World War I War Memorials in France
Canadian National Vimy Memorial
The Canadian National Vimy Memorial is a war memorial site in France dedicated to the memory of Canadian Expeditionary Force members killed during the First World War. It also serves as the place of commemoration for Canadian soldiers of the First World War killed or presumed dead in France who have no known grave. The monument is the centrepiece of a 100-hectare (250-acre) preserved battlefield park that encompasses a po ...
Founded: 1936 |
Location:
Vimy, France
Thiepval Memorial
The Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme is a war memorial to 72,337 missing British and South African servicemen who died in the Battles of the Somme of the First World War between 1915 and 1918, with no known grave. A visitors' centre opened in 2004. Designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, Thiepval has been described as the greatest executed British work of monumental architecture of the twentieth century. The Memorial ...
Founded: 1932 |
Location:
Thiepval, France
Notre Dame de Lorette
Notre Dame de Lorette, also known as Ablain St.-Nazaire French Military Cemetery, is the world"s largest French military cemetery. It is the name of a ridge, basilica, and French national cemetery northwest of Arras at the village of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire. The high point of the hump-backed ridge stands 165 metres high and - with Vimy Ridge - utterly dominates the otherwise flat Douai plain and the town of Arras. The ...
Founded: 1914 |
Location:
Ablain-Saint-Nazaire, France
Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial
The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is a memorial site in France dedicated to the commemoration of Dominion of Newfoundland forces members who were killed during World War I. The 74-acre (300,000 m2) preserved battlefield park encompasses the grounds over which the Newfoundland Regiment made their unsuccessful attack on 1 July 1916 during the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The Battle of the Somme was the regi ...
Founded: 1925 |
Location:
Beaumont-Hamel, France
Pozières Memorial
The Pozières Memorial is a World War I memorial, located near the commune of Pozières, and unveiled in August 1930. It lists the names of 14,657 British and South African soldiers of the Fifth and Fourth Armies with no known grave who were killed between 21 March 1918 and 7 August 1918, during the German advance known as the Spring Offensive, and the period of Allied consolidation and recovery that followed. The final d ...
Founded: 1930 |
Location:
Pozières, France
Douaumont Ossuary
The Douaumont ossuary is a memorial containing the remains of soldiers who died on the battlefield during the Battle of Verdun in World War I. During the 300 days of the Battle of Verdun (1916) approximately 230,000 men died out here. The battle became known in German as Die Hölle von Verdun (The Hell of Verdun), or in French as L'Enfer de Verdun, and was conducted on a battlefield covering less than 20 square kilometer ...
Founded: 1916 |
Location:
Douaumont, France
Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery
The French handed over Arras to Commonwealth forces in the spring of 1916 during the World War I and the system of tunnels upon which the town is built were used and developed in preparation for the major offensive planned for April 1917. The Commonwealth section of the Faubourg d"Amiens Cemetery was begun in March 1916, behind the French military cemetery established earlier. It continued to be used by field ambulan ...
Founded: 1916 |
Location:
Arras, France
Australian National Memorial
The Australian National Memorial in Villers-Bretonneux is the main memorial to Australian military personnel killed on the Western Front during World War I. It is located on the Route Villiers-Bretonneux (D 23), between the towns of Fouilloy and Villers-Bretonneux. The memorial lists 10,773 names of soldiers of the Australian Imperial Force with no known grave who were killed between 1916, when Australian forces arrived i ...
Founded: 1938 |
Location:
Villers-Bretonneux, France
Delville Wood South African National Memorial
The Delville Wood South African National Memorial is a World War I memorial, located in Delville Wood, near the commune of Longueval. It is opposite the Delville Wood Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery, on the other side of the Longueval–Ginchy road. The memorial was unveiled on 10 October 1926. It was designed by Sir Herbert Baker, assistant architect was Arthur James Scott Hutton, with a sculpture by Alfred ...
Founded: 1926 |
Location:
Longueval, France
Montsec American Monument
The World War I Montsec American Monument is located on the isolated hill in Montsec. This majestic monument, commemorating the achievements of the American soldiers who fought in this region in 1917 and 1918, dominates the landscape for miles around. It commemorates reduction of the St. Mihiel Salient by the U.S. First Army, September 12-16, 1918, and operations of the U.S. Second Army, November 9-11. It also honors comb ...
Founded: 1932 |
Location:
Montsec, France
Wellington Quarry
20 metres below the pavements of Arras is the Wellington Quarry, a site immersed in memory and emotion. In November 1916, the British started preparing for the 1917 spring offensive. Their stroke of genius: to have the New Zealand tunnellers connect up the town’s chalk extraction tunnels to create a real network of underground barracks large enough to accommodate up to 24,000 soldiers. After a 20-metre descent in a glas ...
Founded: 1916 |
Location:
Arras, France
Memorial to the Battles of the Marne
Built between 1921 and 1931, the Dormans Memorial commemorates the victories won in the Marne between 1914 and 1918. The impressive ensemble was designed by architects Marcel and Closson. A monumental staircase leads to a large square with a sundial and a viewpoint indicator that shows the names of the villages in the Marne Valley where the Battle of 1918 was fought. The square itself leads to a crypt that is overlooked ...
Founded: 1921 |
Location:
Dormans, France
Soissons Memorial
The Soissons Memorial is a World War I memorial located in the town of Soissons. The memorial lists 3,887 names of British soldiers with no known grave who were killed in the area from May to August 1918 during the German spring offensive. The battles fought by those commemorated here include the Third Battle of the Aisne and the Second Battle of the Marne. This is a free-standing memorial (one without an associated ceme ...
Founded: 1928 |
Location:
Soissons, France
Verdun Memorial
The Verdun Memorial is a war memorial to commemorate the Battle of Verdun, fought in 1916 as part of the First World War. It is situated on the battlefield, close to the destroyed village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont. It was built during the 1960s, financed by Maurice Genevoix and has been open to the public since September 17, 1967. It remembers both French and German combatants as well as the civilian populations lost du ...
Founded: 1967 |
Location:
Douaumont, France
Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial
The Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial is a World War I memorial in France, located on the outskirts of the commune of Neuve-Chapelle, in the département of Pas-de-Calais. The memorial commemorates some 4,742 Indian soldiers with no known grave, who fell in battle while fighting for the British Indian Army in the First World War. The location of the memorial was chosen because of the participation by Indian tro ...
Founded: 1927 |
Location:
Neuve-Chapelle, France
Somme American Cemetery and Memorial
The 14.3-acre (58,000 m2) Somme American Cemetery and Memorial is a war cemetery established in October 1918 on ground which saw heavy fighting just before and during the Battle of St Quentin Canal. It contains the graves of 1,844 of the United States" military dead from World War I. Most lost their lives in the assault on the Hindenburg Line while serving in American II Corps attached to the British Fourth Army. Oth ...
Founded: 1918 |
Location:
Bony, France
Courcelette Memorial
The Courcelette Memorial is a Canadian war memorial that commemorates the actions of the Canadian Corps in the final two and a half months of the infamous four-and-a-half-month-long Somme Offensive of the First World War. The Canadians participated at the Somme from early September to the British offensives end in mid-November 1916, engaging in several of the battles-within-the-battle of the Somme, including acti ...
Founded: 1916 |
Location:
Courcelette, France
Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial
The Oise-Aisne American Cemetery and Memorial is an American military cemetery in northern France. Plots A through D contains the graves of 6,012 American soldiers who died while fighting in this vicinity during World War I, 597 of which were not identified, as well as a monument for 241 Americans who were missing in action during battles in the same area and whose remains were never recovered. A graveyard for former s ...
Founded: 1918 |
Location:
Fère-en-Tardenois, France
Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial
The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial is a 52.8 ha World War I cemetery in France. The cemetery contains the largest number of American military dead in Europe (14,246), most of whom lost their lives during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive and were buried there. The cemetery consists of eight sections behind a large central reflection pool. Beyond the grave sections is a chapel which is decorated with stained glass ...
Founded: 1918 |
Location:
Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, France
Sommepy American Monument
The World War I Sommepy American Monument commemorates the achievements of the American units that served in combat with the French Fourth Army during the summer and fall of 1918. More than 70,000 Americans served in the region during this time. The monument, situated on Blanc Mont Ridge, is surrounded by vestiges of World War I trenches, dugouts and gun emplacements. It is essentially a tower of golden-yellow limestone ...
Founded: 1937 |
Location:
Sommepy-Tahure, France