NÉCROPOLE NATIONALE

The village of Courbesseaux, which was the headquarters of General de Castelnau's counter-attack on August 25, 1914, was razed to the ground during World War I. The National Necropolis shelters the bodies of 2 679 victims of the fighting of this war, and in particular those of the battle of Grand-Couronné in August and September 1914. A large monument pays tribute to these victims: a bronze, sculpted by Eugène Gatelet in 1924, shows a young farmer in a clog laying a wreath on the grave of a soldier "who died for France". A simple stele was erected in 1964 in memory of General Edouard de Castelnau, the winner of this battle. This feat of arms earned him the nickname "Savior of Nancy" and the promotion to Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor.