At the crossing where Beaurepaire Farm stands, a road branches off on
the right towards =Vierzy=, situated rather less than two miles away at
the bottom of a small valley. The Americans (2nd Division) had some
fierce fighting at Beaurepaire Farm and Vierzy. _If not pressed for
time, the tourist should visit Vierzy, returning thence to Beaurepaire
Farm and continuing to_ Chaudun (I. C. 30).
On the right of the road is Maisonneuve Farm in ruins (photo below).
On arriving at =Chaudun=, which was badly damaged, _turn to the left in
the village_. On the right of the street leading to the small square is
the entrance to the cemetery, from where there is a good view of the
ruined church.
[Illustration: AMERICAN SOLDIERS AT MAISONNEUVE FARM.]
[Illustration: RUINS OF CHAUDUN CHURCH, SEEN FROM THE CEMETERY.]
_After visiting the church, return to the above mentioned._
_Turn to the right, and on leaving the village, to the left, in the
direction of_ Cravançon Farm, which was completely destroyed. All
around, the trees have been stripped of their branches or torn down by
shell fire. Several lines of barbed wire entanglements enclose the farm.
A little further on is a crossing with N. 2, known as the “=Croix-de-Fer=”
(“Iron Cross”). The fighting around here was extremely bitter. At the
time of General Mangin’s great offensive, hundreds of tanks attacked the
table-land.
[Illustration: THE CROSS-ROADS AT CROIX-DE-FER, AT THE INTERSECTION OF
THE N. 2 (PARIS-SOISSONS) AND THE CHAUDUN-DOMMIERS ROAD.