, scarred by Verdun, lost confidence in their leadership. Isolated refusals to move forward spread into mutiny.
I drove west to east along the top of the ridge. The wind, cold in Laon, was sharp and unrelenting on this exposed outcropping. The beetroot harvest was in full swing. An immense machine hoovered beets out of the ground and pitched them into dump trucks. I stopped at La Caverne du Dragon and peered down at the Aisne, my imagination working overtime. General Neville was packed off to North Africa, relegated to obscurity. Pétain, the savior of Verdun, was brought back in to quell the “collective acts of defiance,” as they are referred to at the Musée de l’Armée in Paris.
Looking to escape the battlefield, I drove down the north side of the ridge to L’abbaye de Vauclair. As one might expect, the 12th century Cistercians chose a sheltered and isolated location to build their simple beauty. That was unfortunately no protection from Great War shelling; it is today a tranquil ruin.
www.chemindesdames.fr
Nov 26th, 2007, 03:04 PM
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L’Auberge de la Vallée
Expect a warm welcome, a comfortable room, and a good meal at L’Auberg de la Vallée in Bourg-et-Comin. Madame and Monsieur Dardenne, the owners, are friendly and quick to laugh. I dined well on a terrine de maison, entrecôt, and a glass of Bordeaux, and then had one of those language moments. I had chosen sorbet for dessert. The waitress—the owners’ daughter, I think—asked if I wanted “chantilly.” I was dumbfounded and suddenly missed my wife, who would have known the answer to this puzzle. My confusion must have been evident. “Whipped cream,” she said, in perfect English. Ah. “Non, merci.”
http://www.auberge-delavallee.com/au...restaurant.htm
Windows by Chagall
I followed my trail of bread crumbs back to the car rental office in Reims. Battlefields behind me, I spent a day enjoying warm sunshine, pedestrianized streets, and a wonderful lunch of moules frites at Le Grand Café. I went twice to the cathedral and its magnificent walls of light. If any good was born of the Great War it was Chagall’s stained glass windows in the east end of the cathedral. They are simply stunning.
T. S. Eliot may have had the Bristol in mind when he wrote about “one night cheap hotels.” Actually, my only real complaint was the cold hot water. The bed was comfortable, and in the restaurant I found again the pleasures of dining in France: the best waiter I have ever encountered served me an excellent magret de canard in fig sauce with chestnuts and pear poached in red wine. With it he recommended a glass of Médoc. Contented and feeling proud of my self-guided touring, I asked about a digestif. The waiter offered cognac, armagnac, and calvados, but sensing my hesitation, suggested I try something local: marc de champagne. It was sublime.
www.bristol-reims.com/index.htm
Ici Repose Un Soldat Français Mort Pour La Patrie 1914-1918
I returned to Paris the next morning and spent a couple of hours at the Musée de l’Armée. I had a very long lunch at a café and then idled my way back to the hotel.
Verdun still on my mind, I went that evening to the Arc de Triomphe to visit the Unknown Soldier. It was October 24, the anniversary of the recapture of Fort de Douaumont. As traffic swirled around l’Étoile and darkness crept in, a dozen veterans, some soldiers, officers, and a handful of civilians marched up to the eternal flame. During the short ceremony, my mind wandered, pondering how difficult it is to understand another nation’s soul. I thought again about honour transcending common sense and about war wounds that never heal. As the proceedings drew to a close, one of the officers started to sing La Marseillaise. The woman standing beside me joined in. I would have liked to, but then I realized that I didn’t know the words.
Anselm
Expect a warm welcome, a comfortable room, and a good meal at L’Auberg de la Vallée in Bourg-et-Comin. Madame and Monsieur Dardenne, the owners, are friendly and quick to laugh. I dined well on a terrine de maison, entrecôt, and a glass of Bordeaux, and then had one of those language moments. I had chosen sorbet for dessert. The waitress—the owners’ daughter, I think—asked if I wanted “chantilly.” I was dumbfounded and suddenly missed my wife, who would have known the answer to this puzzle. My confusion must have been evident. “Whipped cream,” she said, in perfect English. Ah. “Non, merci.”
http://www.auberge-delavallee.com/au...restaurant.htm
Windows by Chagall
I followed my trail of bread crumbs back to the car rental office in Reims. Battlefields behind me, I spent a day enjoying warm sunshine, pedestrianized streets, and a wonderful lunch of moules frites at Le Grand Café. I went twice to the cathedral and its magnificent walls of light. If any good was born of the Great War it was Chagall’s stained glass windows in the east end of the cathedral. They are simply stunning.
T. S. Eliot may have had the Bristol in mind when he wrote about “one night cheap hotels.” Actually, my only real complaint was the cold hot water. The bed was comfortable, and in the restaurant I found again the pleasures of dining in France: the best waiter I have ever encountered served me an excellent magret de canard in fig sauce with chestnuts and pear poached in red wine. With it he recommended a glass of Médoc. Contented and feeling proud of my self-guided touring, I asked about a digestif. The waiter offered cognac, armagnac, and calvados, but sensing my hesitation, suggested I try something local: marc de champagne. It was sublime.
www.bristol-reims.com/index.htm
Ici Repose Un Soldat Français Mort Pour La Patrie 1914-1918
I returned to Paris the next morning and spent a couple of hours at the Musée de l’Armée. I had a very long lunch at a café and then idled my way back to the hotel.
Verdun still on my mind, I went that evening to the Arc de Triomphe to visit the Unknown Soldier. It was October 24, the anniversary of the recapture of Fort de Douaumont. As traffic swirled around l’Étoile and darkness crept in, a dozen veterans, some soldiers, officers, and a handful of civilians marched up to the eternal flame. During the short ceremony, my mind wandered, pondering how difficult it is to understand another nation’s soul. I thought again about honour transcending common sense and about war wounds that never heal. As the proceedings drew to a close, one of the officers started to sing La Marseillaise. The woman standing beside me joined in. I would have liked to, but then I realized that I didn’t know the words.
Anselm
Nov 27th, 2007, 05:18 AM
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Hi Gertie. I do enjoy the food, even when someone leaves the cheese course in the fridge. If by "where next" you mean future travels, we're planning to meet Miss Adorne in Paris at Christmas.
I just wanted to finish this up with some practical information on touring the area. Who knows? Perhaps someone with an interest in Verdun will search and find this useful:
Car rental: I booked through AutoEurope; the rental was from Europcar on boulevard Lundy in Reims. The rental office is about a seven-minute walk from the downtown train station.
Guide books: the Michelin Green Guide for Alsace, Lorraine, and Champagne covers Reims and Verdun. The guide for Northern France covers Laon and Chemin des Dames. I also carried Michelin’s Verdun and the Battles for Its Possession (published in 1920) and Alistair Horne’s The Price of Glory. My compatriot Laverendrye pointed me towards Stephen O’Shea’s Back to the Front and Nigel Jones’s The War Walk.
Maps: The Michelin Local series offer excellent detail at 1/175,000. You need map 307 for Verdun and map 306 for Reims, Laon, and Chemin des Dames. (It is worth mentioning that a great deal of thought and care has gone in to road signs and parking places for both Verdun and Chemin des Dames.)
Recommended times: I spent two days in the Verdun area and half a day at Chemin des Dames. If constrained by time (or interest), skip the city of Verdun itself and focus instead on the battlefields. Forts Vaux and Douaumont, the Ossuaire, Tranchée des Baïonettes, Mort-Homme, Butte-de-Montfaucon, and the American cemetery at Meuse-Argonne could all be seen in one very full day.
I just wanted to finish this up with some practical information on touring the area. Who knows? Perhaps someone with an interest in Verdun will search and find this useful:
Car rental: I booked through AutoEurope; the rental was from Europcar on boulevard Lundy in Reims. The rental office is about a seven-minute walk from the downtown train station.
Guide books: the Michelin Green Guide for Alsace, Lorraine, and Champagne covers Reims and Verdun. The guide for Northern France covers Laon and Chemin des Dames. I also carried Michelin’s Verdun and the Battles for Its Possession (published in 1920) and Alistair Horne’s The Price of Glory. My compatriot Laverendrye pointed me towards Stephen O’Shea’s Back to the Front and Nigel Jones’s The War Walk.
Maps: The Michelin Local series offer excellent detail at 1/175,000. You need map 307 for Verdun and map 306 for Reims, Laon, and Chemin des Dames. (It is worth mentioning that a great deal of thought and care has gone in to road signs and parking places for both Verdun and Chemin des Dames.)
Recommended times: I spent two days in the Verdun area and half a day at Chemin des Dames. If constrained by time (or interest), skip the city of Verdun itself and focus instead on the battlefields. Forts Vaux and Douaumont, the Ossuaire, Tranchée des Baïonettes, Mort-Homme, Butte-de-Montfaucon, and the American cemetery at Meuse-Argonne could all be seen in one very full day.
Nov 27th, 2007, 12:58 PM
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Thanks for this moving and informative account.
It makes a nice change from the accounts of tourists who rush from one "must see" to another and are forever worried about the price of meals. Small French hotels with their distinctive restaurants and local produce are a very enjoyable experience.
Visiting battlefields and cemeteries are a sober reminder of the violent history of this area, and this perhaps explains the desire of the present generation to live in peace with their neighbours. There has been too much death and destruction caused by nationalism.
It makes a nice change from the accounts of tourists who rush from one "must see" to another and are forever worried about the price of meals. Small French hotels with their distinctive restaurants and local produce are a very enjoyable experience.
Visiting battlefields and cemeteries are a sober reminder of the violent history of this area, and this perhaps explains the desire of the present generation to live in peace with their neighbours. There has been too much death and destruction caused by nationalism.
Nov 27th, 2007, 01:07 PM
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Truly fascinating post, Anselm. I have been interested in this ever since I saw the war memorial exhibits in Kansas City, as a boy. I recall vividly the scale model of battlefields, with the earth churned into a jumble with interlocking shell holes covering every square yard.
We have done canal trips up and down the Marne, and around Reims, and I made a point of visiting cemeteries, but I obviously did not do my homework.
Thank you for stirring my imagination again. Perhaps I will get an opportunity to retrace your steps.
We have done canal trips up and down the Marne, and around Reims, and I made a point of visiting cemeteries, but I obviously did not do my homework.
Thank you for stirring my imagination again. Perhaps I will get an opportunity to retrace your steps.
Nov 27th, 2007, 01:15 PM
#40
Hi, Anselm,
such a lovely report. you really brought it to life. [pehaps not the most elegant compliment about a battle-field tour but the best I could do].
your hotel /restaurant recommendations are useful too. My best friend [american] introduced me to Rully, so any restaurant that serves it is OK with me.
regards, ann
such a lovely report. you really brought it to life. [pehaps not the most elegant compliment about a battle-field tour but the best I could do].
your hotel /restaurant recommendations are useful too. My best friend [american] introduced me to Rully, so any restaurant that serves it is OK with me.
regards, ann
