DESTROYED VILLAGE OF ORNES

Ornes was a true town, larger than the other destroyed villages, but ultimately, after the Great War, it ended up in the same state as them, or almost, under their stones.

Throughout its history, its lord's castle suffered the same fate in February 1653, when it was captured and then destroyed by the Catholic Lorraine troops, while he firmly defended Protestantism like his ancestors since 1563. Already in 1587, a very bloody battle had taken place between his troops and those of the Catholic Duke of Lorraine.

In the mid-19th century, it had 1,367 inhabitants, but this number fell to 750 by 1914, mainly due to rural exodus, which supplied the rapidly growing industrial centers with labor at the end of the 19th century. However, this town had a well-adapted textile and processing industry suited to local agricultural production and from the nearby Woëvre plain.

But its geographical location, close to the border with annexed Moselle, and then to the stabilized front after the Battle of the Marne, did not favor it, as it would quickly find itself on the front line in the event of an enemy offensive. The population was thus asked to evacuate the village as early as August 25, 1914. But not everyone left, at their own risk, as the bombardments and German patrols making incursions into the village intensified.

In September 1914, two children were killed by shell fragments. In October 1914, some villagers who were leaving were captured and taken prisoner by the Germans... In 1915 and until February 1916, French troops held the village, with units positioned in the second line facing the front when the great German offensive began.

But from February 21 to 24, the German advance was so strong that the village of Ornes was taken by their infantry on February 24, 1916, after violent bombardments brought down all the village's buildings. It was not recaptured by our soldiers until August 23, 1917.

Classified as a "red zone" at the end of the war, it could never be rebuilt.

Its status as a destroyed village nevertheless allowed for the erection of a war memorial in the old cemetery and the Saint-Michel shelter chapel, which was inaugurated on August 14, 1932.

Finally, the moving remains of its church, still standing, testify both to the existence of a once prosperous life and to the harshness of the battles fought on this ravaged ground...

To see:

• The moving remains of the old church;
• The Saint-Michel chapel (commemorative stained glass windows);
• The war memorial (depicting France defending a mother and her children with soldiers protecting them in the background, and presenting photos of the village before 1914 and in 1918 on its sides);
• The old cemetery.