1914-1918 Butte de Vauquois - Verdun

Close to Varennes en Argonne, where King Louis XVI and his family were arrested while trying to escape from France on June 21, 1791, stands the Butte de Vauquois [1], strangely cut in two parts as if slit by a giant's sword : German section, French section.

The Vauquois mound is a huge termite nest : the installations on various levels, from the far East up to the V of Vauquois (1,500 m long, 50 to 250 m wide, 10 to 50 m deep) made up more than 17 km of shafts, galleries and ramifications. Thousands of tons of Argonne rock (gaize) were extracted. Vauquois is also the extraordinary underground struggle acted out below : the mine war. 539 explosions (218 German, 321 French) were counted. Mines placed deeper and deeper, the explosive charges were therefore more and more significant. That's how, on 14th May 1916, a German mine estimated at 60 tons of Westphalit made 108 victims, shattering the entire far West of the mound. (See below the site of the Association des Amis de Vauquois et de sa Region).

What resembles today to a simple peaceful mound of the Argonne Massif (Argonne : the land of woods) which hardly reaches an altitude of 308 metres, has been for centuries considered as a lock blocking access to invaders. It had to be blown down ! At hand-reach, the belligerents, buried on several levels of underground galleries killed each other fiercely. Vegetation has not yet hidden the traces of this horror, there are still mine craters of over 20 meters depth [2]. A monument built on top of the Butte indicates the place of the destroyed village [3]. At the foot of the hill a testimony : the trucks Pechot [4]. (Two-axled logistic trucks used in an intensive way in Vauquois on 11 km of rails - width : 60 cm).

Cemeteries, monuments and memorials [5] among which the Memorial of Pennsylvania [6] [7] border the road to Verdun, as well as numerous wash basins or fountains [8] which enhance Meuse, a very beautiful region. A Gaul fortress, one of the Three Bishoprics of the Middle Ages together with Toul and Metz, Verdun has a long tortured history. Known by all for the terrible battles of World War 1st, Verdun is a nice city spreading along the Meuse [9]. To be seen : Porte Chaussee (16e c.) [10] and the Monument to All Arms of WW1 [11] [12], Porte Saint-Paul, Porte Chatel, Notre-Dame Cathedral and its cloister, the Bishop's Palace (sheltering the World Center for Peace), Carrefour des Marechaux, Monument de la Victoire [13] [14], the Citadelle [15] : 7km of underground galleries. Underground small train visit showing scenes of the life of Poilus.

All around Verdun, sorrow and deep emotion : battle fields furrowed [16] by bombs (Les Eparges), cemeteries, memorials, forts or ruined fortifications (Vaux), totally destroyed villages (Fleury sous Douaumont), Trench of the Baïonnettes, Cote 304, Le Mort-Homme, Montfaucon, Argonne, Haute-Chevauchee, Chemin des Dames, Voie Sacree, Douaumont.

Read also : Douaumont and Fort de Vaux and : Haute-Chevauchee - Kaiser Tunnel

Cemeteries, monuments and memorials [5] among which the Memorial of Pennsylvania [6] [7] border the road to Verdun, as well as numerous wash basins or fountains [8] which enhance Meuse, a very beautiful region. A Gaul fortress, one of the Three Bishoprics of the Middle Ages together with Toul and Metz, Verdun has a long tortured history. Known by all for the terrible battles of World War 1st, Verdun is a nice city spreading along the Meuse. To be seen : Porte Chaussee (16e c.) and the Monument to All Arms of WW1 , Porte Saint-Paul, Porte Chatel, Notre-Dame Cathedral and its cloister, the Bishop's Palace (sheltering the World Center for Peace), Carrefour des Marechaux, Monument de la Victoire, the Citadelle [15] : 7km of underground galleries. Underground small train visit showing scenes of the life of Poilus. Outside the Citadelle a green peaceful place .

All around Verdun, sorrow and deep emotion : battle fields furrowed [16] by bombs (Les Eparges), cemeteries, memorials, forts or ruined fortifications (Vaux), totally destroyed villages (Fleury sous Douaumont), Trench of the Baïonnettes, Cote 304, Le Mort-Homme, Montfaucon, Argonne, Haute-Chevauchee, Chemin des Dames, Voie Sacree, Douaumont.

Read also : Douaumont and Fort de Vaux and : Haute-Chevauchee - Kaiser Tunnel

More information :

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