If churches were the only building common to all French municipalities since the Middle Ages, the work of memory which are the monuments to the dead of 1914-1918, erected after The Great War which devastated France, have become an indelible scar in the heart of all the nation’s towns. The Rencontres d’Arles, Mission du Centenaire de la Première Guerre Mondiale and Université de Lille III have decided to establish the first photographic inventory of all the French monuments to the dead for an exhibition and book. The aim is to show the vast scale of the massacre through these monuments. Famous photographer and filmmaker Raymond Depardon, the author of numerous films and books about French society, accepted to be the patron of this operation, by establishing a photography style guide that would enable everyone to participate, no matter their level of expertise. All 36,000 municipalities were invited to participate.