The Monuments aux Morts of the Eastern Somme are French war memorials commemorating those who died in World War I on the eastern side of the Somme region.
Monuments aux Morts of the Eastern Somme
WorkImageLocationSubject, notes and referencesAllonville Monument aux mortsAllonville SommeAllonville's war memorial involves the work of Athanase Fossé (1851–1923). It stands by the church and was completed on 13 August 1920. Athanase Fossé did not charge for his work but gave his services free of charge as he had been born in Allonville and is buried there. In the church of Allonville there is a relief by Fossé of Joan of Arc, shown emerging from the flames and thus delivered from death.Allonville Culture.gouv.fr. Retrieved 4 November 2012Amiens Monument aux mortsAmiens SommeAmiens has three war memorials, all by Albert-Dominique Roze. One is in Amiens Cathedral. This was completed in 1923 and inaugurated on 6 April 1924. In Roze's composition a dead soldier lies in the centre of the relief and on his right are his wife and child and on the left his father and mother. All appear in tears but the Virgin Mary stands above the soldier's body with arms spread as though consoling them all. The main Roze work is Amiens's war memorial and as one would expect the war memorial for the capital of Picardy is of huge proportions. It stands in the Place du Maréchal Foch and remembers not only the 2,666 Amienois who died in the Great War but also the fact that Amiens was a garrison town and that troops left there for the front. Work on the monument was started in 1927 and the inauguration took place on 14 April 1929. On the eastern side two foot soldiers hold hands. One is young the other older and thus represent the two generations involved in the war and underlines the brotherhood felt on the front line. On the southern side, a cavalryman and an aviator are featured with propeller and bomb. On the eastern side an engineer with rope and hammer and a tank driver complete with caterpillar track and conning tower are featured and on the northern side are seen an artilleryman with cannon and shell and a marine. At the top a figure representing "Victory" holds a pen and writes the names of the dead on the bough of a tree. The funds for this monument were raised by public subscription and by organising tombolas, concerts and galas. Jules Derivery and Denis Sosthene carried out the marble work involved. Originally the plan was for a monument to commemorate both allies and those citizens of Amiens who died in the Great War. It was to be called the "panthéon interallie" and it was planned to place it at the exit from Amiens that leads to Albert and the battlefield of the Somme. However this idea was abandoned in favour of a monument just remembering those from Amiens who died. The third monument in Amiens stands in the National Military Cemetery at Saint-Acheul and It was inaugurated on 27 July 1924, commissioned by "Le Souvenir Français" which had since its foundation in 1887, worked to commemorate those soldiers who died on the field of battle. Several photographs of Amiens' main monument aux morts are shown in the gallery below.Andechy Monument aux mortsAndechy SommeAt Andechy the war memorial is a sculpture by Georges Legrand. This was another village on the frontline and was completely destroyed during World War I The Battle of Andechy took place on the 4 and 5 November 1914.Arvillers Monument aux mortsArvillers SommeArvillers' memorial is an example of "Le Soldat au drapeau", which was number 2139 in Marbreries Générales Gourdon's catalogue. The work at Arvillers was dated 1923. The choice of statue was made by the ex-soldiers of the town. This Marbreries Générales Gourdon work can be seen on monuments throughout France.Arvillers