Monuments & Memorials on the Aisne & Oise Battlefields, France
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1st Loyal North Lancashire Regiment Memorial
49.442183
3.668573
Cerny-en-Laonnois
The Memorial commemorates the Officers, Warrant and Non-Commissioned Officers and men of the 1st Battalion Loyal North Lancashire Regiment who laid down their lives on active service in 1914-1918.
Latitude N 49° 26' 32" ; Longitude E 3° 40' 7"
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2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment Memorial
49.427026
3.850137
Ville-aux-Bois-les-Pontavert
The Memorial commemorates the Officers and Men of the 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment in action on 27 May 1918 at La Ville Aux Bois Les Pontavert. It is situated opposite the the Mairie.
Latitude N 49° 25' 37.293" ; Longitude E 3° 51' 0.493"
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5th (Gibraltar) Field Battery Royal Artillery Memorial Plaque
49.427023
3.849978
Ville-aux-Bois-les-Pontavert
The Memorial commemorates the Members of the Battery who gave their lives at La Ville Aux Bois Les Pontavert on 27th May 1918. It is situated on the wall of the Mairie.
The plaque reads:
“During the offensive of May 1918 the Battery was attacked by an overwhelming force, the guns continued to fire and resistance did not cease until every man was killed or captured. For this action the Battery was awarded the Croix de Guerre.”
Latitude N 49° 25' 37.282" ; Longitude E 3° 50' 59.920"
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11 November 1918 Memorial to the Soldiers of France
49.429362
2.905774
Near Clairière de l'Armistice site, Compiègne
The Memorial is located near to the place where the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918. The memorial is dedicated to the soldiers of France 1914-1918. The inscription reads: “To the heroic soldiers of France, defenders of their country and glorious liberators of Alsace and Lorraine.”
Latitude N 49 ° 25' 45.703" ; Longitude E 2° 54' 20.786"
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California Position
49.444647
3.779447
Chemin des Dames
This is a viewpoint with an orientation table at the eastern end of the high ground of the Chemin des Dames, before it climbs down to the plain. This view was a key strategic vantage point of high ground afforded to the army that possessed it. In 1814 Napoléon I held it. In 1917 the French battled to wrestle it from the German Army.
Latitude N 49° 26' 40.729" ; Longitude E 3° 46' 46.008"
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Guards Memorial: Coldstream, Grenadier & Irish Guards
49.282640
3.114367
D81, north of Villers-Cotterêts
The Memorial commemorates the men who fell in the rearguard action at Villers-Cotterets on 1 September 1914. It was placed in memory of Captain George Eward Cecil of the Coldstream Guards by his mother, Lady Edward Cecil in 1922. Captain Cecil is buried in the Guards Grave Cemetery a few hundred metres south of the memorial.
Latitude N 49° 16' 57" ; Longitude E 3° 6' 51"
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Guynemer Memorial, Compiègne
49.414764
2.828843
Boulevard Victor Hugo, Compiègne
Memorial to the French Air Ace Georges Guynemer (1894-1917). Memorial sculpture by Henri Navarre.
For more information about Guynemer and the memorial to him at Poelkapelle, where his aircraft was last seen on 11 September 1917, see our page:
Georges Guynemer Memorial, Poelkapelle
Latitude N 49 ° 24' 53.150" ; Longitude E 2° 49' 43.835"
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Hurtebise Farm, French Army Battle Memorial 1814 - 1914
49.440978
3.737867
Hurtebise Farm, Chemin des Dames
The Memorial commemorates the French Army at the Battle of Hurtebise Farm in 1814 and the French Army fighting on the Chemin des Dames in 1914.
Latitude N 49° 26' 28" ; Longitude E 3° 44' 16"
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Hurtebise Farm, French Army Memorial Plaque
49.440976
3.738130
Hurtebise Farm, Chemin des Dames
The plaque on the exterior wall of Hurtebise Farm commemorates the 4th Regiment of Zouaves, victorious in battle against the German defence at Hurtebise Farm in the battles of 1914 and 1917.
Latitude N 49° 26' 28" ; Longitude E 3° 44' 17"
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Memorial Chapel, Cerny-en-Laonnois
49.443017
3.667119
Cerny-en-Laonnois
The Chapel is a memorial to the French Army on the Chemin des Dames 1914-1918. There are plaques to individuals and regiments inside the chapel.
Latitude N 49° 26' 34.860" ; Longitude E 3° 40' 1.628"
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Memorial to Senegalese Soldiers 1914-1918
49.441727
3.730789
Caverne du Dragon, Chemin des Dames
This is an installation called “La Constellation de la douleur”. This translates as “The Constellation of Pain”. It is a set of 9 figures made from charred wood by the artist Christian Lapie, and situated on the side of the hill next to the Caverne du Dragon First World War underground quarry and museum. This is where the French 10th Colonial Infantry Division was in action on the Chemin des Dames. The nine figures are spread apart from one another, symbolizing the loneliness of pain.
Latitude N 49° 26' 30.217" ; Longitude E 3° 43' 50.840"
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Memorial to Sous-Lieutenant Louis Astoul
49.440783
3.695092
Chemin des Dames
A private memorial to Sous-Lieutenant Louis Astoul of the 70th Sénégalais. He died aged 24 during the battle of 16 April 1917.
Latitude N 49° 26' 26.818" ; Longitude E 3° 41' 42.330"
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Monument to Napoléon I
49.440033
3.764598
Chemin des Dames
This is a memorial from the Napoleon I era. It is a statue of Napoléon Bonaparte (1769-1821), Emporer of the French from 1804-1814. The statue commemorates his victory at the Battle of Craonne on 7th March 1814 against the armies of the Kingdom of Prussia and the Empire of Russia.
Latitude N 49° 26' 24" ; Longitude E 3° 45' 52"
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Monument des Chars d'Assaut (French Armoured Forces) 1917-18
49.413113
3.886982
Le Cholera Crossroads, D925-N44
The French National Tank Monument. This memorial at Le Choléra crossroads commemorates the French armoured forces of 1917-18 and their commander Général Jean Baptiste Eugène Estienne. Général Estienne is known in France as “Père des Chars” - Father of the Tank. The monument is located on the site of the Ferme du Choléra, the base for the deployment of the first French tank attack on 16 April 1917.
Latitude N 49° 24' 27" ; Longitude E 3° 53' 13"
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Soissons Memorial to the Missing
49.381117
3.328941
Soissons
The Soissons Memorial commemorates nearly 4,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom who have no known grave. They died in the Battles of the Aisne and the Battles of the Marne in 1918.
Please note: The gates to the memorial are locked as a security measure. The memorial can be accessed by using a digital code on the gate which is obtained from the France Area office of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission by telephone at the following times:
Telephone: +33 (0)3 21 217 700
Monday to Thursday: 08.30 to 16.30; Friday: 08.30 to 16.00; (Saturday and Sunday: Office is closed).
Latitude N 49° 22' 52" ; Longitude E 3° 19' 44"
The memorial is maintained by the Commomwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). For more information about this memorial go to the CWGC website:
Website: www.cwgc.org Soissons Memorial
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