The first shot fired by the British in the First World War occurred at this monument along the roadway northeast of Mons. German cavalry reconnaissance was advancing on the road from the right and was fired upon after cresting the hill.

The rail bridge over the Canal du Centre was stoutly defended by a machine gun detachment of Royal Fusiliers. The Germans advanced from the right

The memorial plaque under the rail bridge commemorates the sandbagged machine-gun position of Lt. Maurice Dease, VC whose detachment denied the Germans the use of the bridge for their advance against Mons.

The cow pasture near Le Masure outside of Mons where the Royal Irish Rifles fought against the advance German Army during the Battle of Mons.

The St-Symphorien War Cemetery near Mons is one of the most attractive of the military cemeteries of the First World War. Started by the Germans after the Battle of Mons, the cemetery contains the graves of German and British Commonwealth soldiers and even a memorial to a British regiment erected by the Germans.

The white stone block monument erected to commemorate the defense of this hill by the Suffolk, Manchester, Argyll and Sutherland Highlander, and Royal Artillery Regiments during the Battle of Le Cateau in 1914.

A section of the military cemetery at Le Cateau; the cemetery contains British and German dead from area battles in 1914 and 1918.

A horse trough, now used for flowers rather than water, commemorates the British 66th Division which liberated the town in 1918.

The German Cemetery near Vladslo holds two sculptures known as ‘The Mourning Parents” by the German artist Käthe Kollwitz, who lost her son in the Flanders battle of 1914.

The Dodengang or ‘Trench of Death’ stands along the IJzer River outside Diksmuide where Belgian and German forces faced each other in close proximity.

Concrete ‘sandbags’ now line a preserved segment of the ‘Trench of Death’ outside Diksmuide.

In the medieval town square of Diksmuide stands a statue to Colonel Jacques who led the Belgian resistance to the German attack on the city in 1914.

The IJzertoren, or Peace Tower, contains a multi-floor museum to the history of Flanders with special emphasis on the First World War. The ‘Pax’ memorial is to Flemish independence leaders who died protesting French dominance of Flanders.

The Belgian Demarcation Stone placed at the end of the ‘Trench of Death’ marks the furthest German advance in the Diksmuide sector.

The distinctive gravestones are arrayed in the Ramskapelle Belgian Cemetery

The waterway gates separating the Belgian canal system from the North Sea were opened in 1914 to flood lowlands and provide a barrier to the German advance.

The Nieuwpoort British Memorial to the Missing, guarded by three stone lions, records the names of 566 servicemen who died in actions along the seacoast and have no known grave.

Original British trench line in Sanctuary Wood.

The reconstructed Gothic style Cloth Hall in Ypres houses the In Flanders Fields Museum. The attached Renaissance Nieuwerck on the right serves as the town hall.

The always busy Grote Markt in central Ypres is filled with stalls and vehicles during its weekly market day. The Cloth Hall is in the rear.

Ypres’ Menin Gate is reflected in the city’s medieval moat. This is the eastern exit from the city through which many British fighting men passed on their way to the Ypres battlefields. The structure bears stone panels recording the names of almost 55,000 names of British dead who have no known grave.

The German Cemetery at Langemark contains 44,034 German dead from the Ypres battles. Gravestones mark burial plots which frequently contain several bodies; the upright panels in the rear record the names of those buried in the mass grave, which they edge.

Four figures at the edge of Langemark Cemetery were sculpted by Emil Kieger and continue the decades-long watch over the graves of their comrades.

The rebuilt Geluveld Château is now peaceful and shows nothing of the violent engagement that took place here in the early days of the fight for control for Ypres.

The Hooge Château was completed destroyed in the fighting in the Ypres Salient. The bunker and adjacent water-filled shell crater create a peaceful alternative to the mayhem that occurred here.

One of several British cemeteries within the area of Polygon Wood show testimony to the fierce fighting which occurred in the forested area. This smaller, battlefield cemetery holds predominantly New Zealand servicemen.

A mine crater atop Hill 60 in the Ypres Salient implies the force of these massive underground explosions.

This German bunker atop Hill 60 in the Ypres Salient was captured and modified by the British during the struggle to control this vital observation point.

Located across the rail line from Hill 60, Caterpillar Crater was formed by a mine explosion in June 1917, part of the attack upon Messines Ridge.

The Canadian Memorial at St-Juliaan commemorates those Canadian soldiers killed in the German gas attack in 1915.

The top of the Canadian Memorial depicts a soldier with his hands on the hilt on his inverted rifle. The pose has resulted in the monument’s nickname ‘Brooding Canadian’.

Dugouts along the Ieperlee Canal were Lt. Col. John McCrae, Royal Medical Corp, sheltered and wrote his famous poet In Flanders Fields after the death of a close friend.

A group of French and Belgian memorials commemorate the Second Battle of Ypres gas attack.

Sheltered in the ditch between the walls of the ancient Arras Citadel is a grim reminder of the Second World War. The Mur des Fusillés commemorates those executed by the Nazis. The single modern post in the center of the walkway marks the execution spot. The name, occupation, and village of each of the 218 dead are on plaques covering the walls.

Fifteenth century arcaded buildings remain in the Grand Place of Arras.

The ruins of the church at Ablain-St-Nazaire remain as a testimonial to the harsh fighting that occurred on the slopes of Notre-Dame de Lorette.

Only the façade of the church at St-Éloi stands to overlook the plain below. The church towers, excellent observation points, were mercilessly shelled.

The statue of Général Maistre, commander of the French XXI Corps, stands on the shoulder of the entrance road to Notre-Dame-de-Lorette.

General Ernest Barbot, whose Alpine troops halted the German advance on Arras in 1914, is commemorated by a statue on the outskirts of Souchez near the place where he was killed less than one year later.

The major French memorial to the dead of the battles in the Arras region stands upon the heights of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. Surrounded by graves and ossuaries, the Byzantine Basilica faces the Lantern of the Dead, whose light can be seen 70 km away. The base of the lantern tower holds a crypt containing ceremonial coffins of dead from later French conflicts.

At the rear of the French Military Cemetery on Notre-Dame-de-Lorette is the section of Muslim graves, as identified by their distinctive headstones. Many of the troops engaged in the First World War fighting in this area were of North African descent and their fatalities comprised an appreciable portion of French Army losses. These headstones can be seen in many French Military Cemeteries, either singly among the Latin Crosses or in special sections such as this one.

The pillbox located near the south end of the Haute Chevauchée was dedicated to the scion of a aristocratic French family who was killed in September 1914.

This shelter, in the Forêt d’Argonne, was one of several constructed for the Bavarian Crown Prince who commanded the armies in this sector.

Several of the numerous craters atop the Butte de Vauquois resulting from the mine warfare of 1915 and which obliterated the village of Vauquois. The white stele in the crater marks the location of the village church; the memorial of the crater lip is the Vauquois Lanterne des Morts.

The Lanterne des Morts atop the Butte de Vauquois depicts a French poilu standing guard in the trenches with grenade in hand and a dead comrade at his feet.

The Lanterne des Morts atop the Butte de Vauquois commemorates the soldiers killed fighting on the hill.

A Bavarian Command Post in the region of the Forêt d'Apremont known as Tranchée des Bavarois bears the slogan of the Bavarian regiments 'In Treuefest'. Firing steps on the right were used by riflemen to shoot over the lip of the trench. This area of the forest displays numerous trench lines, dugouts, saps, and firing pits that remain in remarkably good condition.

In the Bois d'Ailly of the Forêt d'Apremont the Tranchée de la Soif winds for several hundred meters through the re-grown forest.

Stained glass window in the village church in Marbotte depicts a gruesome scene of trench warfare. The Germans, in their field gray uniforms, attack the few survivors of adjutant Péricard while their ashen faced dead fill the trenches.

Stained glass window in the village church in Marbotte shows the French heroine, Jeanne-d'Arc, inspiring French First World soldiers as they face the attacking Germans in Le Tranchée de la Soif. The attackers are barely visible on the horizon in their field gray uniforms and their pickelhaube helmets.

Monument to the Fallen of the Éparges battles situated on Point X on Butte des Éparges. Its value as an observation point over the Woëvre Plain to the east is evident from this photograph.

The Necropolis Nationale Les Éparges (also known as the French National Cemetery du Trottoir) sits peacefully below the slopes of the Éparges ridge. The cemetery holds 2,960 burials from area fighting.

One of several shelters along the Western Front built to accommodate the Crown Prince of Bavaria and his entourage. Its several rooms were used as command posts and for storage. This one is below the Butte des Éparges and sited beside a hairpin turn in the roadway.

British Cemetery at Dud Corner and the Loos Memorial to the Missing on the Loos Battlefield. The names of the missing are inscribed on the panels along the rear colonnade and side walls of the cemetery. The flat terrain behind the cemetery was the axis of the British attack going from left to right.

View to the west over Bois Carré British Cemetery. The irregular spacing of tombstones is indicative of a true battlefield cemetery where bodies were buried when and where events permitted. The locations of many such graves were later lost due to shellfire. The stones along the rear wall present special memorials to those soldiers known to be buried here but whose graves were lost.

The British Ninth Avenue Cemetery, which holds only 46 headstones, stands in the midst of the Loos battlefield. Access across the cultivated fields is provided by the neatly trimmed grass path.

The tortured city’s war memorial stands in the place de la Nation near the historic Porte Chaussée. The five carved figures represent the branches of the French Army.

The colossal Monument de la Victoire stands above the city’s commercial district. In the base of the obelisk is a chapel containing three books which record the names of the soldiers who participated in the defense of the city. On the top is a mustached Gallic warrior.

A revitalize esplanade along Verdun’s riverfront offer shopping and dining. The twin towers of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame are seen on the right rear.

The command post of famous author and politician Lt. Col. Emile Driant, who was killed during the early days of the German assault upon Verdun, stands in the Bois des Caures.

French 75-mm artillery pieces stand outside the French Military Cemetery in the suburbs of Verdun. The ridgeline visible in the distance was the last defense against the German assault. It was not breeched.

The military and now tourist entrance to the battered Fort de Douaumont. Considered the strong fortification in the Verdun defenses, is fell quickly and easily in the early days of the Battle of Verdun.

All that remains of the village of Fleury. The shell-cratered landscape is typical of the entire Verdun Battlefield where the effects of the battle have remained unaltered. Each of the village détruit contain a rebuilt chapel of remembrance.

A single soldier’s grave sits on the slope down from the Douaumont Ossuary near the underground site of Abri 320.

Now a double track tunnel with the post-war addition of another rail line, the Tunnel de Tavannes was the site of a horrendous explosion and fire which killed hundreds of French soldiers who were sheltering in the tunnel.

The ruins of the church in the destroyed village of Ornes are all that remain of the once prosperous village.

A memorial shows the wounded André Maginot being assisted from field during the Battle of Verdun. After the war, as a French government minister, he argued forcefully for construction of the defensive line which bore his name.

A remaining segment of the Londres (London) Trench as it winds along the supply line to Fort de Douaumont.

The Mort Homme (Dead Man) Hill was attacked by the German in March 1916. The position changed hands and became a graveyard for German and French alike. The dramatic skeleton statue crowns the summit. The inscription ‘Ils n’ont pas passe’ (They did not pass) refers to the Verdun battle cry ‘They shall not pass!’

The soldier entrance to Fort de Souville. On the right is a bathing station used by troop in lulls in the fighting.

Captured by the Germans only a fierce defense and recaptured by the French later in the Battle of Verdun, Fort de Vaux shows the effect of repeated bombardments.

The elevating machine-gun turret and armored observation bell atop Fort de Douaumont.

A room in Fort de Douaumont that was used as a chapel and as a bakery. Note the oven in the wall to the right.

The tomb of Sous-Lt. André Thome of the French 6th Dragoons , known as the ‘Soldier of the Right’, is located near the Douaumont Ossuary.

Sited of the slope below the great Douaumont Ossuary, this French National Cemetery holds 15,000 indentified French soldiers.

The dramatic ossuary building at Douaumont holds the unidentified remains of 130,000 French and German soldiers. The 50m tower can be climbed for views over much of the Verdun battlefield.

Located near the Fort de Tavannes, this machine-gun blockhouse is one of the numerous varieties of defensive installations still to be found on the Verdun battlefield.

Nothing remains of the village détruit Bezonvaux. The area of the far side of the small stream is still considered dangerous and entry is prohibited.

These bollards, or roadside markers, are placed every kilometer along the Voie Sacrée, the lifeline that supplied the French during the Battle of Verdun.

The Caribou symbol of the Newfoundland Regiment stands upon the Beaumont Hamel Newfoundland Memorial.

Trench lines wind across the grounds of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial directing towards Y-Ravine in the distance.

The preserved remains of the ‘danger tree’ stand beside the walkway leading the Y-Ravine Cemetery in the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial.

The circular Hunter’s Cemetery in the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is located in a shell crater. It holds the remains of 46 dead from the November 1916 assault on the village of Beaumont-Hamel.

A section of Y-Ravine at the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial was a warren of German dugouts and tunnels. Time has softened the edges of the shell craters, but the area is still considered dangerous due to unmarked underground excavations.

The silhouetted statue of a kilted bagpiper commemorates the eventual capture of Beaumont-Hamel by the 51st Highland Division in November 1916.

Redan Ridge outside Beaumont-Hamel was the scene of horrific fighting during the Somme Offensive as the numerous British cemeteries pay testimony.

The triumphal arch of the South African Memorial in Delville Wood near Longueval provides access to the museum beyond.

An obelisk marking the location of the South African Brigade’s command post stands beside a shallow trench in Delville Wood.

The British 41st Division Monument in Flers stands at the road junction in the village.

The Australian 3rd Division is commemorated by this stone obelisk near Corbie. The rising sun emblem of the Australian Expeditionary Force in prominent in its center.

One of several plaques on the stone cairn monument in Contalmaison commemorates the capture of the village from the Germans by Lt. Col Sir George McCrae’s 16th Royal Scots Battalion.

The statue of Marshal Ferdinand Foch located outside the village of Bouchavesnes along the main Bapaume – Péronne Road.

The clenched fist shows the anguish of a woman huddled over a dead French soldier on the Péronne War Memorial.

A plaque attached to the front of the Péronne War Memorial depicts French soldiers enduring the rigors of trench warfare. Three soldiers in the foreground seem to be looking for guidance from the soldier of the right.

Two French Brigades moving to defend Péronne in August 1914 were intercepted here by a German Army Corps. The resulting casualties numbered over 3,000 and many are buried in this cemetery.

The flaming red dragon emblem of the British 38th Welsh Division stands near the southern edge of Mametz Wood.

A figure of Victory stands upon a memorial plinth commemorating the British 34th Division’s attack on 1 July 1916.

Obelisk commemorates the Australian 1st Division’s attack upon Pozières and Mouquet Ferme.

Detail plaque on the Australian 1st Division monument near Pozières.

Grass covered ruins are all the remain of a German fortified windmill attacked and taken by Australian troops in August 1916 during the Battle of the Somme.

The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing holds stone plaques inscribed with the names of over 73,000 British soldiers killed on the Somme battlefield and who have no known grave. The Thiepval Anglo – French Cemetery in the foreground symbolically holds equal numbers of French and British burials.

Constructed as a memorial to the Irish troops that fought in the Battle of the Somme, this replica of a castle tower near Belfast sits upon the German front line of 1 July 1916.

The cemetery sits upon the German front lines of 1 July 1916. Many of the gravestones are laid flat because subsistence from the many German dug underground tunnels has made the ground unstable. Thiepval Memorial to the Missing is in the right distance.

A funeral procession passes through Serre Cemetery #2 during the burial of a British soldier who was killed during the first day of the Battle of the Somme and whose body was recently recovered.

The British Commonwealth Cemetery near Fromelles holds the Australian troops killed during the abortive attack on the German line. Since the bodies were not recovered until well after the battle, most could not be identified and they are buried in two mass graves. The Wall of Remembrance in the rear is inscribed with their names.

The ‘Cobbers’ Statue stands upon one of the German pillboxes in the Australian Memorial Park near Fromelles.

The towering limestone pylons of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial stand upon Hill 145, the highest point of the ridge, overlooking the Douai plain below. Carved on its walls are the names of 11,285 dead whose burial places are unknown. The photograph was taken before recent renovations removed the flagpoles.

Figures representing Peace, Justice, Truth and Knowledge on the upper portion of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.

Stairs approach the twin pylons of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial. On the right is one of two Mourners; the Spirit of Sacrifice is partially visible at the base of the pylons.

First World War trench lines, which have been preserved using concrete ‘sandbags,’ twist through the Vimy Ridge battlefield. Shell holes and mine craters overlap in what was then a devastated landscape only partially softened by the passage of 90 years.

Concrete ‘sandbags’ now preserve the trenches on Vimy Ridge. The foreground structure is a German pillbox; a mine crater is in the center; the Canadian front lines were at the signboard on the left.

Zivy Cemetery was a mine crater used by the Canadians as a mass grave for 53 dead from the April 1917 fighting. The names of the 50 identified dead are inscribed on the wall below the Cross of Sacrifice.

Ruins of German pillbox near Héninel south of Arras; part of the Hindenburg Line captured during the British advance in 1917.

A memorial statue to the Australians who fought at Bullecourt stands in Bullecourt Memorial Park. The German trench lines in this area ran nearby. ‘Digger’ was a nickname applied to the Australian troops.

The lower portion of the Basques Monument near Craonnelle along the Chemin des Dames. The 36th Division of Infantry was composed largely of men from the Pyrenees region of France. The unit spent considerable time during the First World War on the Aisne front.

The top portion of the French National Monument aux Crapouillots (trench artillery) at the site of Moulin de Laffaux at the western end of the Chemin des Dames. The monument is in the shape of a trench mortar bomb. The mill was a heavily fortified German position that provided strong opposition to the French North African troops that attacked in April 1917.

The statue represents the 1814 troops of Napoleon (nicknamed ‘Marie-Louise’ after Napoleon’s wife) who fought at Craonne and the Poilu of the First World War who fought along the Chemin des Dames. It stands upon the narrowest segment of the ridgeline near Hurtebise Ferme and therefore was tactically important. Colonel Charles de Gaulle’s tank regiment fought the Germans here in 1940.

A grim trio of British soldiers stands above a symbolic grave on the British Memorial to the Missing in Soissons. The 3,987 names inscribed on the rear of the memorial are of those lost in the battles of the Marne and Aisne and who have no known grave.

The village of Wulvergem as seen from the Spanbroekmolen or the ‘Lone Tree Crater’ formed by one of the mine explosions during the attack on Messines.

The central square in the village of Messines holds numerous memorials to the fighting for control of Messines Ridge.

Detail of the Ross Bastiaan plaque located in the central square of Messines showing the battle lines of the 1917 fighting along the Ypres Salient.

View down Messines Ridge from the New Zealand Memorial in the direction of the British attack. A German bunker stands at the far end of the memorial.

Entrance walkway to the circular New Zealand Memorial to the Missing at Messines. The Cross of Sacrifice stands atop the memorial.

A remains of a German bunker stands near the edge of the New Zealand Memorial in Messines. The bunker defended against the attack coming up the ridge from the distance.

The Irish style tower erected and dedicated to peace between factions in Northern Ireland stands where the combined Irish force fought in the Battle of Messines.

A German-held forested area, which became known as the Bayernwald, holds numerous stone block bunkers dating from the German occupation of the sector.

The Ploegsteert Memorial to the Missing stands in the Berks Cemetery Extension and lists the names of over 11,000 dead from the area who have no known grave.

Seven British dugouts remain surrounded by the moat of the destroyed château now occupied by Langhof Farm.

The Memorial of the Missing curves around the rear of Tyne Cot Cemetery and holds the names of missing soldiers whose names did not fit on the Menin Gate Memorial.

Tyne Cot Cemetery stands upon a slope that looks over the direction of attack of British forces during the Third Battle of Ypres.

First World War shells are routine uncovered by farmers in the Ypres Salient. Known as the ‘Iron Harvest,’ the sometimes still viable munitions are collected by Belgian Army disposal experts for disposition.

The Canadian Crest Farm Memorial stands a few hundred yards from the Passchendaele village church. Over 16,000 Canadians died capturing Passchendaele and it took almost two weeks of fighting to get from Crest Farm to the church.

The rebuilt church in Ribécourt-la-Tour; during the Battle of Cambrai in 1917, the church tower held a German machine gun position. The church and the village were completely destroyed during the battle. Medieval tunnels under the village were used for shelter, weapons storage, and even contained a telephone exchange.

The remains of a German reinforced concrete pillbox in Ribécourt-la-Tour. The village was in the heart of the section of the Hindenburg Line before Cambrai. The area still holds numerous such structures because it remains too expensive for local farmers to remove them.

The new Canadian Cavalry Brigade Memorial near the Masnières canal locks (in the distance) that were used by the Fort Garry Horse to cross the Canal de l’Escaut during the Battle of Cambrai in 1917.

On the crest of the hill north of Villers-Bretonneux is the Australian National Memorial commemorating all Australian servicemen who fought in France or Belgium during the First World War. On its wall are inscribed the names of 10,749 Australian soldiers lost during the battles of Somme and Arras who have no known grave.

North of Villers-Bretonneux the Fouilly Military Cemetery is viewed from the tower of the Australian National Memorial. Amiens is to the west and is barely visible in the distance across the flat Somme terrain.

The village center and church in Lucy le Bocage, near the starting point of the American attack of Belleau Wood. Behind the highway signs is one of several US 2nd Infantry Division commemorative boulders placed where the division fought on the Western Front.

The black granite stele in front of the flagpole commemorates the US 4th Marine Brigade’s capture of Belleau Wood, now officially known as Bois de la Brigade de Marine. Captured enemy ordinance is placed around the periphery of the memorial.

The French Romanesque Chapel of the Aisne – Marne American Cemetery sits below the ridge of Belleau Wood. The cemetery holds the graves of 2,288 men and the walls of the chapel list the names of 1,060 who disappeared in the area.

The slightly displaced demarcation stone marks the furthest advance of the German Army in 1918. It sits near the entrance to the American Cemetery when, if fact, the German occupied the woods beyond the cemetery. Numerous stones of this style were erected after the First World War to mark the limits of German advances at various stages of the conflict.

The famous bulldog fountain located within the grounds of the Belleau Château offered water to the thirsty marines after the battle. The bulldog emblem was added after the war as a legend of increased longevity to any marine who drinks its waters arose.

A huge double colonnade standing atop Hill 204 overlooking the Marne River and Château Thierry commemorates the sacrifices of French and American soldiers who fought in several battles in this sector.

Figures representing America and France joined in the defense of freedom are central to the west face of the Château Thierry Monument.

The Oise – Aisne American Cemetery is north of Château Thierry where American forces repelled the German advance of 1918. The memorial consists of a semi-circular peristyle encircles a raised terrace where a polished golden Rocheret Jaune marble altar is placed.

Still a working farm, Meurcy Ferme was the site of intense fighting during the American advance through the area in 1918. In woods near the farm, the famous American poet Joyce Kilmer was killed by a German sniper while conducting reconnaissance.

The Moselle River town of Pont à Mousson was a target of the American Sat-Mihiel Offensive of 1918. The Renaissance place looks much the same today as it did then. The arcaded building was known as ‘House of the Seven Capital Sins’ because of the design of the caryatids on the middle floor.

The imposing American eagle stands at the center of the St-Mihiel American Cemetery where over 4,000 American dead are buried.

The stone circular colonnade atop Butte de Montsec commemorates the American victory during the Battle of the St-Mihiel Salient.

French National Ossuary commemorates the French dead of battles in Champagne. The crypt holds the remains of 10,000 soldiers. The high point was the site of a strong German defensive line from 1915 to 1918.

The yellow limestone tower of the American Monument on Blanc Mont is dedicated to the Franco-American offensive of 1918. The surrounding ground still bears the marks of the engagement such as the shell crater on the left. An observation platform on the parapet allows views over the countryside where the battle occurred.

The St-Quentin Canal enters a 5.6 km tunnel near Riqueval north of St-Quentin. The canal and tunnel system was a major component of the German Hindenburg Line in this sector.

The American Memorial at Bellicourt sits upon the underground St-Quentin Canal and its western terrace looks out upon the Hindenburg Line battlefield.

The bridge over the St-Quentin Canal at Riqueval was captured intact by the British 46th Division during the assault on the Hindenburg Line. It appears almost unchanged from period photographs.

The Meuse – Argonne American Cemetery now occupies a section of the German Kriemhilde defensive line. It is the largest American military cemetery in Europe holding 14,246 burials.

The ruins of the medieval church of the village of Montfaucon stand upon the butte of the same name. Captured by the Americans during the opening stages of the Meuse – Argonne Offensive in 1918, it was a major German observation post.

This view of the ruin of the village church atop Butte de Montfaucon shows the German concrete observation post that had been built in the church.

A closer view of the ruins of the village church atop the Butte de Montfaucon.

The Pennsylvania Memorial in Varennes was erected by the people of Pennsylvania to commemorate the men of the US 28th Division who participated in the Meuse – Argonne Offensive. The site looks over the Aire River Valley.

The village of Varennes-en-Argonne is sited along the Aire River. Here the rivers below the Tour Louis XVI.

The roadside marker in the Forêt d’Argonne indicating the location of the Lost Battalion battleground. The American troops were trapped and surrounded on the steep hillside below the roadway.

The railway siding at Rethondes near Compiègne where the First World War Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918. Visible in the center rear is a statue of General Foch. The French railway cars housing the Allied and German delegations were positioned at the two areas marked by bollards.

The Rethondes Armistice Alsace Monument near the armistice site which commemorates the return of Alsace to France at the end of the First World War. Depicted is the sword of France piercing the underbelly of the German Imperial Eagle. The monument was destroyed by the Nazis during the Second World War, and then reconstructed by France after that war.

The Rethondes Armistice Museum was eventually built to house the railway car in which the First World War Armistice was signed. After the fall of France in 1940, the car was transported to Berlin to be placed in a German victory museum that was never built. The original car was destroyed during Second World War bombing. The museum now houses a similar rail car and other original artifacts of the armistice.

The French National Monument to the Second Battle of the Marne includes eight 8m high granite statues of ghosts known as the Fantômes. Representing eight functions such as machine gunner or aviator, the Phantoms surround and protect a ninth, naked figure of a young martyr escaping his burial shroud.

The holes driven through the cemetery wall at Chambry were made by German soldiers during the First Battle of the Marne to fire on the advancing French.

Sited where the German invasion of 1914 was stopped, the unusual stone block statue north of Meaux was created by the American Friends of France to commemorate the French victory in the First Battle of the Marne.

The horror of the Champagne fighting is depicted in this ceramic plaque affixed to a memorial west of Reims dedicated to the heroes of April 1917. Design by André Lagrange.

Almost every French community contains memorial to the local soldiers killed in the First World War. This example depicts a French machine gunner and is located in the village of Sauvillers - Mongival near the limit of the German advance in April 1918.

The tomb of French First World War hero and Supreme Allied Commander Marshal Ferdinand Foch is located in St-Ambrose Chapel near the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris.

The Haig Memorial, an equestrian statue of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, commander of British Expeditionary Force in the First World War, stands in Whitehall in London.

The Cenotaph, located in Whitehall, London near the entrance to Number 10, commemorates the British dead of the First World War

Located in a small park-like setting just south of the village of Dury, this Canadian Memorial commemorates the Canadian Corps’ actions during the Second Battle of Arras, 1918. It is one of seven identical granite blocks along the Western Front where the Canadian Expeditionary Force is remembered.

The stained glass window in the Hôtel de Ville of Doullens commemorates the selection of General Ferdinand Foch as the first Supreme Allied Commander.

The white stone stele in the center of Cantigny commemorates the first offensive operation of the American Expeditionary Force in the First World War.

Second World War Monument to the US 1st Infantry Divison located in Mons, Belgium

Monument to the Royal Irish Regiment of the British Army located near its defensive positions during the Battle of Mons

Location of the Royal Artillery guns in the Bois de Mons / Bois La-Haut during the Battle of Mons.

Monument commemorating the City of Mons as the location of the British Army's first and final engagements of the First World War.

Entrance passageway of the Hotel de Ville in Mons where plaques commemorate the city's liberation, 5th Royal Irish Lancers, and the post-war support of the United States of America.

Monument commemorating the death of the last soldier in the British Army to be killed in the First World War. The Canadian, Private George Lawrence Price, was shot at this location along the Canal du Centre east of Mons 2 minutes before the Armistice on 11 November 1918.

The building outside of Mons holding a memorial plaque (below large window on the right) to the last shot fired by the British Army during the First World War.

Lock #2 on the Conde-Mons Canal which was arduously defended by 1st Battalion, Royal West Kent Regiment and 2nd Battalion, King’s Own Scottish Borderers during the Battle of Mons.

View of the Canal du Centre north of Mons from the Nimy highway bridge. The German 18th Division attacked from the left across the canal against the 4th Battalion Royal Fusiliers holding positions in the fields on the right.

Memorial near the Obourg train station commemorating the first shot of the Battle of Mons fired by the 4th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment.

St-Symphorien Cemetery where British and German dead from the Battle of Mons are buried in adjoining plots.

St-Waudru Church in Mons, Belgium

Monument commerating the first shot fired by a British soldier in the First World War.

The Belfry of Mons towers above the 16th century Maison Espagnol.

The interior courtyard of the Museum of Military History in Mons.

The stone monument outside Bathelemont-les-Bauzemont, France commemorates the deaths of the first three American soldiers in the First World War. On 3 November 1917, Corporal JB Gresham, Private TF Enright, and Private MD Hay of Company F, 16th Infantry Regiment died during a German attack on “le Haut des Ruelles”. Early,on October 23 near the same spot, Sergeant Arch (Battery C of the 6th Artillery Regiment, 1st Infantry Division) fired the first artillery shot of the American Expeditionary Corps.

Monument to the US 1st Infantry Division outside Buzancy, France where the unit participated in the Second Battle of the Marne and sufferred over 8500 casualties.

The US 1st Infantry Division Monument stands above the highway south of Cantigny where the unit captured the village in a fierce engagements on 28 May 1918. It was the first use of independent US troops during the war.

The memorial to America's first independent engagement of the First World War stands in a park in the center of Cantigny, France. The village was captured and held against repeated German counterattacks which intailed hand-to-hand fighting.

A stele bearing a plaque in front of the Mairie in Fléville is dedicated to the men of the 16th Infantry Regiment who fought so gallantly in the Meuse-Argonne and who on October 4 1918 liberated the village of Fléville from the Germans. During the Battle of the Meuse-Argonne and the liberation of Fléville 27 men of the regiment received the Distinguished Service Cross.

The US 1st Infanty Division eagle commemorates the Meuse - Argonne battles near St-Juvin where the division suffered 9000 casualties in eight days of severe fighting.

The US 1st Infantry Division fought across the St-Mihiel Salient to join the 26th Infantry Division near Vigneulles-les-Hattonchatel. The village stands upon the hillside in the distance.

Fort Loncin (Liege): The west cupola of the fort that was inverted by the explosion caused by a shell from a German 420-mm 'Big Bertha' gun penetrating the fort's concrete shell and detonating the ammunition stores.

Memorial to the Great War stands outside Fort Loncin near Liege.

Fort Loncin (Liege): Memorial plaque listing the names of the 250 defenders killed by the massive explosion of the fort's ammunition stores.

Fort Loncin (Liege): The main turret of the fort lies askew on the destroyed central mastif the result of a shell from the German 420-mm 'Big Bertha' gun.

Fort Loncin (Liege): Entry gateway into the fortifications main ditch. Even though it survived the massive explosion, the surface stills carries the scars of the August 1914 engagement.

Fort Loncin (Liege): Shell damaged barracks line the left (southeast) ditch on the fort.

Fort Loncin (Liege): Central mastif shows utter destruction caused by German shell detonating the ammunition stores. The armored tops of the retractable turrets lay on the middle right.

Fort Loncin (Liege): The retractable turrets stuctures lay askew on the central mastif of the fort after the detonation of ammunitions stores by a German shell from 'Big Bertha' 420-mm gun on 15 August 1914.

Fort Lantin (Liege): Rooftop armaments showing the five retractable gun turrets.

Fort Lantin (Liege): Ditch defenses at the northern corner of the fortifications showing gun ports and air intakes.

Fort Lantin (Liege): entrance gateway showing battle damage on stone facade to left. The fort carries its name and date of construction inscribed above the gateway as was typical of the 19th century fortifications.

The central 150-mm turret of Fort Hollogne (Liege) was destroyed after the Second World War.

Interior of central mastif of Fort Hollogne near Liege; the Command Post rooms are on the right.

Entrance gate of Fort Flemalle near Liege.

Fort Embourg (Liege): Entrance gate with inscribed key stone showing the date of construction as 1888.

Remnants of the central mastif of Fort Embourg near Liège.

Interior ditch of Fort de Barchon (Liège)

Air intake tower of Fort de Barchon; E40 motorway bridge and city of Liège are visible in background. Although the fort played a prominent role in the First World War, the air tower was not constructed until the 1930s to rectify fresh air problems experienced during the battle of August 1914.

The horse trough, now used as a flower planter, commemorates the British 66th Division's passage through Le Cateau in October 1918.

The various plots in the Le Cateau Military Cemetery contain the graves of 698 Commonwealth soldiers, most buried by the Germans after the 1914 battle; 5,576 German soldiers, mainly from the 1918 engagements that took place near here; and 42 Russian POWs.

The garden behind the Matisse Musee in Le Cateau has memorials to WWI dead, its civilian victims of WWI, and separate monuments to WWII dead, its civilian victims of WWII also, and those killed in Indo china from 1945 – 1954 and those killed in North Africa during the Algeria Campaign 1954 – 1962.

Nieuwpoort's Mémorial de l'Yser or IJzergedenkteken marks Belgium’s resistance to the German invasion of 1914. The figure of a woman at the top of the column represents Belgium defiantly clutching the Belgian crown and holding it away from the grasp of the invading Germans.

The day after the opening of the first sluice gates in Nieuwpoort, the Germans managed to get themselves across the IJzer near Tervate using a makeshift bridge. A heroic but belated counter attack by Major Henri d'Oultremont and his 2nd Battalion 1st Grenadiers was murderously beaten off.

A mounted statue of King Albert I is surrounded by a memorial rotunda dedicated to him. A balcony around the top of the memorial offers views of the IJzer, the complex of Nieuwpoort sluice gates and canals, and the North Sea.

A Memorial Chapel built by the Belgian Army to commemorate the adjacent ruined Oud Stuivekenkerke chapel, which was a Belgian strongpoint during the IJzer (Yser) battle of 1914. The chapel holds stained glass windows portraying the king and queen and Belgian soldiers. A double row of 41 steles indicating the emblems of various military units are around the sides and rear of the chapel.

The Ramskapelle Military Cemetery holds 634 Belgian war dead from the First World War in curving rows of graves.

The Ramskapelle Railway Station became a concrete observation post during the defense of the Yser front and it continues to mark the old railway embankment that was the front line after the flooding.

The British Ramskapelle Road Military Cemetery contains 843 burials from British units holding the northern end of the IJzer (Yser) front.

This white wall commemorates the sacrifice of Admiral Pierre Alexis Ronarc’h and his French Marin Fusiliers in their defense of Diksmuide during October 1914.

The memorial marking the end of the Passendale Offensive during the Third Battle of Ypres,is sited in front of the Passchendaele New British Cemetery on s’Graventafelstraat.

Although Namur's Fort d'Emines was struck by over 2000 shells during the one-day German bombardment in August 1914, the garrison suffered only one fatality. Its surrender was forced by the abominable conditions within the fort; the smoke and dust from Belgian black powder or German shells and the lack of sanitary facilities for the 400-man garrison made the air unbreathable. Food and water were in short supply. These conditions were the result of the fort’s design in which barracks and supplies were located in the counterscarp.

Although Namur's Fort d'Emines was struck by over 2000 shells during the one-day German bombardment in August 1914, the garrison suffered only one fatality. Its surrender was forced by the abominable conditions within the fort; the smoke and dust from Belgian black powder or German shells and the lack of sanitary facilities for the 400-man garrison made the air unbreathable. Food and water were in short supply. These conditions were the result of the fort’s design in which barracks and supplies were located in the counterscarp.

This O.L. Vrouwhoekje chapel formed an isolated forward position during the entire 1914- 1918 static war on the Yser Front. The roof of the original chapel can be mounted for a view of the battlefield. The ruin holds a memorial to Lt Martial Lekeux, a Belgian artillery officer and Franciscan monk, who commanded the observation post while under intense German artillery fire.

Pervijze was a front line village for much of the four years of the war starting in the Battle of the IJzer (Yser). A Belgian observation tower was built on the site of the destroyed St Catherine Chapel. The tower skewed and slanted appearance has been preserved.

The Commonwealth graves at the Ors Communal Cemetery are in the rear on the right side. There are 63 burials including Lt. Col. Marshal VC, MC with bar, and other awards, which, for some reason, is off in a corner by himself. Wilfred Owen, the famous British wartime poet, is in the back row.

The British Quiétiste Military Cemetery contains 52 graves including the one all the way in the rear corner against the wall for a private from the East Kent Regiment, who died 26 October 1918. Almost all of the grave dates are October 1918. The Machine Gun Corp is well represented as is the Durham Light Infantry. There are 15 German Graves on the right side, 14 from October 18 – 19, 1918 and one from April 1919. The cemetery is 8 feet or so above the highway surrounded by cultivated fields and lightly decorated with a shrub border and a few flowers amongst the plots.

The plaque states: “On 4 November 1918 the British 32nd Division crossed the Sambre – Oise Canal here at Ors in the face of strong opposition. During the assault four VCs were won. Among the casualties was the poet Lt. Wilfred Owen, MC, 2nd Battalion, Manchester Regiment who was killed on the tow path on this side of the canal about 1 km to north of the bridge.”

The stone plaque acknowledges the role played by the French 16th Division fighting alongside the Belgian 6th Regiment and was erected by its people of Ramskapelle as a thank you to the French.

The granite stele commemorating the Belgian 3rd Karabiniers is located near St-Joris. The monument commemorates the unit's defense of Nieuwendamme from 16 to 22 April 1918.

The monument to the Belgian 7th Regiment of the Line (Infantry) stands along the canal in Sint-Joris outside of Nieuwpoort and commemorates the unit's actions during the Battle of the IJzer (Yser) in October and November 1914.

The monument to the Belgian 7th Regiment of the Line (Infantry) stands along the canal in Sint-Joris outside of Nieuwpoort and commemorates the unit's actions during the Battle of the IJzer (Yser)in October and November 1914.

The Vladslo German Cemetery holds the remains of 25,644 German soldiers killed during the Yser and Ypres battles. The figure 'Grieving Parents' by Kaethe Kollwitzcan be seen in the left distance.

The Belgian 14th Regiment of the Line counterattacked the Germans on 31 October and pushed them back to the flooding polder during the Battle of the Yser.

The diamond-shaped Keiem Belgian Military Cemetery organizes its 628 graves around a central square. Each gravestone is outlined in shrubs or rose bushes.

The Buttes New British Cemetery is located in Polygon Wood, which was occupied in late 1914 by Prussian Guards. The wood was the scene of fierce fighting in 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres. The cemetery holds 2,103 dead, all but 431 remain unidentified. The bluff in the rear holds the memorial obelisk to the Australian 5th Division.

The New Zealand Memorial to the Missing records the names of 378 men who fell in the Polygon Wood sector and who have no known grave. Most of the dead were killed during the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. Each end of the double colonnade has a square structure holding the panels upon which the names are inscribed.

Lille Gate was a major route out of Ypres toward the battlefields to the south. This exit was more secure than the Menin Gate as it was not under observation by German gunners until the troops enter Shrapnel Corner visible to the south.

Ramparts Cemetery is located atop the old Ypres ramparts near the Lille Gate. The cemetery was started by French soldiers, but soon taken over by British burials dating between 1915 and 1918. The cemetery now contains 198 Commonwealth burials.

The British Memorial plaque in Sint-Maartenskathedraal in Ypres commemorates the 'over one million' dead incurred by the British Commonwealth during the First World War. Duplicates of this plaque are to be found in numerous cathedrals in France and Belgium.

The nave of Sint-Maartenskathedraal in Ypres. The structure, parts of which dated to 1251, was completely destroyed in the frequent bombardments of the city. Reconstruction was halted during the Second World War and not completed until the 1950s.

Sint-Maartenskathedraal in Ypres, parts of which dated to 1251, was completely destroyed in the frequent bombardments of the city. Reconstruction was halted during the Second World War and not completed until the 1950s.

The white stone monument commemorates the Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineer sections of the British 34th Division who fought near this spot in October and November 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres. The adjacent bunker was constructed by the Germans in 1916 and expanded by the British after its capture in 1917. It was used as an Advanced Dressing Station as it was the only structure in a sea of mud north of Langemark.

The red sandstone gatehouse provides entrance to the Langemark German Military Cemetery. Langemark now contains 44,304 dead, including 3,000 of the student soldiers killed attacking Ypres in 1914.

The Buttes New British Cemetery is located in Polygon Wood, which was occupied in late 1914 by Prussian Guards. The wood was the scene of fierce fighting in 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres. The cemetery holds 2,103 dead, all but 431 remain unidentified. The structure to the rear is the New Zealand Memorial to the Missing.

Near the old mill in Geluveld, a Celtic Cross was erected in memory of the officers and men of the South Wales Borderers Regiment and to its right a handsomely mounted stone is dedicated to the men of the 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment who fell defending Geluveld during intense fighting in October 1914.

The Household Cavalry Monument in Zandvoorde is dedicated to the 300 to 400 men of the 1st and 2nd Life Guards and Royal Horseguards who were killed during the heavy German bombardment of 30 October 1914 in the Battle of Geluveld.

The Zandvoorde Bunker (or Ten Brielen) is surrounded by barbed wire but there is an access lane through the field so that one can tour the bunker, although its floor is frequently water covered. An inscription near to the door identifies the bunker as being built in 1916 by 3rd Company, Army Battalion 27, which was defending this sector of the Ypres front. This is a rather complete facility and it is much more extensive than appears from the road. No admission fee.

A bronze plaque depicting the battle lines around Ypres was commissioned by Australian Ross Bastiaan. It sits upon the ramparts of Ypres south of the Menin Gate.

This view of the Langemark German Military Cemetery shows the upright panels near the cemetery entrance which hold the names of 24,917 dead from the battles around Ypres who are buried in a mass grave.

The 12-meter-high obelisk of the 5th Australian Division Memorial in Polygon Wood bears the rising sun emblem of the Australian Imperial Force and commemorates their participation in the Third Battle of Ypres. The monument stands upon an artifical butte once used by the Belgian Army for shooting practice.

The 14th Light Division Memorial was relocated to Hill 60 due to subsidance in its original site in Railway Wood. It commemorates the division's participation in the Battles of Ypres, Arras and the Somme.

The Gloucestershire and 18th Division monuments are aside a Menin Road junction near Ypres nicknamed Clapham Junction by British soldiers. Both are shown in the photo with the Gloucesters monument in the foreground. The intersection was held by German troops for much of the war and was often the target of British Artillery. To cross the exposed space safely, the German dug an underground subway 1500 yards long.

Hill 62, frequently confused with Mount Sorrel, which is 1 km to the southwest, holds one of the understated memorials to Canadian Corps soldiers of the First World War. The square monument recognizes their defense of this sector against German attacks from April to August 1916. From the elevated platform, Ypres can be seen 3 km in the distance.

The privately owned Sanctuary Wood (or Hill 62) Museum holds the usual collection of battlefield artifacts, presented in a rather haphazard manner, and a large collection of excellent stereoscopic photographs of the Ypres fighting. Behind the museum is one of the few remaining original British trench lines, complete with cemented passageway, shell holes, and dead, bullet-ridden trees. This photograph shows cemetery monuments from early German graves.

The Belgian 3rd Legerdivision (Heavy Division) was engaged in fighting along the canal line for much of the war. The division held the line during the Battle of the Yser.

The Belgian 2nd Grenadiers held the extreme right end of the Belgian Army sector during the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915 and they were victims of the 22 April Gas Attack. The repelled German attempt to cross the canal line and protected they army flank.

The aluminum cross commemorates the first use of poison gas during the Second Battle of Ypres on 22 April 1915. The original memorial, depicting soldiers being asphyxiated by the rolling clouds of gas, was destroyed by the German military during the Second World War.

Cheddar Villa Farm was the site of a large German blockhouse, one of many forming a defensive line across the fields to the north. The structure was captured by the British at the opening of the Third Battle of Ypres and used as an Advanced Dressing Station until a German shell crashed into the open doorway killing or wounding most of its inhabitants.

Seaforth Cemetery was the scene of heavy fighting during the Second Battle of Ypres in April 1915 when the 2nd Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders, attempted to recapture Sint-Juliaan. The open space in the center of the plot probably held mass graves of early burials, which were obliterated in later fighting.

The British 50th Northumberland Division fought in this sector shortly after its arrival in France during the Second Battle of Ypres.

The Ziegler Bunker is one of many constructed by the German to defend Pilkem Ridge. The bunker was captured by French troops in July 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres. The position was used by British troops to launch their attack upon Langemark.

The memorial commemorates the Belgian Army Grenadiers who held the west bank of the Yser Canal during the Gas Attack of April 1915.

The Birr Cross Roads Cemetery was originally a Dressing Station used by British troops until the German Offensive (Fourth Battle of Ypres) in 1918. The grounds now hold 833 burials with slightly over one-half being identified.

Plots I and V of the Oxford Road Cemetery were original battlefield cemeteries used by British troops during the Third Battle of Ypres and until the German advance of April 1918. Plots II, III, and IV were accumulated after the war from the scattered battlefield graves.

The Perth Cemetery, also known as China Wall Cemetery, was started by French troops in 1914. Plot I was used for battlefield burials until the Third Battle of Ypres in October 1917. The remaining graves were accumulated after the war. The cemetery now holds 2,791 Commonwealth dead, of which 1,369 are unidentified.

The British Perth Cemetery presents a loop of gravestones near its entrance. The 108 stones represent those dead from a variety of locations whose graves were lost during later Ypres fighting.

Named after the pottery works that once was nearby, Tuileries Cemetery was started in 1915. Subsequent Ypres fighting destroyed most of the graves; those dead are commemorated in the seventy-one gravestones arranged around the periphery of the cemetery.

The Menin Road South Cemetery now holds 1,657 burials and, unusually, over 90 percent are identified. The site was used by field ambulances for much of the fighting around Ypres and expanded by accumulation after the Armistice.

The Railway Dugout Burial Ground is sited near a railway embankment which was used during the Ypres battles for dugouts for protection from enemy artillery fire. The dugouts also sheltered an Advanced Dressing Station and many of the 2,500 burials resulted from severe wounds treated there.

Sanctuary Wood British Cemetery contains 636 known and 1,352 unknown burials and one German national. Sanctuary Wood is one of the larger woods in the commune of Zillebeke near Ypres and was named in November 1914 when it was used to screen troops behind the front line.

The irregular shape of the St-Juliaan Dressing Station Cemetery derives from its actual battlefield use during the Second Battle of Ypres and subsequent damage by artillery fire.

Welsh Cemetery started with burials from a British offensive position known as Caesar's Nose near Ypres' Menin Road. The cemetery holds only 68 burials.

The size of the overwhelming Hooge Crater Cemetery is deceptive because it drops away from Ypres' Menin Road. Started in October 1917 during the Third Battle of Ypres and enlarged after the Armistice, the cemetery now contains 5,182 British, 105 Canadian, 513 Australian, 121 New Zealander, and 3 West Indian soldiers and airmen. Almost 3,600 bodies are unidentified. The back of the cemetery overlooks Zouave Wood and Sanctuary Wood.

The Essex Farm Advanced Dressing Station was houses in bunkers near the Yser Canal. In 1915, Lt-Col John McCrae, Royal Canadian Medical Corps, wrote his famous poem 'In Flanders Fields' after the death of a close friend during the Second Battle of Ypres.

The columnar British 7th Division Monument in Broodseinde commemorates the units of that division which fought in the Great War starting in 1914.

The Broodseinde memorial to the French IX Corps recognizes Regiments 77, 114, and 135 who defended this ridge during the First Battle of Ypres.

A British section of the enormous Le Cateau Military Cemetery. The cemetery contains 698 British dead from area battles in 1914 and 1918.

The cratered and fortified Hill 60 still retains its First World War artifacts. In the background stands the monument to the Queen Victoria Rifles. The unit captured the hilltop by direct assault after tunnels filled with explosives was detonated on 17 April 1915 during the Second Battle of Ypres.

The French and British Cemeteries at La Targette stand side-by-side north of Arras.

After suffering utter destruction by German artillery bombardments in October 1914, the Hotel de Ville in Arras was completely reconstructed after the war. Pride of place was given to its 75-meter-high belfry, which offers dramatic views over the city.

A dramatic mosaic of the Risen Christ forms the backdrop in the Basilique de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. The Neo-Byzantine basilica offers services every Sunday.

The enormous Maison Blanche German Military Cemetery, with 44,833 bodies the largest German cemetery in France, occupies the ground of the ‘Labyrinth’ defense system. The cemetery was established after the war under the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles. The bodies were exhumed from small grave plots across the Pas-de-Calais. Most of the dead fought in the Artois fighting. The cemetery was planted with scores of trees which have now reached full maturity. The stone monument in the center of the grounds carries the words of Ludwig Uhland’s poem, ‘I had a Comrade.’

A mass grave at Maison Blanche German Military Cemetery is covered with low-growing shrubs and marked with the traditional groups of stone crosses. Metal tablets lining the front of the grave list the names of soldiers buried within along with 8,040 who were never unidentified.

The Neo-Byzantine Basilica of Notre-Dame-de-Lorette sits among the individual 19,987 graves in the most important of French Military Cemeteries.

The vast expanse of the French Nécropole Militaire La Targette spread over the fields west of La Targette. The cemetery holds 11,443 troops who died during the First World War in the Artois battles. Included in that number are 3,883 unidentified soldiers buried in two mass graves at the rear of the cemetery.

Czech and Slovak volunteers fought with the ranks of the French Foreign Legion during the attack upon Vimy Ridge on 9 May 1915 during the Second Battle of Artois. During the attack, their company suffered 200 casualties of the 250 men in the unit. The tree-shaded Czechoslovakian Memorial and Cemetery accumulated bodies after the war and now holds seventy dead from the First World War and 136 from the Second World War.

The Torch of Peace was constructed in 1930 to represent the hand of a dead soldier carrying a torch as it rises from the ruins of the village of Neuville-St-Vaast, of which La Targette is a part.

The 2nd Company, 3rd Battalion, 2nd Regiment of the French Foreign Legion was formed by Polish volunteers. The unit was attached to the Moroccan Division and participated in the attack upon Vimy Ridge on 9 May 1915 during the Second Battle of Artois passing across the highway at roughly this location. The Polish Monument bears the inscription ‘For our liberty, and yours.’ The monument was destroyed by the Germans in 1940, but later rebuilt.

The battlefield behind the Musee Vivant atop the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette plateau was the actual location of the fighting for the final section of the crest. This section of reconstructed trenches holds numerous examples of firing positions and wire obstacles. The proximity of the front lines is startling. Scattered about the grounds are examples of large equipment, including a rusted German 245-mm trench mortar, French 155-mm Schneider artillery piece, and a nearly operational German 77-mm gun.

The early 16th century church of Ablain-St-Nazaire is a retained ruin from the battles in Artois. Ablain-St-Nazaire was within the German salient that resulted from the German advance of October 1914. The village remained in German hands until the Second Battle of Artois when French forces attacked the fortified village on 12 May 1915 and completed its capture on 29 May by which time the entire village was in ruins.

The Arras Flying Services Memorial, located in the center of the Memorial to the Missing in Faubourg d’Amiens (British) Cemetery, commemorates 991 Royal Flying Corps airmen who were killed on the Western Front and who have no known grave.

The Arras Memorial to the Missing (background) within the Faubourg d’Amiens (British) Cemetery lists the names of 34,726 British, New Zealand and South African soldiers who disappeared in fighting in this sector from 1916 to 1918. The 7 bays carry plaques which list the missing by regiment. A special section recognizes 13 recipients of the Victoria Cross.

The former ditch which surrounded the Arras Citadel now contains the somber Le Mur des Fusillés commemorating 218 patriots executed there by the Nazis during the Second World War. The execution post can be seen in the center of the ditch.

The Mur des Fusillés Plaques on the walls of the Arras Citadel ditch record the names, ages, professions, and home cities of the victims of Nazi executions.

The large Grande Place in Arras is surrounded with Flemish-Baroque structures and columned arcades most dating to the 17th and 18th centuries, although the oldest house, the red brick structure in this photograph, dates from the 15th century. The original wooden buildings were reconstructed after the war of brick, but designed to regain their Flemish style features.

Boezinge, north of Ypres, was on the front line from the Battle of Yser to the British Offensive of the Third Battle of Ypres in 1917. At the intersection a Demarcation Stone identifies the farthest German advance. An ivy-covered blockhouse is behind the stone with a German mortar mounted upon its roof as a post war souvenir.

A red tile-roofed cafe known as le Cabaret Rouge was destroyed by shelling in May 1915 during the Second Battle of Artois, but the name for the location, a nearby communications trench, and eventually the British Cemetery held. The actually location is now marked with a commemorative stele bearing a plaque stating, ‘On this spot was located le Cabaret Rouge - so often cited in the day orders of the year 1915 - countless French and German soldiers have fallen in this sector. Passer-by do not forget.’

The huge British Cabaret Rouge Cemetery was started in March 1916 and greatly enlarged after the war. The grounds now hold 7,655 bodies over one half of which are unidentified. Numerous Canadians who died in the attack upon Vimy Ridge were buried here along with others killed during the Artois battles.

An alternate view displays the enormity of the British Cabaret Rouge Cemetery.

On 25 May 2000 one unidentified Canadian soldier, who presumably was killed in the Battle of Vimy Ridge, was removed from the British Cabaret Rouge Cemetery to be reburied in Canada’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Ottawa, Canada. A headstone still marks his original, but now empty, grave.

Ecoivres Military Cemetery is in a vale along the Scarpe River and contains 1,728 burials including only 12 unknowns. After the British Army assumed responsibility for the Artois sector in March 1916, they used the French Military tramway to bring their dead in from the front trenches and from the first row to the last buried them almost exactly in the order of date of death. The dead from the attack on the British 25th Division on Vimy Ridge on May 1916 are in Plots I and II. The Ecoivres Cimetière Militaire, seen behind the British graves, holds 786 French burials and 4 Germans most killed during the battles of 1915.

Louez Military Cemetery contains 204 known Commonwealth graves of which 49 are Canadian, and two German prisoners. The cemetery was begun by French troops and taken over by the British 51st Highland Division as a front line cemetery in March 1916 and the last graves are those of the Canadian Mounted Rifles buried here from November 1916 to March 1917. The grounds stand back from the road amongst the cultivated fields. The Gy river valley and houses of Louez are below it and the St-Pol – Arras road with its avenue of poplar trees are at the back of the cemetery.

The Maroeuil British Cemetery, located along an undrivable a dirt track, was begun by the 51st Highland Division when the British Army took over the Arras front in March 1916. Nearly one half of the graves are those Highland Territorials. The cemetery was protected from observation by the crest on the hill behind it and whenever it was possible, bodies were brought back to it from the front line by tramway. It now contains the graves of three 531 soldiers from the UK, 30 from Canada, one from India, and one Chinese Laborer and 11 German POWs.

The Maroeuil Necropole Nationale was created during the war and now contains 585 French dead. The cross on a tall plinth that is in memory of Commandant Georg Modeste Lillemann, battalion commander in the 156th Regiment d’Infanterie, and his companions in arms, heroes dead on the field of honor in Lorraine and Artois. He led an assault on the German trenches at La Targette on 9 May 1915 during the Second Battle of Artois and was mortally wounded by a bullet in the head at the age of 43.

A gray rough-hewn stone stele standing near the ruins of the Abbaye Mont-St-Eloi commemorates the French 4th Regiment Dragoons Portes and lists the names of those unit members killed from 22 to 23 May 1940 during the Second World War's Battle of France.

The ruin of the Gothic-style Abbaye Mont St-Éloi, whose origins date to the 7th century, was destroyed during the French Revolution. Only the west facing façade of the old abbey church has been retained as a reminder of the First World War battle in the Artois sector. St-Eloi was within the French front lines before the First Battle of Artois and its high towers served French soldiers as an observation post. The plain below the abbey mount was used later in the war as an allied airfield.

Notre-Dame-de-Lorette is one of the three major French National Memorials and Cemeteries of the First World War of which it is the largest. The cemetery contains 19,987 individual graves with their white crosses neatly divided into large plots – occasionally punctuated by a Jewish or Muslim headstone. Eight ossuaries hold an additional 22,970 unidentified bodies. When entering the cemetery, the first grave encountered on the left is that of général Ernest Barbot.

Facing the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette basilica is a 52-meter Lanterne des Morts, whose light can be seen 70 km away at night. Its crypt holds 32 ceremonial coffins of the First World War in addition to an unidentified Second World War soldier, one from the North African conflict, an unidentified from the French IndoChina War, and an urn with the ashes of a concentration camp deportee. 3,028 additional unidentified bodies lie under the floor.

Memorial to sous-Lieutenant Henri Merlin, who, on 3 March 1915, killed himself rather than be overcome by German troops counterattacking French lines on the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette plateau.

Notre-Dame-de-Lorette showing graves, Lanterne des Morts (right) and Basilica (left). Many of the burials resulted from the Artois battles of 1914 and 1915.

Muslim graves near the rear of the expansive Notre-Dame-de-Lorette Cemetery.

A Memorial to the 158th Regiment d’Infanterie was erected north of Souchez by the survivors of the 158th RI in memory of their dead in the Lorette Sector during the Artois battles.

A white stone Memorial to sous-Lieutenant Jacques Defrasse stand upon a small pillbox. Defrasse was killed on 16 June 1915 during an attack upon a German trench that approximately followed the line of the track approaching the memorial. The memorial also commemorates the hundreds of soldiers of 3rd Company, 174th Division of Infantry killed on the same day for France. Defrasse was 23 years old.

Monument to général Ernest Barbot, at the entrance to Souchez, was the savior of Arras during the Race to the Sea and was wounded near this spot and died on 10 May 1915 while commanding the French 77th Infantry Division during the Second Battle of Artois. The memorial shows the general preparing to direct his troops to leave their trenches. The monument is dominated by the Winged Statue of Liberty holding laurels aloft.

A Memorial to général Paul Maistre, commander of the French XXI Corps, stands amid a small cluster of trees near the top of the Notre-Dame-de-Lorette plateau at the approximate location of Maistre’s command post during the Second Battle of Artois. The statue shows Maistre sympathetically considering the plight of the infantry soldiers standing be him.

The ruins of the two towers of Abbaye Mont-St-Eloi rises above the surrounding plain north of Arras. The flat field in the foreground was used as an airfield later in the war.

Sucrerie British Cemetery north of Arras was begun in April 1917 beside a large French cemetery that has since been removed. Before the war the site was occupied by a sugar beet processing factory, or Sucrerie. Extensively fortified by the Germans, during the Second Battle of Artois it became the scene of intense fighting during the French advance upon Souchez. The cemetery, accessible from the highway down a narrow walkpath, holds 382 burials.

The village of Passchendaele as viewed from the New British Cemetery. The fields between were the scene of unspeakable horror during the final days of the Third Battle of Ypres.