Communication trench
28/11/2014 07:30
The First World War trenches at Main des Massiges have featured several times on this site recently and understandably so as they are among the most impressive anywhere on the Western Front. Here a local association has used experimental archaeology to recreate both French and German trenches from the early war period.
Communication trench
This was an area that saw heavy fighting in 1915 including some of the earliest examples of war underground with the explosion of several sizeable mines in February 1915. Two of these mine craters form part of the site.
Machine Gun Position
The trenches here have been used by film companies and many magazines and publications. Great War re-enactors regularly use them for events and photo shoots.
Sand-bagged firing position
The site is open to the public and is free to enter but as can be imagined it is under video surveillance and people in the nearby village keep watch on the site as well. It is a site little known by British visitors but is mentioned on the French WW1 Centenary site and also on the Reims WW1 pages for the Champagne battlefields.
Timbered French firing position
There is no doubt this site gives a true insight into a Great War trench system in a way that few other sites do. With barbed wire defences, firing positions, dugouts and even an aid post it is certainly worth a visit.
Original barbed wire
Posted by ww1centenary
Categories: 1915, Archaeology, Champagne, First World War, Great War, Nikon Photo, WW1, WW1 Battlefields, WW1 Centenary, WW1 Revisited
Tags: 1914-1918, 1915, 2014, Archaeology, Champagne, First World War, France, French Army, German Army, Great War, Main de Massiges, Marne, Nikon, Poilu, Trench, Trenches, Western Front, WW1, WW1 Battlefields, WW1 Centenary, WW1 Revisited
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Very impressive and well worth a visit. Keep these coming Paul, as a newcomer to WW1 research they really help me to understand. Thanks
By copeland854 on 28/11/2014 at 10:15
these are very impress I hope to come and see them very soon hopefully sometime this year could somebody p0lease tell me how to I get there when coming from rhemies I do not have a car so I will have to walk or get a bus I hope somebody can help me thank you merci au reviour Christopher.sharp4@gmail.com
By christopher sharp on 07/01/2016 at 16:10
You won’t be able to walk there from Reims or get a bus as there is no bus service to that location. I would advise renting a car as a taxi would be expensive.
By ww1centenary on 08/01/2016 at 09:10
[…] *The header image is taken from this article post here […]
By The rise of the modern wristwatch – DE GRIFF on 05/04/2018 at 12:22
I visited this site this summer. This “hand of Massiges” is recently uncovered and already the most impressive of all remaining trenches in France. A Must See for WWI-enthousiasts.
By HBO on 12/09/2018 at 07:48
[…] on 18/02/2020]WW1 REVISITED (2014) Champagne: WW1 Trenches at Massiges [Online] Available at https://ww1revisited.com/2014/11/28/champagne-ww1-trenches-at-massiges/ [Accessed on 18/02/2020]ArtworkDAILY MAIL (2019) Lost sketch of British Tommies… [Online] […]
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