Standing on a hill in rolling countryside on the edge of champagne country, a 30m tall monument testifies to one of the first world war’s lesser known but critical battles, reports The Financial Times.
There are no obvious combat scars at Mondement, which lies east of Paris, no vast cemetery with rows of crosses; just a one-room museum in the tranquil village’s old schoolhouse looked after by an elderly woman. She unlocks the door with a kindly greeting to visitors who knock on her window.
The first battle of the Marne, fought over little more than a bloody week shortly after the outbreak of war in early August 1914, may not have the resonance of names such as Verdun, the Somme, Arras or Ypres. But it is here President François Hollande will come in September to remember a victory that was key to the survival of France in a war that began 100 years ago.
“This is an emblematic place,” says Michel Tellier, mayor of the nearby village of Soizy aux Bois and head of the local Remembrance association. The massive monument, flanked by a handsome château and a pretty church, is a peaceful spot, the summer quiet punctuated by just a handful of visitors.
But Mr Tellier adds: “This hill is the point where they fought with bayonets to stop the Germans breaking through to the plateau below that leads to Paris.”
In France, the first world war is being remembered as much more than a futile slaughter, as it is so often portrayed in Britain. It is seen as a war in which the French stood together, ultimately victoriously, against a German invader who had taken Paris in 1871 and was to do so again in 1940.
At a time when the country is suffering from a prolonged economic malaise, with politicians talking openly of a national crisis of identity, the anniversary of La Grande Guerre, offers an opportunity to evoke a spirit of unity and pride.
Read more of this report from The Financial Times.