The best road cycling routes around Cuffies

This large German war cemetery is located near Fort de La Malmaison, along the Chemin des Dames. It was established in 1941 by the Wehrmacht to centralize scattered graves from the Aisne region. After the war, the site was officially recognized by a Franco-German convention in 1954 and solemnly inaugurated in 1965. Nearly 11,850 German soldiers rest here, primarily fallen during the 1940 campaign and the fighting after the Allied landings in Normandy in 1944. Between 1960 and 1961, over 6,800 bodies were reburied from six surrounding departments. The cemetery is sober and serene, with rows of dark crosses and a memorial stone. It serves as a silent reminder of the fierce fighting in this region and is an important stop on remembrance routes along the Chemin des Dames.

Located along the Chemin des Dames, this monument commemorates the Régiment d’Infanterie Coloniale du Maroc, which fought heavily in the region during the Battle of La Malmaison in October 1917. It honours the commitment and sacrifice of Moroccan troops within the French army during WWI 1.

Church of Fontenoy

For a brief stopover

The Abbaye Saint-Jean-des-Vignes is a former abbey of Augustinian canons in Soissons, France. It was founded in 1076 by Hugues le Blanc, lord of the region, and was one of the richest abbeys in the Middle Ages at the time. The abbey is located on the Saint-Jean hill, southwest of the city center of Soissons and has a Gothic architecture. It is currently a historical monument and is open to visitors. It includes a beautiful facade, a refectory, a cloister and outbuildings. The former abbot's house houses the Center for the Interpretation of Architecture and Heritage.

Magnificent viewpoint where you can see for miles around from this elevated passage.

Such places – usually referred to as "war cemeteries" or "military cemeteries" – are still very important today as memorials to the countless war dead. "Now let your servant, Lord, depart in peace, as you have promised..." reads the so-called "Song of Simeon" (Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verse 29). The many people buried here, however, by no means departed in peace, but became victims of war and inhuman tyranny. The most important and at the same time eternal function of military or honor cemeteries, or war cemeteries, is therefore to keep the memory of this suffering alive and – every generation anew (!) – to admonish to the lasting preservation of peace.

The church dates from the middle of the 13th century. Under the Old Regime, the parish came under the diocese of Soissons, Archdeaconry of Christianity and deanery of Vailly). At the end of the 19th century, Mademoiselle Rostan paid large sums to raise the monument damaged by the outrage of the years. It was badly damaged during the withdrawal of German troops at the end of the summer of 1918. The church was restored under the supervision of the architect of the Historic Monuments Lucien Sallez from 1921 to 1925, then from 1930 to 1932, while Émile Brunet and Jean Trouvelot worked on the masonry and the covering of the transept in 1927.