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Origin and history

The quarries of Confrécourt, located near Vic-sur-Aisne in the commune of Nouvron-Vingré (Hautes-de-France), are a network of old underground limestone farms, attested since the Middle Ages. Their technique of extraction by "turned pillars" ensures remarkable stability, allowing their intensive reuse as shelters during the First World War. These quarries, some of which may date back to the 14th century (reconstruction of the local farm after the Hundred Years' War), were exploited for their barbed stone, a material prized in the region.

In September 1914, the front freezes around Confrécourt after the battle of the Marne, placing the quarries a few hundred meters from the German lines. The French soldiers, especially those of the 6th Army, built them into underground barracks: dormitories, kitchens, chapels (like that of "Father Donsoeur"), and medical stations were installed there. The graffiti left by the regiments (1st Zouaves, 262nd RI of Lorient) and the health services (216th RI, 404th RI) testify to this almost continuous occupation until 1917, when the German withdrawal on the Hindenburg line temporarily emptied the premises.

The most emblematic career, known as "the 1st Zouaves", owes its name to the coat of arms of this regiment engraved at its entrance in 1916. It is 150 metres long and houses some 60 traces of soldiers, including a chapel immortalized by Louis Tinayre in the Midnight Mass in Confrécourt (1914), a painting exhibited at the Soissons Museum. A second career, called the "hospital", served as a relief post and bore the emblems of the medical units. Partly collapsed today, it illustrates the precarious but organized conditions in which the soldiers lived, transforming these spaces into a military micro-society.

The careers were briefly reinvested in 1918 during the German "Michael" offensive, before finally leaving the combat zone in August 1918. The nearby farm, destroyed during the war, only preserves the foundations. Ranked historic monuments in 1990, the quarries and their graffiti are now managed by the association Soissonnais 14-18, which organizes visits and commemorations, like the Mass of the Centennial in 2014 and 2018. The site, temporarily closed in 2021-2022 for security, reopened in April 2023.

Beyond their military role, Confrécourt's careers are an artistic and human testimony of the Great War. Descendants of soldiers (the Donsoeur family, Claire de Villaret) or artists (Louis Tinayre) found traces of their ancestors. The site also inspired cinematographic works, such as Le Secret de Confrécourt (2013) or A travers Irene (2022), featuring Marie Curie and her "little Curies" (mobile radiography units).

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