The best walks and hikes around Béthincourt

This impressive American WWI memorial was dedicated in 1937 to commemorate the victory of the American First Army during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive (26 September – 11 November 1918). The 54-metre-high Doric granite column, designed by John Russell Pope, is topped by a statue symbolising liberty. The monument stands on the hill of Montfaucon, where a medieval monastery once stood and where the Americans achieved a strategic victory in 1918.

Tips: Climb the 234 steps to the viewing platform for a panoramic view of the former battlefield. Read the inscriptions at the foot of the monument with the names of the participating divisions.

This impressive American WWI memorial was dedicated in 1937 to commemorate the victory of the American First Army during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive (26 September – 11 November 1918). The 54-metre-high Doric granite column, designed by John Russell Pope, is topped by a statue symbolising liberty 1 2. The monument stands on the hill of Montfaucon, where a medieval monastery once stood and where the Americans achieved a strategic victory in 1918.

The German offensive to conquer Verdun began in February 1916. In early March, the fighting took place on the heights of Mort-Homme. The French put up a heroic resistance under a torrent of fire. In this sector, 10,000 poilus died. Monument du Mort-Homme, by sculptor Jacques Froment-Meurice. The soldier's skeleton detaches itself from its shroud and lets out its cry of victory. On one arm, he carries a flag, the symbol of the nation for which he sacrificed himself, and on the other arm, he waves the torch of victory. At the foot of the monument, the phrase "They have not passed" recalls the sacrifice of French fighters for the possession and preservation of this observation hill on the left bank of the Meuse. The village of Cumières, declared a "dead village for France", became Cumières le Mort-Homme in 1922. In memory of the village, the Saint-Rémi chapel was built with the stones of the old church, in the middle of an enclosure, preceded by a monument to remind us that there was a peaceful village here. More information on https://www.tourisme-verdun.com/decouverte/post/site-du-mort-homme

Le Mort-Homme was one of the pivots of the defense of Verdun on the left bank. All the German assaults of March 1916 were broken on this ridge.

This field was temporarily occupied by Oswald Boelcke, German ace of the First World War, as an airfield

This memorial commemorates the soldiers of the French 69th Division, who fell in 1916 on the hill "Mort Homme". The hill claimed the lives of about 10,000 French soldiers.

The monument faces the front line of the First American Army on the morning of September 26, 1918, when the attack whose victory it commemorates, the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, began. This lasted until November 11, 1918 and forced the enemy to retreat from their front. This monument was erected and is maintained by the American Battle Monuments Commission, a U.S. government agency. The monument was inaugurated on Sunday August 1, 1937 in the presence of the President of the French Republic, Albert Lebrun. The President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, delivered a speech from Washington which was broadcast live in Montfaucon. Wikipedia