The best cycling routes around Festieux

In 1914, the peasant village of Ailles covered about 340 hectares, one third of which was forest. 61 houses were grouped around the church of Saint-Martin. The population was declining: in the 1901 census there were still 147 inhabitants, while in 1911 there were only 118. In honor of the Battle of Craonne, a magnificent elm had been planted on March 7, 1814. A century later, it witnessed a new battlefield as French and German shells wiped the village off the map...

The Plateau de Californie in the heart of the Chemin des Dames is, like Verdun, a symbolic site of the First World War. However, while Verdun was quickly elevated to a national symbol of victory, the Plateau de Californie and the Chemin des Dames were long associated with the bitter failure of the Nivelle Offensive in April 1917, the subsequent mutinies, and the collapse in the summer of 1918, and were subjected to a process of exclusion, forgetting, and repression after the First World War. Before 1914, the Plateau de Californie, above the former village of Craonne, was a place for walks and recreation. After the war, pine trees were planted on the plateau, classified as a "red zone", as the land could no longer be cultivated. Today's visitors can follow the marked paths, discovering remnants of trenches and shell craters. Thematic information panels on the First World War, reading panels, and panoramic views of the Aisne valley now line the plateau along this marked hiking trail. Source: https://www.chemindesdames.fr

After the Volksbund took over, development work began in 1933, such as the planting of birch trees that give this cemetery a particular charm or the construction of a memorial site (Gedenkhalle) in pink Vosges sandstone based on the plans of the Volksbund's chief architect, Robert Tischler. Inside this building, which is located at the back of the necropolis and after taking a staircase, one reaches a cloister from which one accesses a crypt in which the names of all the men buried in this cemetery are engraved on large beech wood panels. 

This cemetery, located in a town occupied by the Germans from September 1914 to October 1918, was created near a field hospital.  From 1920 onwards, it served as a nucleus for the grouping of German graves located in around sixty communes, in particular those in the cemeteries created by the Germans during the war in the communes they occupied, such as Mauregny-en-Haye (more than 1,000 graves), Coucy-les-Eppes (more than 500) and Berrieux (600).  The men buried here all fought east of the Chemin des Dames, mainly in the autumn of 1914, early 1915, in April and May 1917 (during General Nivelle's offensive), at the end of May 1918 and from September to October of that same year. Today, this necropolis houses 7,192 bodies: 5,402 are buried in individual and collective graves (of which 8 combatants could not be identified) and 1,790 rest in an ossuary (of which only 54 could be identified).

This cemetery, located in a town occupied by the Germans from September 1914 to October 1918, was created near a field hospital. From 1920 onwards, it served as a nucleus for the grouping of German graves located in around sixty communes, in particular those in the cemeteries created by the Germans during the war in the communes they occupied, such as Mauregny-en-Haye (more than 1,000 graves), Coucy-les-Eppes (more than 500) and Berrieux (600). The men buried here all fought east of the Chemin des Dames, mainly in the autumn of 1914, early 1915, in April and May 1917 (during General Nivelle's offensive), at the end of May 1918 and from September to October of that same year. Today, this necropolis houses 7,192 bodies: 5,402 are buried in individual and collective graves (of which 8 combatants could not be identified) and 1,790 rest in an ossuary (of which only 54 could be identified).

Placed high on a mound and built on the former site of the Moulin de Vauclerc, which served as an observatory for the emperor, the limestone statue represents the Emperor scanning the horizon in a dignified position.

This memorial stone, located on the Plateau de Californie above the old Craonne, commemorates the fierce fighting of April-May 1917 during the Nivelle Offensive. It stands on the spot where the French army suffered heavy losses in the battle against the German defenses. The stone also pays tribute to the destroyed village of Craonne, which was not rebuilt after the war. The site is closely linked to the famous “Chanson de Craonne”, the pacifist song of the French soldiers

The Plateau de Californie, situated above the ruined village of Craonne, was a strategic high point during the First World War. In April 1917, it became the scene of fierce fighting during the Nivelle Offensive. French troops suffered heavy losses here in their attempt to break through the German lines.