Twenty students from a fifth-grade class at Jules Ferry School in Nice and their supervisors, about ten musicians from the Nice Firefighters Music, and representatives from the veteran community spent four days in places where people from Nice and Provence fought for a Free France a century ago, and where many of them lost their lives.
They commemorated the sacrifice of more than 1,600 men from all units of Nice and the Alpes Maritimes.
The Nivelle Offensive, launched on April 16, 1917, was meant to be a decisive breakthrough within German lines. It was supposed to be brief but lasted six months and ended in bloody failure. All units from Nice and the Alpes Maritimes fought on the Chemin des Dames, which became a path of suffering where terrible and deadly battles took place.
The aim of this trip was to help the children understand the extraordinary victory represented by Franco-German friendship and the human sacrifices that peace demanded.
A rich program of visits and ceremonies was offered to the children and their chaperones. They notably attended the ceremony at the 26th Yankee Division Monument in Braye-en-Laonnois and the War Memorial in Laon.
They also visited the Chemin des Dames Memorial in Cerny-en-Laonnois, at the foot of which is the Monument dedicated to the 38th Infantry Division. They also discovered the Armistice Clearing in Compiรจgne, an emblematic site of the Great War, symbolizing the return of peace.
