Agricultural History Review, Volume 42 Part 2 (1994), pp. 140–155

In 1918 Reims stood in ruins and was surrounded by devastated countryside. The impact of destruction in Marne departement may be classified into four zones, of which the 'red zone' was the most seriously damaged. In wartime military forces and voluntary organizations, such as the Quakers, worked to restore farmland, repair buildings, and provide temporary shelters. Their example was enmlated by the state's special Sewices in the early years of peace. By 1921-22 this emergency phase was overtaken by the recovery phase in which attention was devoted to providing permanent accommodation for returnees. Cooperative reconstruction societies played an important role in this activity. Villages and farmsteads were repaired or completely rebuilt in more modem and hygienic fashion, but the opportunity for radical remodelling of the countryside was not seized. Damaged vineyards on the Montagaae de Reims were restored Rural landownership patterns were recreated in the pre-war fashion; very little plot consolidation occurred. Sections of the 'red zone' were too seriously devastated to be brought back into cultivation, despite protests from local farmers. Such areas were allocated for military training. In many respects, rural revival in Marne involved re-inventing the structures of the past rather than fashioning a new future in the countryside. 

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