11 novembre 2020 : Au-delà des champs de bataille La mémoire de la Grande Guerre à travers des paysages en guerre "Un coup de baguette de l'histoire fait naître un paysage", Julien Gracq. De 1914 à 1918, la Première Guerre mondiale fait rage aux quatre coins du globe. En Europe, elle oppose principalement les Alliés, la Russie, la France et le Royaume- Uni bientôt rejoints par l’Italie, à l’Allemagne et l’Autriche-Hongrie. En France, la zone des combats se concentre sur une bande de 800 km de long et d’une trentaine de kilomètres de large. Dans le monde entier, ce sont 70 millions de soldats mobilisés durant tout le conflit. Finalement, le lundi 11 novembre 1918, à 5 heures 45, l’arrêt des combats, ou armistice, est signé. Et, le même jour, à 11 heures, les hostilités sont suspendues. Les élèves de 3°3, en section internationale, se sont penchés sur le thème des paysages en guerre, ce qui les a amenés à étudier le moment où le conflit se déroule mais aussi à comprendre comment ces paysages sont devenus des lieux de mémoire. Des champs de bataille dévastés aux tranchées britanniques de la Somme vues du ciel, en passant par le cimetière de Tyne Cot à Ypres, de la « crête » de Messine en Belgique au Trou de mine de La Boisselle (appelé encore Lochnagar Crater), ils ont pu découvrir les lieux, les décrire puis réfléchir à la question de la mémoire du conflit à travers ces paysages de guerre, parfois au plus proche de l’expérience tragique des combats. Les élèves ont découvert comment ces paysages ont été, en fait, des paysages en guerre. Ils se sont appuyés sur le travail unique du photographe britannique Michael St Maur Sheil, qui a passé six ans à capturer les cicatrices du combat sur les champs de bataille de la Première Guerre mondiale, des photographies somptueuses. Les élèves ont décrit, en anglais, des paysages de guerre mais aussi apprécié l’émotion de ces paysages pacifiés, des terres de paix. Car ces paysages sont les derniers témoins du conflit … Ils nous laissent découvrir et apprécier ces champs de batailles devenus lieux de mémoire. Au fil des photographies et de leurs commentaires, plongeons-nous avec eux dans l’histoire de la Grande Guerre. Pour repérer les lieux photographiés par Michael St Maur Sheil et choisis par les élèves Source : Historial de la Grande Guerre de Péronne – Thiepval dans la Somme Carte : La ligne de front entre la France et l’Allemagne en 1916 5 6 8 1 et 13 3et 10 ? 7 15 9 2 4 11 12 14 Photograph 1 We discover, on this aerial view, an example of healed scars with this war landscape. It’s the famous site of the Battle of the Somme, in northern France. What do we see today? Nature has completely taken and we can see it with the grass – covered trench over but there’s also a deep trenches’ scar and many pockmarks from exploded bombshells. It’s totally awesome! Today, this photo has a real sense of peace and but we know that more than a million men were wounded or killed in the battle. This battle - also known as the Somme offensive between July and November 1916 - was the first major British offensive of the war! Photograph 2 (Michael St. Maur Sheil) This photo represents a famous and terrible field of battle in Verdun, in the Western Front. 100 years after the battle, we can see the land deeply scarred by explosions. It’s a quiet land today but it has been the scene of one of the greatest battles of history, the battle of Verdun (France). It was the scene of the longest and the bloodiest battle of the War. On the hills north of Verdun, aver 10 months in 1916, the French and the German armies suffered over 700,000 casualties. Some 300,000 were killed. Over 10 months in 1916, the two armies at Verdun suffered over 700,000 casualties, including some 300,000 killed. Now, we can see vast forest area of 10,000 ha. The forest of Verdun has been created in the aftermath of the War: it is the result of a long process led by the state since the 1920s. This landscape has been a damaged land, the forest has many functions today, including that of a place of memory. Photograph 3 (Michael St. Maur Sheil) This is the Lochnagar Crater, on the Western Front, has a special history: on 1 July, 1916, this crater was formed after an explosive-packed mine that detonated. It blown at 07:28. It was the battlefield of the Somme. It’s located in the south of the village of La Boisselle, in the Somme. We can see this large man-made mine crater, created by a mine that exploded at the launch of the British offensive against the German lines. The Lochnagar Crater is nearly 70 feet deep, it’s a huge hole that represents a witness of the violence of the warfare. The sound of the blast may have been terrible! Offensive mine warfare was a characteristic of the fighting on the Western Front during World War one. This place has been preserved as a memorial site to commemoration the men and women who suffered in the First World War. It’s a rescued site of historical importance. Photograph 4 (Michael St. Maur Sheil) This photo represents Belleau Wood near the Marne River in northern France. We can think of a beautiful and a preserved field. The colors are harmonious, this photograph is brightly colored. Imagine the Battle of Belleau Wood in this site: it occurred during the German 1918 spring offensive. What a terrible contrast with the 9,000 US casualties in this battlefield! In fact, it was one of the most important battles for the US forces. Today, we can imagine the trenches and there are shell holes and ruined building. Photograph 5 (Michael St. Maur Sheil) Here is a plowed field located in Belgium, in West Flanders. During World War One, this place called the Messine Ridge was a natural stronghold south-east of Ypres, a German position. We can see in the background green fields and little houses. The sky is dark with clouds that darken the photo but there are also two rainbows. I like so much this luminosity that represents life, hope and strength. The rainbow gives a cheerful and a marvelous effect. This land has likely seen so many soldiers and terrible fights. I remember… a century ago, on June 1917, the largest man-made explosion signaled the start of the Battle of Messines, an operation in which more than 40,000 soldiers were killed. Photograph 6 (Michael St. Maur Sheil) This photo was taken in winter, in a graveyard. This is Tyne Cot Cemetery, a military cemetery in Belgium, near a village called Passchendale. Tyne Cot is the largest British Cemetary for the Commonwealth forces in the world, for any war. It’s built on the remains of a German pillbox. This cemetery has several notable graves and memorials. It contains 11,871 graves, mostly from the Passchendale battles of August 1917. It’s a place of silence and tranquility but we can’t avoid thinking of these dead buried men, with the majority unknown. Photograph 7 (Michael St. Maur Sheil) This beautiful photo is a view from the Cavernes des Dragons (Dragon’s Lair) in Aisne, near La-Vallée-Foulon. It seems to be a place particularly peaceful. It’s a nice valley. This place was occupied by the Germans from 1915. It was a former limestone quarry since the Middle Ages and it became an important strategic military point during World War One, in 1917. During the offensive of the “Chemin des Dames” the Germans protected themselves in the cave of the Dragon. It provided a significant refuge during bombings. The tiny hamlet of La-Vallée-Foulon was completely destroyed during the battle. Photograph 8 (Michael St. Maur Sheil) It’s an original photo taken on the very ground with a striking message. There is an old football, the original ball used in 1915 on Christmas Day when the London Irish Rifles kicked across No Man’s Land as they attacked the German positions. The Battle of Loos from September 1915 to October 1915 was the biggest British attack of 1915. It represented a mass engagement of British divisions in an area of coalmines and mining villages near the town of Lens, north of Arras and it resulted in 50,000 British casualties! A devastating battle! What happened exactly? The team of the London Irish Rifles refused the orders and dribbled the football advancing across the No Man’s Land. We can imagine the terrible battlefield with heavy machine guns and mortar fire. Photograph 9 (Michael St. Maur Sheil) On this impressive aerial image of Butte de Vauquois in Argonne, the nature seems to have healed the scar of war. Butte de Vauquois was a major site of mine warfare about 25 km from Verdun offering a strategic position to the Germans that fortified it. Before the war, it was a large hill with the village of Vauquois (170 inhabitants). There are great craters created from the mines. We can explain it because each side (French and German armies) wanted to destroy the other from underneath with the mines they planted and many tunnels were hidden below the surface. The original site of the village was destroyed by mines in battles from 1915 to 1918.