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Origin and history

Douaumont Fort, located in Douaumont-Vaux (Meuse), is a military structure designed as part of the Séré de Rivières defensive system after the Franco-German War of 1870. Built between 1884 and 1886 and upgraded until 1913, it is one of the 19 forts protecting Verdun, with a garrison of up to 891 men. Its hexagonal architecture, dry ditches and artillery turrets make it a typical example of the fortifications of the era, combining masonry and reinforced concrete to withstand modern shells.

During World War I, the fort played a central role in the Battle of Verdun in 1916. He was taken by the Germans on 25 February after a surprise attack, and was taken over by the French on 24 October during an offensive led by the Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco (RICM). The fighting around the fort, subjected to nearly 120,000 shells, symbolizes the resistance and suffering of both sides. The ruins of the fort, partially restored after the war, now house a German cemetery and traces of violent clashes.

Ranked a historic monument in 1970, Douaumont Fort is now a major tourist site in the Battlefield of Verdun. It attracts visitors for its military history, underground galleries dug during the war, and memorials dedicated to French and German soldiers. Since 2023, it has been one of the World War I funeral sites listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, strengthening its status as a place of memory.

The fort also illustrates the military technological developments of the early twentieth century, with its galopin turrets (155 mm eclipse canons) and its casemates of Bourges. After 1918, consolidation work was undertaken, including the partial concrete construction of the tunnels dug in 1917. During World War II, it was briefly reused in 1940 before being abandoned. Today, its management is entrusted to the Meuse Departmental Council, which makes it a place of commemoration and education on the history of conflict.

The architecture of the fort reflects the successive adaptations to the progress of artillery. Originally designed in masonry, it was reinforced by concrete between 1887 and 1913 to withstand torpedo shells. Its ditches, its caponières replaced by counterscarp chests, and its armored turrets testify to this evolution. During their occupation in 1916, the Germans installed generators and improved living conditions, while the French dug underground galleries there to protect themselves from bombing.

Douaumont Fort is also a place of funerary memory. In May 1916, an accidental explosion in a grenade depot killed nearly 800 German soldiers buried in walled casemates. A plaque also commemorates seven French soldiers killed in 1916 by a shell. These elements, associated with the remnants of the fighting, make it a historical and memorial site, visited every year by thousands of people.

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