On September 15, 1792, a strong Prussian detachment, under the command
of Hohenlohe, drove a small body of French troops from the village,
forcing them back on Senuc. Eighty foot-soldiers were taken prisoners
and sent to the headquarters at Landres. Among them were several
Alsatians whom the Prince of Prussia addressed in German, offering to
enrol them in his regiment, but only one of them agreed to serve against
France.
In October, 1918, along the St. Juvin--Landres--St. Georges line, the
Americans delivered a long series of fierce assaults upon the
“Brunehilde” position, or second line of defence which the Germans had
prepared in this district. On October 11, 1918, at the time when the
Americans approached St. Juvin, the village was in flames. Its recapture
proved difficult. On October 14, the Americans outflanked it on the
north, and, on the 15th, regardless of their heavy losses, they
succeeded in taking it inch by inch, and in gaining the positions of St.
Georges and Landres-St. Georges. On the 16th they were fighting in
Champigneulle on the west of St. Georges, and holding the Châtillon Hill
on the south of Landres. By the 18th they had occupied both these
villages.
St. Juvin is dominated by its church--one of the most interesting of the
fortified churches in this district--which, in the distance, looks like
a fortress. Its high thick walls, with narrow windows and occasional
loopholes at the top, form a parallelogram, flanked at each corner by a
round tower with corbels.
In the interior of the church there is a well and an oven. Dating from
the early part of the 17th century, it was rebuilt between 1615 and 1623
on the site of the old church destroyed under the League about 1552.
Some of the relics of the patron-saint of the Parish, St. Juvin, were
preserved in a shrine of gilded bronze.
[Illustration: FORTIFIED CHURCH OF ST. JUVIN]
The Fountain of St. Juvin, situated between the Woods of Marcq and
Cornay, is frequented by peasant pilgrims who invoke the Saint to cure
their sick pigs. Failing a visit to the well, the peasants touch the
shrine in the church with a piece of bread, which is afterwards given to
the animals. The church contains a statue of St. Juvin, depicted with a
stick in his hand and two pigs at his feet. There is a legend that St.
Juvin was the disciple of St. Oricle, the Martyr of Senuc. One day when
he was walking with Oricle and his sisters (Oricule and Basilique), they
had to cross the Aisne near Senuc at the “Ford of Madame Anciaux.”
Oricle’s sisters had lifted their skirts before entering the water, and
Juvin, who was behind them, exclaimed: “Oricle, Oricle, what fine legs
your sisters have.” Oricle, in anger, reprimanded Juvin severely, and
condemned him to keep pigs for the rest of his life, which is why Juvin,
up to his death, kept pigs in the heart of the forest, round the well
which to this day bears his name.
[Illustration: VARENNES-EN-ARGONNE, SEEN FROM N. 46 IN THE UPPER TOWN
_On the right: The ruined Church. In the foreground: The River Aire._]
_After visiting the church keep straight on, leaving the St. Georges
road on the left, and on the right, that leading to Grandpré. After a
rather steep descent, turn to the left along N. 46, at the end of the
village._
_Follow the Valley of the Aire to_ =Fléville= (_4 km. 200 from St.
Juvin_), _which escaped practically unscathed_. _4 km. further on N. 46
passes close to Apremont, then over a ridge, from the top of which_
=Vauquois Hill=, now quite bare, comes into view on the right. _From here,
a rather steep descent brings the tourist to_ =Varennes= (_1 km. from
Fléville_).