The Plateau de Californie at the heart of the Chemin des Dames is, like Verdun, an emblematic site of the First World War. Yet it has long been associated with the bitter failure of the Nivelle offensive of April 1917, the mutinies that followed and the break-up of the war in the summer of 1918, and after the First World War was doomed to a process of obscurity.
Before 1914, this plateau, located above the ancient village of Craonne, was already a walking area.
After the war, pine trees were planted on this red zone, as the land could no longer be farmed.
And since 2013, a freely accessible observation tower offers a view of the plain from a height of over 25 metres…
Plateau de Californie
