The Great Tomb

On 5 September 1914, the Germans were at the gates of Paris and fighting was raging in the countryside around Meaux.

It was on the plain between Chauconin Neufmontiers and Villeroy that Lieutenant Charles Péguy led his men to the rescue of their Moroccan comrades who were fighting the Germans a short distance away.

The fighting was fierce and many men were killed. Today, many of them are buried in the "Grande Tombe" (Great Tomb), not far from where they fell.
After the war, the bodies were not repatriated to the military cemeteries. The Great Tomb is thus one of the last mass graves in France, where soldiers and officers are buried.