Fort Douaumont: Revised Edition

By Christina Holstein

A WWI guide “rich in personal experiences from French and German sources . . . a vivid, yet sometimes ghastly, account of the fighting for the fort” (Burton Mail).
 
The Battle of Verdun, which lasted from 21 February to 15 December 1916, was a turning point in the First World War, and Fort Douaumont was at the heart of it. In 1914 the fort was the strongest and most modern of the fortifications around Verdun and it formed the keystone of the French defense in the area.
 
Using both French and German sources, Christina Holstein introduces the reader to the fortress system around Verdun, explains the construction, reinforcement and armament of Fort Douaumont and describes its surprise capture by the Germans in February 1916. Its loss was a terrible blow to French morale and their repeated attempts to retake the fort are portrayed in graphic detail. As the months ground on and the Battle of Verdun turned into stalemate, the desire to keep or to recapture Fort Douaumont, whatever the cost, became the reason for both sides to go on fighting.
 
Now fully up-to-date, this guide gives a compelling insight into the brutal nature of the struggle and into the soldiers who took part in it and will be essential reading for students of the Battle of Verdun, for visitors to the battlefield, and for anyone who is interested in the history of twentieth-century fortifications.
 
“Much more than a battlefield guide . . . The plans and campaign maps are clear and easy to follow, and the text is accompanied by some excellent photographs.”—Fortress Study Group

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Aug 19, 2010
• ISBN: 9781783469628

Christina Holstein

Christina Holstein is a leading authority on the Battle of Verdun. For many years she lived close to the battlefield and has explored it in great detail. She regularly conducts tours of the battlefield for individuals or groups and, with her specialized knowledge of the terrain, has acted as consultant to a number of other historians, TV producers and TV and radio journalists. Over the years she has written four books in the Battleground Europe series on the Battle of Verdun 1916. She was the founding chairman of the Luxembourg branch of the Western Front Association.

Book preview

Chapter One

THE KEYSTONE OF THE ARCH

Standing at the crossroads of the traditional communication routes formed by the valley of the River Meuse and the ancient road from Metz to Rheims, Verdun has been from time immemorial the guardian of one of the historic gateways into France and a bulwark against invasion from the east. While man-made fortifications have added to the strength of the city, it is the geographical position of Verdun that is the key to its history, for it stands in the centre of a natural fortress of great strength.

The city is surrounded on all sides by flat topped limestone hills rising to 390 metres above sea level. On either side of the River Meuse the hills form long escarpments. While on their western sides the escarpments slope gently downwards, the eastern sides drop precipitously for several hundred feet. Over the ages, the action of streams running off the hills has sliced the hillsides into deep ravines, offering innumerable natural concealed positions for observation and defence. The winding course of the river has cut deeply into the escarpments on both sides of the valley, leaving interlocking spurs which project out onto the valley floor, dominating passage along the valley from either north or south and protecting the river crossings. The dense covering of forest on the heights and the thick undergrowth in the marshy bottom of the ravines form a natural barrier to easy movement in any direction and force communication lines to converge on the relatively small number of natural gateways which the streams have carved. Verdun thus lies in the centre of a terrain that is particularly formidable to an enemy from whichever direction he chooses to approach.

Châtel gate, Verdun.

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It is a very old city. The Romans fortified Verdun under the name of Verodunum Castrum but the roots of the town are much older than that. Its long history includes burning by Attila the Hun and capture by Clovis, as well as at least ten sieges. Annexed to Lorraine under the celebrated Treaty of Verdun of 843AD which divided Charlemagne’s empire into three parts, Verdun was for most of the medieval period a part of the German Empire. Becoming officially French in 1648, the medieval fortifications were modernized by the famous French military engineer, Vauban, whose citadel and city walls can still be seen today.

Vauban’s urban defences were not modernized during the first half of the nineteenth century since at that time Verdun was not in the front line of defence against invasion from Germany. However, the position was dramatically changed in 1870 as a result of the defeat of France by the Prussians at Sedan during the Franco-Prussian War. Under the terms of the subsequent peace treaty, Germany annexed Alsace and a substantial part of Lorraine, thereby acquiring many of the fortresses of eastern France, including the nearby cities of Metz and Thionville. Verdun, which was situated forty kilometres from the new border and only separated from it by a marshy plain, suddenly found itself a vital frontier stronghold and the first line of defence against another German invasion.

Faced with the development of powerful German fortifications around Metz and Thionville (the Moselstellung) and the accompanying build-up of military force in the annexed parts of Lorraine, it became imperative for France to strengthen its eastern frontier. A defence committee was accordingly set up to study the question. The ideas adopted were those of General Raymond Séré de Rivières, an army engineer born in 1815 who, as commander of the Engineers at Metz in 1864, had begun the construction of the first modern detached forts around that city.

Fortification of the eastern frontier

Rather than fortifying the entire eastern frontier with permanent military works on a grand scale, the plan put forward by Séré de Rivières proposed to place opposite Germany two chains of fortresses, leaving between them an open gateway through which - it was believed - an invasion would have to be directed. The southern chain ran from Belfort on the Swiss border to Epinal while the northern chain extended from Verdun down the Meuse valley to Toul on the River Moselle. Between Toul and Epinal lay the unfortified gateway around the town of Charmes. The vital road and rail centres of Verdun, Toul, Epinal and Belfort, which buttressed the northern and southern ends of each system, were turned into fortified camps by the construction of rings of forts on strategic heights around each city.

The chain of forts between Verdun and Toul was intended to counterbalance the fortified camp formed by the German cities of Metz and Thionville, whose defences had been dramatically improved by an extensive fortress-building programme. The specific role of Verdun was threefold: to prevent the whole chain from being outflanked to the north, to form a bridgehead on the Meuse and to support possible French offensive action in the direction of Germany.

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Forts and international boundaries in Eastern France after 1871.

Isabella Holstein

As Verdun’s seventeenth century fortifications were inadequate to meet the demands of its new strategic role, a plan was drawn up for modern forts to be constructed on both sides of the river using commanding positions at least 150 metres above the plain and sufficiently far from the city to protect the city from enemy bombardment. The original project provided for a minimum of six major forts supported by a further seven minor works (known as ouvrages) or by batteries. On the Right Bank, the new forts would dominate passage along the Meuse valley and control road and rail communications towards the German border and Metz. On the Left Bank, they would ensure security of operations towards the Argonne Forest and control the road to Paris, which was the only line of communication and retreat available to the