"The capture of Fort Douaumont..." Topic

The Germans basically just walked in to the 'strongest fort in France'.

A film by Ian McCollum of YouTube's Forgotten Weapons:

YouTube link

Barry

fortiffsere.fr/index.htm

If you can read French, an excellent website on the Serre de Riviere system of fortifications, including Verdun. Plenty of good photos, and insights into the history and development of the forts during WWI.

At the time of its capture, Douaumont had already been stripped of most of its guns (only 2 75mm left), and was basically left to the guard of a half company of Territoriale (that is, older men mobilized to fill secondary tasks and leave younger ones have combat duties). Guns had been taken away because the French HQ was wary of repeating the siege of Metz of 1870, which had seen a big French army surrounded and destroyed in a siege and the capture of Emperor Napoleon III, and because they were needed to provide some heavy artillery (a weak point in the structure of the French army at the time.There was also an element of surprise, as the fort was taken on the very 1st day of the offensive.

Now, for those of you who will visit the place, even though nature has somewhat reclaimed its surroundings, it is still a very haunted place : the sufferings endured there by soldiers of both camps seem to still oooze from the decrepit walls. Nearby, you'll find the ossuary on the emplacement of the village itself : that's the place where Chancelor Kohl and President Mitterrand stood hand in hand to pay tribute.

there was a battle for Fort Vaux where they fought room by room\ corridor by corridor that was real horror.

i've been to Verdun it really is atmospheric – spooky if you wish. I went with a local colleague and she said wait and listen I said I could not hear anything and she said yes there was no sound no birds no nothing.