War memorials

France: Monument Maginot, near Verdun

Architect: A. Jasson & N. Chappey
Location: near Verdun, France

The Monument Maginot was erected to the memory of the politician and soldier André Maginot (1877-1932) and inaugurated in 1935. Maginot served in the French army during the Great War and was badly wounded near Verdun – an event depicted in the sculptured group placed in front of the central symbolic shield. Maginot served as Minister of War three times between 1922 and 1932 and he was the principal advocate of a new line of impregnable defences against a future German invasion. These were completed after his death and bore his name. In the event, of course, the Germans bypassed the Maginot Line in 1940. The architects for the monument were A. Jasson & N. Chappey and the sculptor Gaston Broquet.

Gavin Stamp