The best MTB trails around Souchez

The ruins of the old church of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire are an impressive and symbolic remnant of the First World War. This church, built in the 16th century in flamboyant Gothic style by Jacques Le Caron, was heavily damaged during the fighting in 1915. The ruins have been preserved as a monument to commemorate the horrors of war.

A remarkable story about the ruins concerns the decision not to rebuild the church after the war. Although the church had been classified as a historical monument in 1908, the Commission for Historical Monuments decided that the ruins should remain as a testimony to the German destruction. Ironically, it was the French guns that had destroyed the church, but the ruins became a symbol of the war and the reconstruction.

The Nécropole nationale de Notre-Dame-de-Lorette is one of the largest and most impressive military cemeteries in France. Situated on a hill in Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, this cemetery contains the graves of more than 42,000 soldiers who died during the First World War. The cemetery was inaugurated in 1925 and includes a basilica, a tower-lantern and a museum.

The Anneau de la Mémoire is an impressive monument commemorating the 576,606 soldiers of forty different nationalities who died in Nord-Pas-de-Calais during the First World War. The monument was designed by Philippe Prost and was unveiled on 11 November 2014, the 96th anniversary of Armistice Day. It consists of 500 metal panels, each approximately 3 metres high, arranged in an elliptical shape. The names of the soldiers are listed alphabetically, without distinction of rank or nationality.

A superb monument commemorating the centenary of the Great War. It features nearly 500,000 names engraved in alphabetical order. Without distinction of rank, they come from soldiers of some forty different nationalities, all of whom fell on the front lines of Nord-Pas-de-Calais between 1914 and 1918.

Beware, beginners without an electric bike... big climbs... it's a roller coaster!!! Otherwise, the route to Olhain is fantastic!!!

Remains of a fortified mill during the First World War, a testament to the fraternization of the French. It was rediscovered in 2015. The Red Mill On this hill, which marks the boundary between the villages of Thélus and Neuville-Saint-Vaast, a windmill had stood since the Middle Ages. It produced flour, oil, and also woad, a blue dye used in Arras tapestries. It was rebuilt in 1678 in red brick, which later gave it the nickname "The Red Mill," in contrast to another mill in Thélus built of white stone and called the White Mill. The Mill Trench In October 1914, the Germans captured the hills outside Arras. The Moulin Rouge was quickly destroyed, but the Germans fortified the ruins to create an observation post facing the trenches of the Labyrinth sector, located 1,500 meters from here toward Arras. In May and September 1915, the French recaptured ground from the Germans during the Battles of Artois, and this observation post found itself on the French front line. It was then repurposed to observe the German lines toward Thélus. It then served as a landmark and gave its name to the "Mill Trench" that led to it. Fraternizations It was here that on December 10, 1915, Louis Barthas, a corporal in the 280th Infantry Regiment of the French Army, participated in a moment of fraternization between German and French soldiers emerging from their flooded trenches. The account he gave of them in his War Diaries contributed to their recognition, leading to the creation of the Fraternization Monument, located in Neuville-Saint-Vaast, 2 km away. Archaeology In 2015, archaeological excavations uncovered the foundations of the mill and its outbuildings, a concrete observation post, and traces of a trench. These remains are displayed in this garden, which evokes the trenches that faced each other. During the development of the adjacent Parc d'activité des Meuniers, more than 30 soldiers' bodies were found: French, German, and Canadian. Six soldiers were identified; they came from Périgueux, Limoges, Saintes, and Béthune. Gaston Basset, a soldier in the 50th Infantry Regiment, died on September 27, 1915, during the attack on Thélus. His body was found in 2012 at the location indicated by a comrade in a letter addressed to his widow.

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