The Marne: Château-Thierry

The American Monument

It was drizzling as Wanderlust left Dormans on the way to Château-Thierry.   Late season cruising can be a mixed bag.  Days with calm winds and smooth reflective water emphasize the color change on the banks.  They rank among the most beautiful of the year.  But with the good comes the not so good: Dreary days like this one are not uncommon.  Nevertheless, on the balance, the good outweighs the bad and fall is our favorite time of year to be cruising.

During this visit to Château-Thierry we saw something that we had missed seeing previously, the American Monument.  Situated on a hillside overlooking the commune is this war memorial dedicated to the Americans who fought in World War I.  To get up the hill to the monument, we rode our bikes.  “Rode” here is a euphemism.  Our route to the top included extended stretches of pushing the bikes up the hill.   It had to be the steepest possible way to the top.  Eventually we, or what was left of us, made it to the top. 

Once we caught our breaths, we walked around the monument.  The American Monument built in the austere Stripped Classicism style is located between the woods and the farmlands.  It’s a pastoral place that accentuates the stark grandeur of French-American architect Paul Cret’s memorial.

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  Wanderlust on her way to Chateau Thierry

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  Gig

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  Wanderlust in Chateau Thierry

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  The American Monument on the hill overlooking Chateau Thierry and the Marne Valley

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  Parahandy, another Piper, passed us in Chateau Thierry

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  Nosy neighbors

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  Gig keeps watch in Chateau Thierry

In the fall of 2021, the countryside around Château-Thierry was calm and peaceful.  It was not that way at the height of summer in 1918.  At that time the Second Battle of the Marne raged nearby as the German forces pushed towards Paris.  By the time they reached Château-Thierry, the capitol of France was a mere 80 kilometers away.  The German’s forward positions in and around Château-Thierry put Paris in range of Germany’s Paris Gun, an artillery piece capable of lobbing shells 130 kilometers.

Though the US declared war in April of 1917, it was not until the summer of 1918 that the Americans that had arrived in Europe were an effective fighting force capable of shifting the outcome of the war.  The influx of fresh American forces came as Second Battle of Marne was gearing up.  At this point of the war both the Allied and Central Powers armies had been depleted by heavy causalities.  The fresh troops from the American Expeditionary Forces became what was in essence the straw that broke the camel’s back; their presence tipped the balance of the war in favor of the Allied Powers at a critical time.  Together, the American and French forces dug in during the Second Battle of the Marne and stopped the German advance to Paris.  This battle, and the ensuing counteroffensive, turned the tide of the war.   It was the beginning of the end of World War I, a conflict that resulted in the deaths of somewhere in the neighborhood 20 million human beings.

It can be said that the American Monument is outsized for the 117 thousand American lives lost during the war.  By comparison, the French lost over 1.3 million soldiers and nearly half that many civilians.  Nevertheless, any sacrifice is a sacrifice that is worthy of being recognized.  There’s no doubt that the American Monument powerfully brings home that message.

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  The American Monument is Chateau Thierry

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There are quite a few plaques and monuments throughout France honoring the contributions of Americans to France during the shared history of the two nations.  It seems quite gracious of the French, until you realize that most of the monuments were paid for by Americans.  (In fairness, the French did grant the land for the monuments.)  In this case, the American Battle Monuments Commission, established by Congress in 1923, paid the bill for the American Monument.  It’s not just Americans who have built war memorials in France:  Other countries have spent money to build big ones too.

Our return down the hill to Wanderlust was far less painful than the climb to the monument.  Rather than descending the steep dirt road we climbed, we more sensibly rode the bikes down the smooth, beautifully-maintained departmental road that sliced its way through the farmlands to Château-Thierry.  It was fast and exhilarating; it almost made us forget about the climb to the top.

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Log:

Wanderlust engine ran for 2.9 hours on this leg.  There are 25 kilometers and 2 locks between Domans and Château-Thierry.

A map of this segment of Wanderlust’s journey appears here.

In Château-Thierry we moored behind Barge Serenity, which work the segment from Sillery to Château-Thierry as a cruise.  It would be a good option for those without boats.