The Chaouïa Lawn

You can reach it via the lawn coming from Pargnan; there, follow a small path that will take you downhill to an information panel where you can learn all about the geological history of the area, which was formed nearly 45 million years ago!

This is a former limestone quarry that was taken over by French troops during the First World War to create a command post at the rear of the front. Colonial Zouaves troops from Morocco were stationed there, hence the name given to the quarry (which can still be seen written in Arabic and French). The word "chaouïa" means "sheep breeder", and in the 1950s there were still many flocks grazing here, all of which have now disappeared. That's why nature has reclaimed its rights here, and why the Conservatoire des Espaces Naturels des Hauts-de-France is helping to preserve the site...

This church was almost entirely destroyed during the fighting of 14-18 and rebuilt on the same site. In the adjacent cemetery, there are war graves of Commonwealth soldiers who fell on the Chemin des Dames in 1914...

The Oeuilly cemetery is located on the outskirts of the town of Oeuilly in the direction of Bourg-et-Comin (you have to take a sloping path to get there). The cemetery you will visit today is the descendant of a first cemetery established in 1917 on the same site, and contains the remains of 1,159 French soldiers. It should be noted that it was redesigned in 2010 and is located not far from the famous Chaouïa command post quarry, which was occupied by a regiment of Zouaves during the First World War.