Secrets from the Dragon’s Lair

Walking along the Chemin des Dames, in the shade of tall pines, it’s hard to imagine that this peaceful landscape dominated by a long green ridge is one of the deadliest sites of World War One. The trees, it turns out, were planted here after the area, riddled with munitions, was declared a no-go zone for farming. It’s even more difficult to comprehend that a village, Craonne, once stood here, home to 700 people (it was reconstructed nearby). The Plateau de Californie on the slopes of which it stood had great strategic importance throughout the war, with the Nivelle Offensive of 1917 involving particularly heavy losses and the destruction of Craonne.