MONUMENT DE LA BATAILLE DE LA VAUX-MARIE

Step 10 of the circuit "In the footsteps of those of 14". The monument of the Vaux-Marie battlefield recalls the fighting that took place on the territory of Rembercourt-Sommaisne from September 7 to 10, 1914, during the first battle of the Marne, when the Vth German army, commanded by the Imperial Kronprinz, tried to encircle the stronghold of Verdun. Maurice Genevoix, on the French side, and Erwin Rommel, on the German side, took part. After conquering Sommaisne and Vaubécourt, the Germans wanted to take Rembercourt-aux-Pots, but were never able to reach this village. They therefore tried everything possible by launching a major offensive during the night of 9 to 10 September. Under a stormy rain and in almost total darkness, French and German soldiers fought, sometimes hand-to-hand, on this front. The fighting was violent and the losses were heavy on both sides. Despite the withdrawal of several units, the French troops contributed, by their resistance, to the failure of this German attack which forced the Kronprinz army to retreat towards the Argonne The monument on the Vaux-Marie battlefield is the work of a survivor of this battle: Pol Jolibois. He fought in the ranks of the 29th Battalion of Foot Hunters and was wounded during the night attack. Although he was able to escape, his battalion lost half its strength at Vaux-Marie. Refusing to let the battle of Vaux-Marie and the sacrifice of his brothers in arms of the 29th Battalion of Foot Hunters be forgotten, he wrote a first book, "La vallée de l'Ezrule" (The Valley of the Ezrule), the profit of which allowed him to finance the commemorative plaque, inaugurated in 1927 and reinstalled in 1950 on a stele made of stones collected on the battlefield. This site is not an ordinary place, it is a battlefield, it deserves your respect.