Ruins of the Church at Ablain St. Nazaire showing Notre Dame de Lorette. February, 1918. A demolished abbey/church in the countryside of France, 1918. There are trenches and a dirt road in the foreground. There are no people in the photo. This photo is a reversed image. Ablain-Saint-Nazaire is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. German troops captured the village in 1914 and the 16th century church was destroyed in the fighting as French troops tried to retake the town over the years that followed. At the start of World War I, the Battle of Lorette lasted for 12 months, from October 1914 to October 1915, resulting in high casualties on both sides: 100,000 killed and as many wounded. A French national cemetery was built on 13 hectares nearby and comprises 20,000 graves, laid out irrespective of rank or military training. General Barbot has a private soldier buried next to him, on his right. In eight ossuaries, around the base of the lantern tower, are the remains of 22,970 unidentified soldiers. A portion of the cemetery has been reserved for Muslim soldiers.