The Chapelle du Souvenir near the village of Rancourt (Somme)Rancourt was a key site during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Many died, and there are French, German, British, and South African military cemeteries all around the village. The largest French military cemetery anywhere is the WWI memorial there, with 8,566 graves.
The French military cemetery at RancourtThe memorial was founded and built at the initiative of a woman from New Orleans whose son had died in the battle for Rancourt. She formed a committee right after the war and organized the construction of a Chapelle du Souvenir — a Remembrance Chapel — in honor of her son and his comrades in arms.
Views at dusk from my hotel room window at RancourtThe hotel we stayed in was just a mile or so up the road from the memorial. One of the things I liked about it was the view of sheep and goats out of the window of my room.
It's impossible not to be moved by those cemeteries. They serve to remind us how tough life was almost a century ago and that we have so much to be thankful for.
ReplyDeleteEven though Belgium ad Luxembourg were invaded and occupied by the Germans, it was mostly in Northern France that the most deadly battles occurred. All these cemeteries are a very sad proof of that. Péronne, in the heart of the Bataille de la Somme, was more than ninety per cent razed.
ReplyDeleteIn the late thirties, you still could see a lot of ruins around, twenty years after the end of the Great War!
mmm being from NO myself, this is tres interessant....a lovely area too...thx for posting...wonder what the womans name was
ReplyDeleteSomme is sad to think about, but there is peace in the photo of the sheep and the goats. Thanks for these photos.
ReplyDeleteMelinda:
ReplyDeleteHer name was Marie Mathilde Johnston (1857-1919). Her son was a French citizen, Jean Du Bos (1890-1916)
http://www.lesmortspourlafrance80.fr/rancourt%20sailly%20saillisel/chapelle.htm
Just lovely! Look at that countryside!
ReplyDeleteTried to comment this morning but "service unavailable". I was reminded of That Sheep May Safely Graze by these lovely pictures. My mother in law always told me the story of being in the living room of her home in Hungary with her brother and sisters building card houses. Her father walked in the room to tell them that war (WWI) had been declared and her mother jumped up exclaiming, "War! IN Europe! In the 20th century! Impossible".
ReplyDeleteComing from Australia where we have never experienced fighting a war on our own land it is difficuly to imagine the terror of invasion. Of course our indigenous population would not agree with this observation and would rightfully argue the invasion and occupation has been going on for over two hundred years. We will be arriving in Saint Aignan today and would love the chance to catch up and talk through your impressions of this place.
ReplyDeleteHi Ann, I hope you enjoyed the market in St-Aignan this morning. We didn't make it down there because we have visitors this afternoon and were busy preparing.
ReplyDeleteCan you send me an e-mail and we'll see if we can find a day to get together. I'm kenbroadhurst at gmail dot com.