La Ferté-sous-Jouarre

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Town hall of La Ferté sous Jouarre.

La Ferté sous Jouarre is a French commune in the département of Seine-et-Marne. It is located at a crossing point over the River Marne between Meaux and Château-Thierry. It has a population of approximately 8 500.

[edit] La Ferté-sous-Jouarre in 1819

In 1819, Edinburgh born naval officer Norwich Duff 1792 - 1862 recorded a note on La Ferté at a time when, it would appear, the Bourbon restoration had led to a sudden halt in the Napoleonic road building boom. Then, as in too many subsequent years, memories of wartime destruction were fresh in this region:

'...left Meaux a little before seven and after passing through a fine country for five leagues, arrived at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, a neat little town on the banks of the [Rivers] Marne and Morin, where we breakfasted. This town supplies the greatest part of France with mile stones, which are considered the finest in Europe. The banks of the river and each side of the road were covered with them as we passed...The road from La Ferté to Chateau Thiéry (seven leagues) is very hilly but the scenery very fine. [We] passed three bridges over the Marne now rebuilt that were blown up on the advance of the Allies in 1813'.

[edit] World War I

On 14 August 1921, the town of La Ferté-sous-Jouarre was awarded the War Cross with the following citation:

Occupée dès le début de la guerre, La Ferté a vu sa population gravement molestée par les Allemands. La Ferté a été l'objet, en 1914 et en 1918, de violents bombardements qui ont détruit nombre de ses maisons. Malgré ses deuils, La Ferté a donné un bel exemple de sang-froid et d'endurance.

(La Ferté was occupied from the very beginning of the war and its population was severely manhandled by the Germans. La Ferté was submitted in 1914 and 1918 to violent shellings that destroyed several houses. In spite of its bereavements, La Ferté gave a good example of sangfroid and endurance.)^[1]

On the south-western edge of the town, on the south bank of the River Marne, is the La Ferté-sous-Jouarre memorial, commemorating over 3000 British soldiers with no known grave, who fell in fighting in the area.