CLERMONT-EN-ARGONNE. THE ENTOMBMENT IN THE CHAPEL OF ST. ANNE, ON THE PLATEAU OVERLOOKING ST. MENEHOULD
Return to and follow the Grand Rue which, outside the town, becomes N. 3 and runs alongside the railway to Les Islettes (5 km. 800).
This large market town marks the centre of the valley. In 1789, Arthur Young, in his “Travels in France,” described it as a “heap of mud and manure.” Since then it has been drained and embellished. Thatched roofs are still common there. Its glass-making industry, which formerly flourished, has greatly declined.
On September 17-20, 1792, while the Prussian Army was advancing towards the Châlons road and fighting at Valmy, the Austro-Hessians of the Landgrave of Hesse and of Hohenlohe Kirchberg made two demonstrations against Les Islettes, but were promptly checked by the French. During the action of September 20, a bullet killed a gunner near the Landgrave, who was himself unhorsed.
In 1914, the tunnel of Les Islettes, though mined, was intact on September 3 when the Germans took the village. A fortnight later the Germans, driven northwards by the French, evacuated the village. The Crown Prince, unable to resign himself to the loss of this capital position on the Châlons-Verdun road and railway, for a whole year (until the French offensive of September, 1915, in Champagne) made strenuous efforts to retake Les Islettes, in order to cut this important railway and turn Verdun. However, his numerous attempts to crush in the French line all failed. Only once (June 29, 1915) did his troops seriously threaten the position. On that occasion they got within 8 km. of the station, but a formidable barrage by the 75’s held them, and French reserves hurriedly brought up soon drove them back beyond the Four-de-Paris. Throughout the war the town was an important military centre, General Headquarters, and food, clothing, and munitions depôts being established there.
