The La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial is a World War I

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, Tragedy (event), tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objec ...

in France, located on the south bank of the river

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nether ...

, on the outskirts of the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

of La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, 66 kilometres east of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

, in the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Seine-et-Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers it ...

. Also known as the Memorial to the Missing of the Marne, it commemorates over 3,700 British and Irish soldiers with no known grave, who fell in battle in this area in August, September and early October 1914. The soldiers were part of the British Expeditionary Force, and are listed on the memorial by regiment, rank and then alphabetically.

Memorial

The memorial itself is a rectangular block of white stone, 62 feet by 30 feet and 24 feet high, surmounted by a large stone sarcophagus. On top of the sarcophagus are carved representations of trophies of war, including a flag, bayonets, and a helmet. The year 1914 is carved below the sarcophagus, while the names of the dead are carved in panels on all four sides of the memorial. The two shorter sides of the memorial are decorated with a carved, downwards pointing sword, while the front and back of the memorial are carved with inscription panels surmounted by a carved wreath and a carved stone crown. The inscription on the river-facing side is in French, while the inscription on the other side is in English. The memorial is mounted on a stepped stone pavement, at the four corners of which are stone pillars, carved with the coats of arms of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts ...

(the coats of arms are labelled England,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

), and topped by stone urns. One of the stone pillars was designed to hold a memorial register, which is now kept at the local town hall. At the front of the memorial's pavement is a stone of remembrance inscribed with the words: "''Their name liveth for evermore.''"

Inscriptions

The memorial's French inscription says:

''A la gloire de Dieu et en souvenir durable des 3888 officiers et soldats dont les tombes ne sont pas connues appartenant au Corps Expéditionnaire Britannique qui, mobilisé le 5 Août 1914, débarqua en France en Août 1914 et combattit à Mons, au Cateau, sur la Marne, sur l'Aisne, jusqu'en Octobre 1914.''

The memorial's English inscription says:

''To the glory of God and the lasting memory of 3888 British officers and men whose graves are not known who landed in France in the month of August 1914 and between then and October fought at Mons and Le Cateau and on the Marne and the Aisne.''

History

The memorial was built on land given by Adrien Fizeau, former mayor of Jouarre, in memory of his father

Hippolyte Fizeau Armand Hippolyte Louis Fizeau FRS FRSE MIF (; 23 September 181918 September 1896) was a French physicist, best known for measuring the speed of light in the namesake Fizeau experiment. Biography Fizeau was born in Paris to Louis and Beatrice Fiz ...

(1819–1896), a member of both the

Institut de France The (; ) is a French learned society, grouping five , including the Académie Française. It was established in 1795 at the direction of the National Convention. Located on the Quai de Conti in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, the institut ...

and of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. The Fizeau connection is commemorated by bilingual inscriptions either side of the steps leading up to the river-facing side of the memorial. This memorial was one of only four free-standing (outside proposed permanent war cemeteries) British World War I memorials to the missing eventually built on French soil. There had originally been proposals by the Imperial War Graves Commission to build 13 free-standing memorials to the missing in France, but this was eventually reduced to four: the

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. It is near the ...

to the Missing of the Somme, the Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial to the Missing of the Army of India, the Soissons Memorial to the Missing that fell in the German offensives in 1918, and this memorial at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre to the Missing of the Marne. This memorial was the only one of the four where the design was opened to competition. The winning design was by the minor war cemetery architect Major George Hartley Goldsmith MC, who had studied under Sir

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memoria ...

. The La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial was unveiled on 4 November 1928. The British and French military officers present at the dedication ceremony included

Ferdinand Foch Ferdinand Foch ( , ; 2 October 1851 – 20 March 1929) was a French general and military theorist who served as the Supreme Allied Commander during the First World War. An aggressive, even reckless commander at the First Marne, Flanders and ...

Maxime Weygand Maxime Weygand (; 21 January 1867 – 28 January 1965) was a French military commander in World War I and World War II. Born in Belgium, Weygand was raised in France and educated at the Saint-Cyr military academy in Paris. After graduating in ...

George Milne Field Marshal George Francis Milne, 1st Baron Milne, (5 November 1866 – 23 March 1948) was a senior British Army officer who served as Chief of the Imperial General Staff (CIGS) from 1926 to 1933. He served in the Second Boer War and during th ...

and William Pulteney Pulteney. The ceremony also commemorated the contributions of

Joseph Joffre Joseph Jacques Césaire Joffre (12 January 1852 – 3 January 1931) was a French general who served as Commander-in-Chief of French forces on the Western Front from the start of World War I until the end of 1916. He is best known for regroup ...

, John French, and

Michel-Joseph Maunoury Michel-Joseph Maunoury (17 December 1847 – 28 March 1923) was a commander of French forces in the early days of World War I who was posthumously elevated to the dignity of Marshal of France. Initially commanding in Lorraine, as the succes ...

, the commanders of the armies who had fought in the area. French in particular was the first commander of the British Expeditionary Force in World War I. Maunoury and French had died in 1923 and 1925, while Foch would die in 1929 and Joffre in 1931. The memorial is maintained by the

Commonwealth War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

(as the Imperial War Graves Commission was renamed), and the site includes flower beds and a small park with an avenue of trees. On 27 July 2004, the memorial was rededicated during the 90th anniversary commemorations of the battles, in a ceremony attended by Sir John Holmes, the British ambassador to France.

Royal Engineers memorials

Near the main memorial, on each bank of the river, either side of the nearby bridge, are two identical memorials commemorating the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the '' Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is head ...

who built, under fire, a floating bridge at this location in 1914. The English inscription says:

''At this point was built under fire by the Royal Engineers of the 4th Division a floating bridge for the passage of the left wing of the British Expeditionary Force after the Battle of the Marne. Portions of the division had already crossed by boat at the weir near Luzancy and below the destroyed bridges.''

Communal Cemetery burials

The nearby La Ferté-sous-Jouarre Communal Cemetery contains the graves of five

soldiers (including one unidentified) who died in September 1914.

Battles

Troop movements in this area during World War I include the 1st Division crossing the river

here on 3 September on their way south to Rozoy during the

Retreat from Mons The Great Retreat (), also known as the retreat from Mons, was the long withdrawal to the River Marne in August and September 1914 by the British Expeditionary Force (World War I), British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the French Fifth Army (Fra ...

. The 4th Division crossed here a week later on 9 September on their advance northwards to the river

Aisne Aisne ( , ; ; pcd, Ainne) is a French department in the Hauts-de-France region of northern France. It is named after the river Aisne. In 2019, it had a population of 531,345.Battle of the Marne. One of those commemorated on the memorial is the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

driver Cobey, who is featured in a painting by

Terence Cuneo Terence Tenison Cuneo RGI FGRA (1 November 1907 – 3 January 1996) was a prolific English painter noted for his scenes of railways, horses and military actions. He was also the official artist for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 ...

Photo gallery

Image:La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial 1.jpg, One of the memorial's four corner pillars, with coats of arms for Wales and England. Image:La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial 2.jpg, The memorial's sarcophagus, crown and wreath carvings, and the English inscription. Image:La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial 3.jpg, Panels of names on one side of the memorial, with one of the two sword carvings. Image:La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial 4.jpg, Flower bed and steps in front of the memorial, with two of the four pillars. Image:La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial 5.jpg, Inscription explaining the Fizeau donation of the land for the memorial. Image:La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial 8.jpg, The Royal Engineers memorial on the north bank of the river Marne. Image:La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial 7.jpg, The Royal Engineers memorial on the south bank, with the bridge in the background. Image:La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial 6.jpg, The inscription on one of the Royal Engineers memorials.

Footnotes and references

External links

Commonwealth War Graves Commission details of the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorialCommonwealth War Graves Commission photograph of the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial
Royal Engineers and the First World War

* ttps://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&om=1&z=17&ll=48.943418,3.123829&spn=0.003213,0.007296&t=k Google Maps satellite map of the memorial- the Royal Engineer memorial on the southern bank is also visible in this image.
British-Pathé Newsreel report on the unveiling of the memorial
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) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial, La Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorials World War I memorials in France Buildings and structures completed in 1928 Buildings and structures in Seine-et-Marne Tourist attractions in Île-de-France Tourist attractions in Seine-et-Marne