NÉCROPOLE NATIONALE FRANÇAISE

A national cemetery and a place of remembrance, the immense necropolis contains the bodies of 16,142 French soldiers (including 6 from 1939-1945). A large Muslim plot preserves the bodies of 592 soldiers from the colonial empire. Built on a slope, the cemetery is organized into two large groups of individual crosses and headstones, separated by a wide aisle, at the center of which is the flagpole bearing the national colors.

Both groups, and the entire necropolis, are surrounded by yew trees. Access is via the lower part of the cemetery, where you'll find the classic French necropolis entrance, with limestone pillars and a metal gate. At the top of the necropolis, at the end of the central aisle, a stone staircase leads to the Ossuary. A bronze plaque overhanging the necropolis recalls the day of September 22, 1984, and the gesture made by Chancellor Kohl and President Mitterrand, marking the friendship between the two countries.

In line with the plaque is the grave of General Anselin, killed in action on October 24, 1916 during the recapture of Douaumont fort.