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Ardennes
Landscape of Frahan inside the bend of the Semois River
Location	Wallonia, Belgium Luxembourg Ardennes département and Champagne-Ardenne, France
Coordinates	50°15′N 5°40′E / 50.25°N 5.667°E / 50.25; 5.667Coordinates: 50°15′N 5°40′E / 50.25°N 5.667°E / 50.25; 5.667
Area	11,200 km2 (2,768,000 acres)
Governing body	Parc National de Champagne/Ardennes Parc National de Furfooz

The Ardennes ( /ɑrˈdɛn/; Dutch: Ardennen) is a region of extensive forests, rolling hills and ridges formed within the Givetian (Devonian) Ardennes mountain range,^[1] primarily in Belgium and Luxembourg, but stretching into France (lending its name to the Ardennes department and the Champagne-Ardenne région), and geologically into the Eifel. In Wallonia, the word 'Ardenne' in the singular is commonly used for the Belgian part of the region and in the plural for the French one. Ardenne is the origin of the great industrial period of Wallonia, the second of the world (18th, 19th and 20th centuries). In France, the word 'Ardennes' in the plural, together with the definite article, is commonly used to refer to the French department of that name.

Geography[link]

Much of the Ardennes is covered in dense forests, with the mountains averaging around 350–700 m (1,148–1,640 ft) in height but rising to over 694 m (2276.9028;ft) in the boggy moors of the Hautes Fagnes (Hohes Venn) region of south-eastern Belgium. The region is typified by steep-sided valleys carved by swift-flowing rivers, the most prominent of which is the Meuse. Its most populous cities are Verviers in Belgium and Charleville-Mézières in France, both exceeding 50,000 inhabitants. The Ardennes is otherwise relatively sparsely populated, with few of the cities exceeding 10,000 inhabitants with a few exceptions like Eupen or Bastogne.

The Eifel range in Germany adjoins the Ardennes and is part of the same geological formation, although they are conventionally regarded as being two distinct areas.

Geology[link]

L'Ardenne (Wallonian spelling) is an old mountain formed during the Hercynian orogeny; in France similar formations are the Armorican Massif, the Massif Central and the Vosges. The low interior of such old mountains often contain coal, iron, zinc, and other metals in the sub-soil. This geologic fact explains the greatest part of the geography of Wallonia and its history. In the North and West of the Ardennes lie the valleys of the Sambre and Meuse rivers, forming an arc (Sillon industriel) going across the most industrial provinces of Wallonia, for example Hainaut, along the river Haine (the etymology of Hainaut); the Borinage, the Centre and Charleroi along the river Sambre; Liège along the river Meuse.

This geological region is important in the history of Wallonia because this old mountain is at the origin of the economy, the history, and the geography of Wallonia. "Wallonia presents a wide range of rocks of various ages. Some geological stages internationally recognized were defined from rock sites located in Wallonia: e.g. Frasnian (Frasnes), Famennian (Famenne), Tournaisian (Tournai), Visean (Visé), Dinantian (Dinant) and Namurian (Namur)".^[2] Except for the Tournaisian, all these rocks are within the Ardennes geological area.

Economy[link]

The Ardennes includes the greatest part of the province of Luxembourg (number 4), the south of the province of Namur (number 5) and the province of Liège (number 3), and a very small part of Hainaut (number 2) and the main part of the French Département called Ardennes. Before the 19th century industrialization, the first furnaces in the four Walloon provinces and in the French Ardennes used charcoal for fuel, made from harvesting the Ardennes forest. This industry was also in the extreme south of Luxembourg, in the region called Gaume. The most important part of the Walloon steel industry, using coal, was built around the coal mines, mainly in the region around the cities of Liège, Charleroi, La Louvière, the Borinage, and further in the Walloon Brabant (in Tubize). Wallonia became the second industrial power of the world in proportion to its territory and to its population (see further).

The rugged terrain of the Ardennes limits the scope for agriculture; arable and dairy farming in cleared areas form the mainstay of the agricultural economy. The region is rich in timber and minerals, and Liège and Namur are both major industrial centres. The extensive forests have an abundant population of wild game. The scenic beauty of the region and its wide variety of outdoor activities, including hunting, cycling, walking and canoeing, make it a popular tourist destination.

Rock Bayard of Dinant, on the right bank of the Meuse River. In one legend, a magic horse jumped from the top of this rock to the left bank of the river, carrying the Quatre Fils Aymon fleeing Charlemagne.

History[link]

The region took its name from the ancient "Silva", a vast forest in Roman times. The modern Ardennes covers a much smaller area.

In The Song of Roland, Charlemagne was described as having a nightmare the night before the Battle of Roncevaux Pass. This nightmare took place in the Ardennes' forest, where his most important battles occurred.

Many of Wallonia's rivers, villages and other places are named in another song about Charlemagne: the Old French 12th-century chanson de geste "Quatre Fils Aymon". In Dinant is the rock named Bayard. This rock was named for Bayard, the magic bay horse which, according to the legend, jumped from the top of the rock to the other bank of the Meuse.

The strategic position of the Ardennes has made it a battleground for European powers for centuries. The region repeatedly changed hands during the early modern period, with parts or all of the Belgian Ardennes being incorporated into France, Germany, the Spanish Netherlands, the Austrian Netherlands and the United Kingdom of the Netherlands at various times. In the 20th century, the Ardennes was widely thought unsuitable for large-scale military operations, due to its difficult terrain and narrow lines of communications. But, in both World War I and World War II, Germany successfully gambled on making a rapid passage through the Ardennes to attack a relatively lightly defended part of France. The Ardennes was the site of three major battles during the world wars – the Battle of the Ardennes in World War I, and the Battle of France and Battle of the Bulge in World War II. Many of the towns of the region were badly damaged during the two world wars.

World War II[link]

In May, 1940, the German army had crossed the Meuse, despite the resistance of the French army. Under the command of General Heinz Guderian ^[3] l, the German armoured divisions crossed the river at Dinant and at Sedan, France.

The Ardennes area is also well known because of the Battle of the Bulge. The German Army launched a surprise attack in December, 1944, in an attempt to capture Antwerp and drive a wedge between the British and American forces in northern France.

The German advance was stopped at the river at Dinant. Local residents say that a German vehicle exploded just before the Bayard rock, possibly after triggering a mine laid by US soldiers.^{[citation needed]} They said the incident followed the legend of protection by the rock and its horse. Dinant's Rock was perhaps the most advanced position of the German army during this battle.

1940

Battle of France (1940) German offensive in May 1940. The German armoured divisions have just crossed the Meuse (16 May), (principally in Dinant) and Sedan and the Ardennes. The latter region is just at the east of the red shading which marks the extent of the German advance. On the 16th of May, General Maurice Gamelin said he could no longer protect Paris because he had lost the Ardennes.

Battle of France (1940) The German advance up to 21 May (red shading), as far as the Channel to Abbeville. They isolated the Allied troops of the North (Some French Divisions, the Belgian Army and the British Expeditionary Force). With this, they won the first stage of the Battle of France.

1944

Battle of the Bulge. In 1944, the Germans again wanted to move across the Ardennes and the Meuse but they failed to completely cross the Ardennes. Their most advanced position was the nose of the salient, just in front of Dinant and the Meuse. In 1944 they wanted to reach Antwerp and the North Sea (not the Channel), i.e. the great Flemish Port of Antwerp, the North Sea just between Belgium (or Flanders) and the Netherlands.

The German offensive created the nose-like salient between the 16th and 26th of December, 1944. The salient was mainly in the Ardennes. Its nose (in the Condroz next to the Ardennes) was not far from Dinant and the Meuse at this town. Areas above 400 metres (1,300 ft) (shown in the darkest shade of brown) form the heart of the Ardennes.

Panorama of Botassart or Le Tombeau du Géant (Giant's Tomb) along the Semois

View of the Meuse in the French Ardennes

References[link]

Notes[link]

Sources[link]

• Gerrard, John, Mountain Environments: An Examination of the Physical Geography of Mountains, MIT Press, 1990

External links[link]

• Luxembourg Earth science portal
• Encyclopædia Britannica, Belgium

v t e Mountain ranges of France Alps Armorican Massif Ardennes Corsica Jura Mountains Massif Central Morvan Pyrenées Vosges Mountains

Michel Fourniret (born 4 April 1942 in Sedan, Ardennes) is a convicted French serial killer who confessed, in June and July 2004, to kidnapping, raping and murdering 9 girls in a span of 14 years during the 1980s, the 1990s and the 2000s. He was also accused of 10 additional murders, nine in France and one in Belgium, and was found guilty of seven of these charges. The trials started on 27 March 2008,^[1] and ended on 28 May. He is sometimes referred to as the "Ogre/Beast of Ardennes".^[2]

Fourniret was arrested after a failed attempt to kidnap a Belgian girl in June 2003. His wife, Monique Olivier exposed him after hearing the news of another child murderer's wife (Michelle Martin, wife of Marc Dutroux) being convicted. Fourniret has been charged with the abduction of minors and sexual misconduct, and has been in detention since June 2003 for the attempted kidnapping of a 14-year-old girl in 2000. Olivier has been charged with one murder and for helping him with a further six.^[3]

Fourniret buried at least two of his victims at his Sautou chateau near Donchery in the French Ardennes in the late 1980s. On 3 July 2004, a team of French and Belgian police recovered the bodies of two of Fourniret's victims near the castle. Fourniret was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 22 years.^[4]

Confessed murders[link]

• Isabelle Laville – a 17-year-old French girl. She disappeared in Auxerre, on 11 December 1987 on her way home from school. Her skeletal remains were located at the bottom of a well in the country north of Auxerre in July 2006.^[5]
• Farida Hellegouarch – the girlfriend of one of the members of the Gang des postiches (a gang of bank robbers), a former cellmate of Fourniret's. Fourniret killed her in 1988 to access the group's funds. He bought his castle in France with the money.
• Fabienne Leroy – a 20-year-old woman. She disappeared in 1988 in Mourmelon, and her body was later found in the nearby woods. Killed by a shot to the heart after attempted to inject air in her veins.
• Jeanne-Marie Desramault – a 22-year-old French student. She disappeared in 1989 from the railway station of Charleville-Mézières, and her body was recovered from the estate of Fourniret with his assistance.
• Elisabeth Brichet – a 12-year-old Belgian girl. She disappeared from Namur in 1989 after playing with a friend. Her disappearance was long thought to be at the hands of Marc Dutroux, until Fourniret led police to her burial site on his estate in France.
• Natacha Danais – a 13-year-old French girl, disappeared November 1990 in Nantes, western France whilst out shopping with her mother. Her body was found a few days later on a local beach.^[6]
• Céline Saison – 18-year-old who disappeared in 2000 in Charleville-Mézières. Her body was found in Belgium.
• Mananya Thumpong – 13-year-old who disappeared in 2001 from Sedan. Her body was also later found in Belgium.

Fourniret's wife has also said that Fourniret killed a 16-year-old girl who had worked as an au pair at their house. Fourniret allegedly killed her in 1993, but this has not been confirmed. The identity of this alleged victim is not known.

Other crimes?[link]

Fourniret himself says he did not commit any crimes between 1990 and 2000, however police in at least five countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark) have taken a fresh look at old rapes, disappearances and murders during that time period. In Denmark, police noticed that a police sketch of a rape suspect looked a lot like Fourniret, but a DNA-test showed no comparison. In the Netherlands, investigators in the disappearances of Tanja Groen and Nicky Verstappen have investigated Fourniret.

In 2006 rumors circulated that Fourniret might have been the real murderer of eight-year-old Marie-Dolores Rambla. Christian Ranucci had been convicted of the crime, and beheaded on 28 July 1976. The case has always been controversial.

New evidence showed that Fourniret was taking a holiday in Marseille at the same time and place Rambla was murdered. On 3 June 1974, Rambla and her brother Jean met a man in a car who claimed he was searching for his dog. Marie-Dolores joined the man in his car and was kidnapped. Over an hour after her disappearance, the car of the kidnapper was involved in a car accident with a person named Martinez but the kidnapper drove away. Followed by an elderly couple, he was seen carrying a big package. The police suspected there was a connection between the kidnapping and the fleeing driver. Following an extensive search, the body of Marie-Dolores Rambla, stabbed to death, was found in some bushes. Ranucci was arrested since he was in a car accident that day and was carrying a large package. In Ranucci's car, the police discovered a pair of pants with dried blood of the same blood type as Rambla.

Ranucci confessed to killing the girl and told the police where the knife was hidden (the bushes). But Ranucci only confessed to things discovered by the police in the first 48 hours. A day after, Ranucci denied being the murderer. It has been suggested that Ranucci's file was altered and certain pieces of evidence were hidden to match his "confession". For example, the bloodstains on his pants were much older than the day of the murder, and could be explained due to a fall from his motorcycle. Ranucci had the same blood type as Rambla. The elderly couple claimed they saw the girl in the back of Ranucci's car and heard her screaming. But the couple did not leave their car and Ranucci's car door was broken on the side they claimed he had opened to snatch the girl out of the car. Further investigation showed that a red sweater found at the scene of the crime did not belong to Ranucci, as previously thought.

Later, five people told the police they saw the kidnapping but none of them identified Ranucci as the perpetrator.

Several facts point to Fourniret's possible involvement in the crime. He was on vacation in Marseille in June 1974, drove a car of the same color (grey), was 32 years old and, unlike Ranucci, had a record of sex offenses. Fourniret used many tricks, similar to the lie about the lost dog. Also, Rambla showed no signs of being sexually molested. Fourniret often ejaculated in front of his victims instead of sexually assaulting them.^{[citation needed]}

He was named as a suspect in connection with the murder of 21-year-old Englishwoman Joanna Parrish, whose body was found in an Auxerre river on 17 May 1990. She had been raped and strangled. However, he has never been charged with her murder and 20 years on the murder remains unsolved.^[7]

References[link]