Inside the Ossuary of the Ferme de Navarin monument (WWI) to the fallen French, near Souain, Champagne-Ardenne, France.
"The pyramid like structure has at its top a sculpture of three soldiers. What we have here is a combined monument and ossuary within which lie the remains of 10,000 soldiers who fell on the plains of Champagne. The monument is called “Monument aux Morts des Armees de Champagne” and it was inaugurated in 1924 by General Gouraud who had commanded the 4th French Army in Champagne in 1916 and until victory in 1918. The monument is on what was a farm in 1916, the farm of Navarin. It is said that the farmer, when approached by soldiers for provisions, had replied in the local patois “Anhue n’ava rin”- “Aujourd’hui il n’y a rien”- “Today I have nothing.” This became Navarin which is a port where French, British and Russians had destroyed the Turkish fleet in 1827 during the War for Greek Independence. The middle figure of the three soldiers at the summit of the structure, the work of Real del Sarte, is meant to portray Gouraud himself, the soldier on the right Quentin Roosevelt, nephew of President Theodore Roosevelt who was killed in the Cambrai area on the 14th July 1918 and the figure on the left represents del Sarte’s brother who was killed in the Champagne area. At the base of the monument are listed the numerous divisions who fought in Champagne:- 93 French Infantry Divisions 8 Cavalry Divisions A general artillery reserve An aerial division 4 American Divisions- including the 42nd Division one of whose officers was the future General MacArthur 1st Polish Regiment 2 Russian Brigades 1 Czech Brigade In the crypt are the remains of 10,000 soldiers, including the four sons of Paul Doumer who was a President of France in the 1930’s. When General Gouraud died in 1946 he asked to be buried with his men in the “Ferme de Navarin” and his tomb has pride of place in the crypt. "
Size: 5063px × 3348px
Location: near Souain, Champagne-Ardenne, France
Photo credit: © Maurice Savage / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 1916, armees, aux, battle, champagne, champagne-ardenne, de, del, des, ferme, french, general, gouraud, great, interior, le, memorial, monument, monument-ossuaire, morts, navarin, ossuary, plaques, pyramid, real, sarte, souain, souain-perthes-è-hurlus, structure, war, world, wwi
