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The CHEMIN DES DAMES (the ladies' path) runs west to east from Soissons, and is marked as the D18 on maps. About 30km long, it was an established as the Ladies' path back in the 18th century, when the daughters of Louis XV used to ride along the ridge as it was their favoured route from Paris to the Chateau de Boves.
In later years, Napoleon fought a battle there in 1814, but it was le Grande Guerre that made it infamous. The German army, forced back at the Marne in the autumn of 1914, decided to dig in at this strategic spot. A drive along the route will explain why. As you can see from the picture below, the German trenches were in dominant positions. For much of the rest of the war, the French forces hurled enormous numbers of men at these German strongpoints, and successive defeats drove les poilu to a state of open revolt. The Chemin des Dames, like the fortress town of Verdun some two hours to the east, became synonymous with sacrifice, and the numerous memorials along the route serve witness to these terrible losses.