Second Battle of the Aisne, including the Battle of Craonne Plateau

While the British forces were attempting to turn the Northern flank of the new Hindenburg line, near Arras and Vimy Ridge, the French Armies were assaulting the Southern pivot of the Hindenburg line between Soissons and Rheims. The chief objective of the French was the Craonne Plateau, a ridge twelve miles long and rising some 200 feet above the level of the plain. The slopes of the Plateau, on the side facing the French position, were ringed clear to the summit with a series of German trenches, all bristling with machine guns and occupied by 500,000 soldiers commanded by the Crown Prince Frederick. Its rocky crest was cut with deep ravines and caverns, affording admirable cover for many machine gun nests.

From end to end, along its wide summit, runs the famous Chemin-des-Dames ("Ladies' Road"), a shaded boulevard constructed by orders of King Louis XIV for the pleasure of his daughters. On the reverse slopes of the plateau, the German artillery was well concealed. Excepting Vimy Ridge, there was no other position on the Western front so formidable as this. To attempt its capture by direct assault seemed a desperate enterprise. There was, however, a more vulnerable point of attack just south of the Craonne Plateau, where the Hindenburg line traversed a stretch of flat country, covering a gap some ten miles wide. If this gap could be penetrated, the German line would be broken in halves and the way opened to assault the German strongholds from the rear.

The Germans had expended much labor in strengthening this gap. Elaborate concrete works had been constructed and the hill near Ville-aux-Bois tunneled to provide a series of galleries in which the German troops might find protection from artillery fire. East of Rheims, and dominating the whole of Champagne, rose the isolate Moron Villers Hills, constituting a military obstacle hardly inferior to the Craonne Plateau itself.

Threefold Attack Planned

General Nivelle had planned a threefold attack on the So...

Song - La Chanson de Craonne

La Chanson de Craonne (English: The Song of Craonne) is an anti-military song of World War I written in 1917. The song was written to the tune of Bonsoir M'Amour (Charles Sablon), sung by Emma Liebel.

This song was sung by the French soldiers who mutinied (in more than sixteen of the one hundred divisions of the French Army) after the costly and militarily disastrous offensive of General Nivelle at the Chemin des Dames. The song was prohibited in France until 1974. Even though an award of 1 million francs and the immediate honorable release from the army were offered for revealing the maker, the original author of the song remained unknown. The brought about severe reprimands, notably by General Pétain, who was named on the 17th of May as the replacement for General Nivelle. He was directly tasked with the mission of rebuilding the sagging morale of the war-weary French Army. He went about this with the punishment of the leaders of the mutiny, condemning 500 to death (though only 26 were actually executed).

This song was anonymously created, though surely by many authors. The song constantly evolved during the course of the war due to the changing role of those engaged in combat. The song first appeared under the name La Chanson de Lorette evoking the the Battle of Lorette à Ablain-St. Nazaire that occurred between the twelve months of October 1914 and October 1915. The song was modified in order to sing about the battles raging across the plateau of Champagne. In 1916, the song was sung during the ghastly Battle of Verdun, with the refrain: Adieu la vie, adieu l'amour, Adieu toutes les femmes C'est pas fini, c'est pour toujours De cette guerre infâme C'est à Verdun, au fort de Vaux Qu'on a risqué sa peau La Chanson de Craonne The final version, "The Song of Craonne" was written in 1917 during the French Army's Mutinies. The village of Craonne on the plateau of Californie was the site of bloody fighting on the 16th of April...