X-Nico

2 unusual facts about Chemin des Dames


First Battle of Passchendaele

An anticipated French attack on the Chemin des Dames meant that fewer reinforcements could be expected by the German Fourth Army, making a fighting withdrawal the only possible response to the British attacks.

Third Battle of the Aisne

The defense of the Aisne area was in the hands of General Denis Auguste Duchêne, commander of the French Sixth Army; in addition, four divisions of the British IX Corps, led by Lieutenant-General Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon, held the Chemin des Dames Ridge; they had been posted there to rest and refit after surviving the "Michael" battle.


Aisne

In 2007, a large infrastructure for tourist accommodation, the Center Parcs, was built on the Lake of Ailette, close to many tourist attractions such as the Cathedral of Laon, the Chemin des Dames and the Château de Coucy.

Johann von Ravenstein

After capturing the notorious Chemin des Dames, he succeeded, with 10 soldiers, to capture the bridge over the Aisne at Bourg intact.

La Chanson de Craonne

This song was sung by the French soldiers who mutinied (in sixty eight of the one hundred and ten divisions of the French Army) after the costly and militarily disastrous offensive of General Robert Nivelle at the Chemin des Dames, spring 1917.

Vauclair Abbey

It was built about fifteen kilometers to the south of Laon in an east-west stretch of the Ailette river valley at the foot of the northern side of the Chemin des Dames, on a site already occupied by a church, in what is now the Bouconville-Vauclair commune.


see also

Third Battle of the Aisne

The Germans had held the Chemin des Dames Ridge from the First Battle of the Aisne in September 1914 to 1917, when General Mangin captured it during the Second Battle of the Aisne (in the Nivelle Offensive).