ARGONNE

Between Soissons and Reims, the Chemin des Dames was the scene of heavy fighting during the Battle of the Aisne in 1914, the ill-fated Nivelle Offensive of 1917 and the German Spring Offensive of 1918. To the east of the Reims lie the Champagne battlefields where much blood was spilled in the large-scale French offensives of 1914/15. Many French military cemeteries line the route between Reims and St Menehould, gateway to the mighty Argonne Forest. Within the forest lie French military cemeteries and a memorial to the fallen of the Argonne.

 

Notable sites in the vicinity of the Argonne include the huge American Monument and Cemetery at Montfaucon (the largest US cemetery on European soil), the unsettling French Monument de Squelette on the Mort Homme Ridge and the Butte de Vaquois, a small hill still punctured by craters from the extensive mine warfare that took place in the area.