Monument passant arrête-toi

Located between Vivières and Villers-Cotterêts, at the crossroads of the road leading to General Mangin's observation tower, this monument was erected by the mother of second lieutenant Georges Edward Cecil in honor of her 18-year-old son and his English and Irish comrades who fell here on September 1, 1914.
The memorial, inaugurated on September 1st, the anniversary of the battle in which so many British servicemen fell, is commonly referred to as "Passant Arrête-toi" (Stop, Stop), a name derived from the inscription engraved in the stone. The ashlar monument is the work of sculptor François Sicard (Grand Prix de Rome, author of the statue of George Sand in the Luxembourg Gardens, Paris). The sculpture that adorns it is inspired by a stele in the Acropolis Museum: "Athena leaning on her spear". The back of the monument bears an inscription in English: "In honor of the officers and men of the Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards and Irish Guards who fell near this spot on September 1, 1914".
The memorial was erected here in honor of Second Lieutenant George Edward Cecil and his comrades, in accordance with his mother?s wishes.


At the inauguration on September 1, 1922, Doctor Mouflier, General Councillor of the Aisne and Mayor of Villers-Cotterêts, in the presence of Lady Cecil, the second lieutenant?s mother, declared in his speech:
"They are heroes, but for us, they are also unique benefactors.
In giving themselves to France, they have given themselves to us, and it is thanks to their sacrifice, freely made,
that we owe the happiness of living free, in a free country, and of having escaped the brutal yoke of enemy servitude."
Georges Edward Cecil is buried in the "Guards grave", two hundred meters away.

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