Memorial de Dormans 14-18

This is the List of World War I memorials and cemeteries in Champagne-Ardennes. The modern-day Champagne-Ardenne, bordering Belgium in northeast France, covers four departments: Aube, Ardennes, Haute-Marne, and Marne. This region saw much fighting in World War I and many battles, of which arguably the most important were the First Battle of the Marne and the Second Battle of the Marne. The First Battle of the Marne, also known as the Miracle of the Marne, was fought between 5 and 12 September 1914. The battle effectively ended the month-long German offensive that had opened the war and the counterattack of six French field armies and the British Expeditionary Force along the Marne River forced the German Imperial Army to abandon its push on Paris and retreat northeast to the Aisne river, setting the stage for four years of trench warfare on the Western Front The Second Battle of the Marne , fought from 15 July to 6 August 1918, was the last major German attack of their five-phase Spring Offensive. The German attack failed when an Allied counterattack led by French forces and including several hundred tanks overwhelmed the Germans on their right flank, inflicting severe casualties. The German defeat marked the start of the relentless Allied advance of the Hundred Days Offensive which culminated in the Armistice. Needing to come to terms with the loss of so many lives in the conflict, particularly those whose remains went unidentified, war memorials – known in France as monuments aux morts, literally monuments to the dead – became a focal point and replaced individual graves and gravestones. Between 1919 and 1926, many thousands of memorials were erected throughout France, including large national monuments, civic memorials, war cemeteries, private memorials, halls and parks. Ceremonies are often held at the memorials, including those on Armistice Day and the Fêtes de la Victoire.
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