Photo : Poudou99 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0)
Chemin des Dames
The Chemin des Dames is a 25.9 km departmental road running from west to east across a plateau of the Aisne, between the Ailette and Aisne valleys, from Aizy-Jouy to Corbeny. Its name comes from the daughters of Louis XV, Adélaïde and Victoire, who used it to go to the château de La Bove; the road was then improved for them.
The site is above all linked to the First World War. The fighting of 1914 there caused several thousand deaths, and General Nivelle's offensive in spring 1917 cost the French nearly 200,000 men in a few months. The Fort de la Malmaison was retaken at the end of October 1917. Several destroyed villages were classed as a red zone. Today, the Caverne du Dragon, a former quarry turned museum, the Californie plateau which offers views over the valleys, and monuments, museums and cemeteries mark the route.
