25 February 1916. Day 5 - Douaumont

Douaumont was the largest and most prestigious fort constructed from the 19th century onwards to defend France from German attacks across the plains north east of Verdun.

Douaumont seen from the air before 1916. The fort is angled roughly to the north east and looks out over the Woevre Plain to the east and across to the forests around Brabant, Haumont and Beaumont to the North. Entry to the fort was through an approach road and tunnel that can be seen bottom and centre of the photograph.

Since building began in 1885, Douaumont had been constantly improved and modernised. The most recent upgrade had taken place in 1913 and it was generally felt that the fort was impregnable.

The design was based on those of the great French military architect, Vauban. The fort measured almost 400 meters across at its widest point and was surrounded by a deep system of trenches, railings and dense coils of barbed wire.

Each point of the fort was covered by counterscarp galleries that offered a field of fire cover along all sides and across all angles.

Troops could move from one part of the fort through a series of underground tunnels and passages. The levels of the fort below ground contained bakeries, barracks, chapels, administration rooms, workshops and washrooms - all linked to gun placements that could be raised through the heavy three metre coverings of concrete and sand that had been smoothed over the underground city.

Fort Douamont showing the village from which it takes its name in the bottom right hand corner.

in 1914, Douaumont had a permanent garrison of around 500 French infantry. This was not the case by the time the battle around Verdun began in 1916. 

On the fifth day of the battle, the mighty fort of Douaumont was seized by a small handful of German soldiers.

The seizure of the fort is one of the most astonishing events in the whole battle.

The implications of losing Douaumont were enormous and virtually ensured that the battle would be dragged out through the spring and summer of 1916 and back again to the cold eastern winter.

An in-depth study of Douaumont may be found here.

Douaumont village before 1916.

23 February 1916. Day Three. Samogneux and other ghost villages

Villages mentioned in this post - top/centre (click to enlarge)

Samogneux was one of the small villages strung out along the hills, forests and valleys on the eastern bank of the River Meuse.

In February 1916, Samogneux, Brabant, Beaumont and Forges became key points for those French soldiers escaping the slaughter in the forests to the north. They also became targets for the German artillery gunners who continued to use planes and balloons to target the retreating French forces.

Brabant sur Meuse before 1916

Brabant had been evacuated early in the third day. Three hours later, a message was delivered to the front line stating that the previous order had been a misunderstanding. Brabant should be reoccupied as a matter of some urgency with the added order that 'not too many men be used in the operation'.

Not for the last time, the lack of understanding between front line forces and distant commanders was obvious. There were no French soldiers capable of regaining the village and German forces easily took the strategically important position.

The third day ground on in a flurry of order and counter order. There were some successful French counter attacks but communication and any sense of coordinated strategy resulted in growing disorder and confusion. 

Beaumont before 1916

Beaumont - late February 1916

The village of Beaumont occupied a slight rise of higher ground and was now occupied by a number of French platoons who had been drawn towards it at the end of the first day of battle. This had been the destination of Driant's attempted escape from the Bois des Caures.

German attempts to take the village were costly - a 'day of horror' according to the official German history of the battle. Machine gunners hidden in the cellars and houses of Beaumont took a heavy toll of the advancing German Hessians. Only the destruction of the buildings on top of the French defenders finally allowed the Germans to take the village; at huge cost. 

It was the German experience of attempts to take villages such as Beaumont that gave the Germans a false sense of the scale of the defence that faced them and that went some way in checking their advance during the first days of the battle.

The focus of the battle hinged around the village of Samogneux by the late afternoon and illustrates once again the utter confusion of the French defenders.

Survivors from the Bois des Caures and the other forest redoubts to the north had started to flow away from the frontline back towards the city of Verdun itself. At some point in the chaos it was reported that Samogneux had fallen to the Germans. This message was relayed back down the line and the order was given to recapture the position.

German troops in Samogneux - February 1916

Samogneux - before the battle

At 10:00pm the French artillery set their coordinates on Samogneux and the bombardment begin. This was a ghastly mistake. Samogneux had in fact not fallen to the Germans, it was being held by a small number of French defenders. 

Realising that they were under fire from their own side the French in Samogneux sent up a series of green flares, the pre-arranged signal of 'cease fire'. The flares were ignored.

By 3:00am the defence of Samogneux was over and the Germans had quickly taken advantage of the situation.

Samogneux also registered the end of an entire French military division - the 72nd. It had lost almost 10,000 soldiers and almost all the officers.

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In the freezing cold night at the end of the third day of the battle it is apparent now that the German high command underestimated the position they were in. The brave defence in pockets along the hills to the east of the city gave a false impression of the French position. By the fourth day of the battle, the Germans were actually closer to victory at Verdun than they could have imagined.

The villages today

To the modern day visitor to Verdun the villages along the left bank of the Meuse offer some of the most spectral reminders of the battle.

This Reuters site offers very good before/after images.

I will produce a special 'ghost village' post later in this blog.