War Inside a Little Village Church

Village Church, Marbotte France
St. Mihiel Sector

The village of Marbotte was situated just behind the southern boundary of the St. Mihiel Salient for almost four years. The French Corps command in the area converted the community's small church into a field hospital and, eventually a morgue. Nearby is a cemetery with 2,464 burials of Poilus who passed through the church. The cemetery contains a monument in honor of the 30,000 men who died in the surrounding area.

They were laid out in rows in the middle of the church, on the pavement between the pews. There are eight of them, nine, ten, eleven.  I shall not pass them by.  Their feet frighten me.  They are dead from head to foot.   

Paul Cazin "L'Humaniste a la guerre."

Deceased in the Church During the War

After the war, the church became a focal point of remembrance and funds were collected to replace the stained glass windows of the church with memorial panels honoring the events of 1914–1918. The windows and the great variety of unit and personal memorials make the church one of the most moving locations on the Western Front to visit. Left to right on top these examples depict: the episode of the "Trench of Thirst" in the nearby Bois d'Ailly where a French unit cut off without water was forced to surrender, and the "Arise-Ye Dead!" legend which occurred in the nearby Bois Brulé, when Adjutant Jacques Pericard stirred his wounded men to a stalwart defense against a German assault. Below is the window honoring the service of the church as a morgue. 

Marbotte Church Today