Le monument de l'offensive 1918 à Ressons-le-Long

In 1918, during the 3rd Battle of the Aisne, a new offensive was launched on the front.
Within days, the Germans reached Château-Thierry. Fierce fighting took place along the Soissons/Villers-Cotterêts axis.


To the west of this pocket, the 8th Cuirassiers regiment fought through the most critical hours.
At Bonval, Confrécourt farm, Gorgny, Ambleny and Vertefeuille farm, it put a definitive stop to the German thrust.


This monument, erected like a tomb, contains the remains of three soldiers of the 8th Cuirassiers Regiment on foot, who fell on June 4, 1918* at the ferme de la Montagne (located some 600 meters from the monument), and bears witness to the heroism of these combatants.




*Ressons evacuated in 1918
On May 27, the cannon thundered over Soissons and the town was taken the next day. The great Kronprinz offensive had begun. On May 30, the population of Ressons was ordered to evacuate and the last train left Vic in the evening, while farmers took their carts and cattle with them. On the morning of June 4, the 8th cuirassier regiment arrived at Le Chat Embarrassé, where General Messimy gave his orders: to prevent the enemy from overrunning the sector and entering the Retz forest. The 1st battalion took up positions at Gorgny and in the nearby woods, to keep watch over Fontenoy, the main road and Ambleny. The 2nd Battalion took up position in Maubrun, while the Colonel of the 8th Cuir set up his HQ in a house in Montois, which was crushed by a 150 mm shell. The French troops held on and, despite artillery fire and poison gas, prevented the enemy from crossing the Rû de Retz at Ambleny. But at what price! The regiment suffered 59 wounded and 11 killed, 3 of whom were buried on the edge of the Chaussée Brunehaut: marshals Jaurand and Grivot, and private Nogué.

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