War memorial

A war memorial is a building, monument, statue or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war.

Symbolism

Historic usage

For most of human history war memorials were erected to commemorate great victories. In Napoleon's day, the dead were shoveled into mass, unmarked graves. The Arc de Triomphe in Paris and Nelson's Column in London contain no names of those killed.

However, by the end of the nineteenth century, it was common for regiments in the British Army to erect monuments to their comrades who had died in small Imperial Wars and these memorials would list their names. The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 was the first war in Europe in which rank-and-file soldiers were commemorated in war memorials. Every soldier was granted a permanent resting-place as part of the terms of the Treaty of Frankfurt (1871). By the early twentieth century some towns and cities in the United Kingdom raised the funds to commemorate the men from their communities who had fought and died in the Second Anglo-Boer War.

War memorials (Aisne)

The War Memorials of Aisne or Monuments aux Morts of Aisne are French war memorials in the Aisne, in the region of Picardy, commemorating those men of the Aisne region who died in World War I

Background

This region saw considerable action throughout World War I. In 1914, the Allied armies retreated through the region before the advancing German armies, who were following Von Schlieffen's plan of attack. At the Battle of the Marne, the German army's advance was halted and they retreated to the Aisne region and then dug in there before the so-called "race to the sea". The "war of movement" was to be short-lived and replaced by a static war of attrition, dominated by the trenches. The region was thereafter an integral part of the Western Front, the "Chemin des Dames" area in particular seeing the French army in continual action. This article deals with the local memorials which were erected in every city, town and village in France.

Some of the monument aux morts in the Aisne region

War memorials (Western Somme)

Some of the Monuments aux Morts of the Western Somme

The Monuments aux Morts of the Western Somme are French war memorials commemorating those who died in World War I. In the Western part of the Somme region, in the area around Abbeville, there are many such memorials and some of these are identified and described below as are the sculptors, marbriers or foundries who worked on them.

Further images

Detail from Leclabart's war memorial in Abbeville

Detail from Leclabart's war memorial in Abbeville

The war memorial at St Quentin en Tourmont

The war memorial at St Quentin en Tourmont

Detail from the war memorial at Rue

Detail from the war memorial at Rue

Detail from the war memorial at Rue

Detail from the war memorial at Rue

The German helmet on the Vron war memorial

The German helmet on the Vron war memorial

Another view of the Arry war memorial

Another view of the Arry war memorial

View of war memorial at Fort Mahon Plage