Chemin Des Dames -- Commemoration and WW1

Chemin des Dames was once the road that the women of Louis XIV's court took to go to their summer homes, but more recently, it earned fame for the fact that it was the location of some of World War I's bloodiest battles. Because of its strategic location as the last ridge before the plains of Paris, lots of fighting occurred along it, and hundreds, if not thousands, of soldiers lived for months on end in an intricate network of caves dug into the hillside.

Even more interesting that this, though, are the soldiers who were used in the front lines of the battle during one of the main offensives when the French tried to reclaim the hill from the Germans: Confused, scared, and disoriented, the soldiers "mutinied" and refused to fight. Although they didn't harm any French, 27 of them were still shot, to set an example for any future mutineers.

It is only now, more than ninety years later, that the descendants of the mutineers were invited to see where their ancestors were shot. This is the first time, too, that they have even been acknowledged. How, in a democratic country, can such a thing happen? How, with the press, and lately, the internet, did these deaths go ignored? In a way, this re-surfacing of hidden events shows us that although we may get mad at other countries, such as Russia, for down-playing their histories, our allies, and ourselves, most definitely, have all done the same things.

However, not much other progress has been made regarding the process of memorializing these soldiers. Every town in France has a monument to soldiers who died in WWI, but the men still aren't put on them. Didn't they give their life to the war too? Don't they count as much as others? How can they be discriminated against because of their political opinion? They lived in a democratic country, right?

Maybe not. In 1998, France's prime minister, Lionel Jospin, said that it was time to re-integrate the mutineers into the country's collective historical memory. However, the president at the time, Jacques Chirac, immediately said that remembering them would be disgracing the soldiers that did die for their country in WWI. No matter your position on this issue, though, here are some relevant sites to look about this (unfortunately, some are in French, but shouldn't be too hard to understand if you're taking French):

This article talks about the mutineers, and commemoration.

This article, from 1917 (and in English!), talks about Chemin des Dames in general.

This pamphlet, published by the French government, talks about Senegalese soldiers' role in WWI, specifically mentions Chemin des Dames. If you don't understand French, it still has some cool pictures of the Senegalese battalions.