The best MTB trails around Dainville

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The Maroeuil Marsh natural area offers a pleasant walk along the Scarpe River, with interesting flora and fauna. The signposting is illustrated by the small Vertigo de Des Moulins snail, which you can try to spot on the marsh plants.

Remains of a fortified mill during the First World War, a testament to the fraternization of the French. It was rediscovered in 2015. The Red Mill On this hill, which marks the boundary between the villages of Thélus and Neuville-Saint-Vaast, a windmill had stood since the Middle Ages. It produced flour, oil, and also woad, a blue dye used in Arras tapestries. It was rebuilt in 1678 in red brick, which later gave it the nickname "The Red Mill," in contrast to another mill in Thélus built of white stone and called the White Mill. The Mill Trench In October 1914, the Germans captured the hills outside Arras. The Moulin Rouge was quickly destroyed, but the Germans fortified the ruins to create an observation post facing the trenches of the Labyrinth sector, located 1,500 meters from here toward Arras. In May and September 1915, the French recaptured ground from the Germans during the Battles of Artois, and this observation post found itself on the French front line. It was then repurposed to observe the German lines toward Thélus. It then served as a landmark and gave its name to the "Mill Trench" that led to it. Fraternizations It was here that on December 10, 1915, Louis Barthas, a corporal in the 280th Infantry Regiment of the French Army, participated in a moment of fraternization between German and French soldiers emerging from their flooded trenches. The account he gave of them in his War Diaries contributed to their recognition, leading to the creation of the Fraternization Monument, located in Neuville-Saint-Vaast, 2 km away. Archaeology In 2015, archaeological excavations uncovered the foundations of the mill and its outbuildings, a concrete observation post, and traces of a trench. These remains are displayed in this garden, which evokes the trenches that faced each other. During the development of the adjacent Parc d'activité des Meuniers, more than 30 soldiers' bodies were found: French, German, and Canadian. Six soldiers were identified; they came from Périgueux, Limoges, Saintes, and Béthune. Gaston Basset, a soldier in the 50th Infantry Regiment, died on September 27, 1915, during the attack on Thélus. His body was found in 2012 at the location indicated by a comrade in a letter addressed to his widow.

Something new is emerging here

a very pleasant treetop adventure course is taking shape on this route inside the citadel

To think that soldiers took refuge behind the church and left a trace of themselves for our freedom 🕊️ by leaving us these graffiti. It is my duty of memory to create a must-see on this place full of history to honor them and to show them all my gratitude I went to the grave of one of them killed in Bouchoir on August 9, 1918 (Somme) a few months before the armistice. William David Boag 21 years old 🇨🇦 Never forget 💮. Come and contemplate this place. Thank you Franck.

This mill was made famous by the film “We found the 7th company” in 1975 when the soldiers Tassin, Pithiviers and Chaudard found themselves stuck there. This bucolic place offers a unique setting.

A unique architectural whole The citadel of Arras was never besieged, hence its nickname “the belle inutile”, and is a well-preserved witness of the military buildings of the 17th century.