Montfaucon in the words of E. Pognon, Montfaucon historian, 1885 The ancient collegiate church overlooks the whole village in the form of a magnificent crown... Close by rises the impressive form of the Hospice... The houses are arranged around these two monuments on the slope of the hill. The entire collection of buildings is drowned in an ocean of greenery and fruit trees.

The monument This monument was erected by the American Battle Monuments Commission, a US Government agency, which is also responsible for its maintenance. The Montfaucon monument commemorates the Meuse-Argonne offensive. During 47 days of fighting, from 26th September to 11th November 1918, the American First Army forced a general retreat along this front. The top of this hill was taken on the second day of the attack. It is the site of the former village of Montfaucon which, after its destruction during the First World War, was later rebuilt a few hundred metres to the west. The ruins of the church of Montfaucon can still be found just behind the monument, though very little remains of the old village. The highest point between the Meuse to the east and the Argonne Forest to the west, this hill has been the scene of many bloody battles throughout history.
The monument, which reaches a total height of 60 metres, is crowned by a statue symbolising freedom; it faces the front line of the American First Army on the morning of 26th September 1918 when the attack began. Visitors can go up to the observation platform (opening times are displayed outside) from where they can enjoy a magnificent view of virtually all the terrain captured during this offensive which, at the time, was the biggest battle in American history. The construction and maintenance of this monument are the responsibility of the American Battle Monuments Commission, a US Government agency. The land was given freely, in perpetuity, by the French people. Further information is available at the visitor reception office near the car park, or from the Supervisor of the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery at Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, approximately 9 km north of this monument.

History Lupinus-Mons (1041 ), Lupemons (1047), Lovus-Mons (1049), Lovonimons (1100), Lovemont (1242), Loupvemont, (1642), Louvemont then Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre (1922) Patron saint: St-Pierre-ès-Liens: 1st August A very old village The village is located 11 km north of Verdun at the source of the Louvemont spring that winds through the countryside before flowing into the Meuse. It includes two isolated farms: Mormont and Haudromont. Located on an ancient lower order way, the site already existed in Gallo-roman times (2nd century). A church built in the 11th century was consecrated to St Peter by a Roman Bishop named Azon. In 1265, Robert de Milan, bishop of Verdun, made the village a free town. In the 17th century, the choir of a new church was built, joined by the nave and bell-tower in 1778. The village was laid out in a star shape: several roads converged on a square where the town hall-school was surrounded by the cemetery. In the 19th century, the population of the village reached its peak in 1846 (300 inhabitants), before gradually declining. 183 inhabitants in 1914 On the eve of the war, the Meuse directory listed: Owner-farmers: Beaumont E., Boulanger M., Colson E., Colson J., Louis C, Legendre E., Legendre M., Mazuet M., Mouteaux L, Siméon E. Inn-keepers: Lelorrain, Trouslard, Véry Tobacconist: Véry Baker: Colson Grocer: Trouslard. Novelties: Ligony Locksmiths: Jacquemin, Péridon, Véry Notable of private means: Geoffroy F. Forestry agent: Hargé Mayor, Cantonal Delegate and Member of the Consultative Chamber of Agriculture: Beaumont Deputy Mayor: Lefèvre A. School teacher: Bourguignon Priest: Abbé Jullot (Parish of Beaumont)

Five horrifying days of battle Following the Battle of the Borders (August 1914), the front was located 6.7km from the village, to the north of Beaumont. The future was uncertain for the inhabitants, who lived by the sound of canon fire. Movements for civilians were restricted, and a pass required to go anywhere. In October 1914, the front was pushed back a few kilometres by a French offensive, where it stabilized.
However, tension mounted again at the beginning of 1916. The Germans were about to attack, but where? When? Doubtless as soon as the first days of good weather appeared. On 12th February, the military authorities ordered the inhabitants of Louvemont to evacuate the town within 24 hours. The Prefecture for the Meuse had problems finding accommodation for the new refugees. Starting at 6.30 in the morning on 21st February 1916, Louvemont was subjected to a terrible bombardment. Following the fall of Le Bois des Caures, Beaumont and Ornes, Colonel Bourgues believed the village to be lost by the 24th. In fact the defenders of Louvemont resisted until the evening of the 25th: "The village was hell; at intervals of a few minutes, you would see the German artillery fire stretch out and an attacking wave would rush forward. The defenders would then come out with their bayonets, and everything would be lost in the smoke and the fine snow that had begun to fall. A few moments later, the same scene would begin again." Almost ten months before recapture For months, the area was the scene of fierce fighting: the Côte du Poivre was re-occupied, then lost once more. Finally, on 15th and 16th December 1916, General Mangin made a leap forward with four divisions, from Vacherauville to the Hardaumont wood; the Germans left the ruined Côte du Poivre, Louvemont and Bezonvaux for good.
1919 - After the war The happiness of peace... the desolation of homecoming With the Armistice signed, the refugees could not wait to return to their homes. Sadly, the 825 hectares of the completely destroyed village, were classified as a "red zone". It would be totally impossible for anybody to reinhabit the site, the reasons ranging from "risk of explosion" to "land poisoned". The entire commune was planted with spruce trees. The scattered inhabitants were re-housed in temporary wooden huts... until they were able to rebuild houses. In 1922, the inhabitants were at last able to go to the tax office in Bras in order to be paid for the requisitions made by the military during the war: live cows, hay, wood, etc. At that time, the town administration was still being handled by Rigny-la-Salle near Vaucouleurs. Keeping the memory alive On 9th September 1920, Louvemont was mentioned in dispatches by André Lefèvre, Minister for War. On 4th May 1930, Louvemont inaugurated a monument to its dead. Attended by Mr. Remy, Deputy Mayor of Louvemont, Mr. Colson, representing the former soldiers, Victor Schleiter, Mayor and Deputé for Verdun, Abbé Bonne, priest for Bras, and the population of Louvemont who had come from all over the region. A tribute to those who remain out of the thousands of men who lost their lives in the region, to the children of the area - Joseph Boulangé, Emile Colson, Joseph Colson, Georges Lefèvre, Jules Legendre, Ernest Siméon, Jules Simon and Trouslard -, as well as the two civilians, - Céline Jacquemin and Victor Caillas -, who refused to leave their village. On 31st July 1932, the Louvemont chapel was inaugurated. Located on the site of the demolished church, it keeps watch over the old cemetery, most of the graves from which could not be found. The chapel is adorned with two works by Lucien Lantier.
A plan to recreate aspects of the village in this verdant setting Thanks to a number of organisations, including the National Forestry Organisation, the Verdun Area local authorities, the inter-community body for the villages destroyed in 1916, the Municipal Commission of Louvemont, and the EAGGF, a number of different projects have offered visitors a chance to see what Louvemont might have been like. A double stand of limes and maples» line the route to the heart of the village from the road to Ornes, The spring with two pools, rebuilt using stone from the ruined village flows as it did before Behind the chapel wall, two lines of ash trees recall the Main Street, Stones give the outline of the Town Hall-school, Lastly the yew trees and giant Thuyas highlight the monument to the dead against a forest background.

History

Haumont près Samogneux is a very old village dating back to the first century of the Common Era. The Gauls had consecrated an altar to the Sun God there; later, the Romans established an entrenched camp on the same site. As its name indicates ("haut mont" means "high mount" in French), Haumont stands atop a relatively tall hill on the right-hand side of the Meuse that offers beautiful views. The place called "Le Soleil" ("The Sun"), which is in the village wood, is the highest point within the community's administrative boundaries. A Gallic altar dedicated to the sun once stood there. The Romans included the altar in an entrenched camp whose earthen levees are still visible. Big stones that ancient horsemen stepped on to help them mount their horses can still be seen along the Anglemont and Flauveau trails above the village. The soil has yielded up many ancient objects, including flint and iron weapons, coins, statuettes and bronze thanksgiving plaques. During the Carolingian period, the Roman camp and its surroundings took the name "Beuse" ("bad" in German) after the Germano-Gallic family of BOZON, which owned the Haumontois massif from Bezonvaux to Dun. The Thirty Years' War left Haumont in ruins. The lords of Haumont were the abbots of Saint-Vanne and the chapterhouse of Verdun

1914 

Haumont was evacuated on 25 August 1914. The village's civilian population scattered throughout the interior of France. In late September 1914, the front stabilized in this area, leaving Brabant and Haumont inside the French lines. This sector on the right bank of the Meuse was relatively quiet. The left bank was more violent, in particular near the Forges stream. Nevertheless, Haumont underwent shelling in 1915. The village church was seriously damaged on Sunday, 7 February 1915. Here's what Corporal Maurice Brassard of the 56th Light Infantry Battalion wrote (excerpt from Verdun 1914-1918 by Jacques Pericard - page 31) Sunday 7 February 1915, Haumont's church was bombarded, a sad sight, a shell blew up the pulpit, sending splinters of wood and iron flying every which way. No more stained glass windows, six pews destroyed, the front of Saint Hubert's altar shattered, the stag has lost its antlers and lies on the floor with his crook. A brass chandelier, poles, draperies, banners, metal bouquets and debris of all kinds: glass, wood, plaster. Heaps of all these things lie strewn on the pews and the floor amidst a thick coat of dust. A piece of wood is embedded in the painting of the 12th Station of the Cross, injuring the body of Christ with a sixth wound. The harmonium is flattened against the wall.
Decisive fighting began on 20 February 1916 as the Germans began preparing their fierce attack on Verdun, especially when the operations reached the Woëvre and the left bank. People could hear the incessant fire 100 km away. It sounded like uninterrupted rolling thunder and grew louder in the following months. At 7 a.m. on 21 February 1916, as the day was just breaking and heavy snow was falling, the German infantry attacked Haumont Wood at Herbebois. (Excerpts from Verdun by Jacques Pericard, first-hand accounts by Colonel Grasset and Lieutenant-Colonel Rousset's contribution to La guerre au jour le jour) The infantrymen of the 362nd IR, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bonviolle, defended the village of Haumont. The infantrymen of Haumont equalled the Chasseurs of Caures Wood. As soon as the attack began on 21 February 1916, the Germans concentrated their artillery fire on Haumont, which they suspected was one of our centres of resistance. They rained shells down with uncommon abundance on all the passages, ravines and crossroads that might be useful to us. The fire was so powerful that our forward lines gradually gave way and the Germans started overrunning Haumont Wood at around 6 p.m. The Germans attacked Haumont at 4 p.m. The equivalent of a battalion broke through in three simultaneous columns from the north, northwest and east. Those of our men who survived stiffened up to contain them and stop the outflanking manoeuvre. The machine guns that were still intact started continuously firing, mowing down the enemy's ranks.

1919 - After the war 

Every year on the third Sunday in September, a mass in remembrance of our forebears is celebrated in the chapel followed by a ceremony at the monument to the dead in memory of our ancestors who lived in this place, our parents who lost everything "their homes and their land" in defence of the imperilled homeland, and the valiant soldiers who fell on the field of honour and lay buried in the ruins of our village. Those heroes gave their lives so that France might live free. In 1920, Haumont and eight other villages were included in the "red zone" (some have come back to life and have inhabitants). Building in Haumont was prohibited for the following reasons: 1° - the amount of unexploded ordnance still lying buried in the soil (it is still being found today); 2° - pollution of springs caused by dead bodies rotting in the ground (men and horses); 3° - soil contaminated by mustard gas and other pollutants. In 1920, a three-member commission appointed by the prefect managed the village. They were invested with the full powers of a mayor and municipal councillors (law of 18/10/1919).

Bezonvaux stood at the foot of the hillside along the Meuse. In February 1916, caught between the main German attack aiming at Douaumont and the voluntary retreat of la Woèvre, the village could not be held. Afterwards, Bezonvaux remained in the combat zone and shelling gradually wiped the village out completely, even though it was of no strategic interest.

Bezonvaux stood at the foot of the hillside along the Meuse. In February 1916, caught between the main German attack aiming at Douaumont and the voluntary retreat of la Woèvre, the village could not be held. Afterwards, Bezonvaux remained in the combat zone and shelling gradually wiped the village out completely, even though it was of no strategic interest.
Population in 1803: 199 1851: 317 1901:173 Distances : 10 kilometres east-northeast of Charny sur Meuse 16 kilometres north-northeast of Verdun Post office: Ornes Maucourt tax office, Ornes annex Patron saint's feast day, 1st September (Saint Gilles) Bezonvaux stood on the floor of a valley surrounded by wooded hillsides and at the source of a stream called the Bezonvaux, a sub-tributary of the Orne. The community's population was much bigger once. In August 1252, La Neuveville in Besonval, along with Beaumont and Douaumont, was freed. Later, it was a sizeable seigneury owned by the dukes of Bar. Bezonvaux depended on the lord of Saulcy for a long time before coming into the possession of the lord of Etain. It was also the administrative seat of an eponymous provosty including Beaumont, Bezonvaux and Douaumont that belonged to the sovereign court of Nancy. Ca. 1750, the population included 20 heads of families. The baron of Coussey and the ladies of Juvigny were its lords then. In 1789, the abbess of Juvigny had the high seigneury and collected all the tithes. Industries: beekeeping, grains, livestock. (Excerpt from Géographie du département de la Meuse - H. LEMOINE-1909) In 1913, the directory of the Meuse gave the following information: 149 inhabitants - Land area: 923 hectares Distances: Muraucourt, a farm 600 metres away, 8 inhabitants; the mill, 150 metres away, 4 inhabitants Innkeepers: Mr. Nivromont - Widow Remoiville Beekeepers: Mssrs. Richard - Godfrin - Nivromont (mayor) - Savion Pierre. Tobacconist: Mr. Nivromont. Carpenters: Mssrs. Grenette E. - Grenette A. Bread merchant: Mr. Nivromont Grocer: Mr. Nivromont. Laundry women: Mrs. Lamorlette and Mrs. Trouslard. Pig dealer: Mr. Léonard. Sheep and cattle dealer: Mr. Féré G. Landowning farmers: Mr. Mathieu E. - Widow Trouslard-Mathieu - Trouslard E. Notables and persons of independent means: Mssrs. Gabriel N. - Lamorlette P - Savion P. - Wyns J.B. Lady of the Manor: Mrs. Trouslard (widow).
In September 1914, the 67th division held the front in this area; Ornes, Vaux and Abaucourt were behind French lines. In late 1914 and in 1915, the Germans, who occupied Ornes, shelled Bezonvaux on and off until the attack on 21 February 1916. On 24 February 1916, Ornes was still outside the battle but incessant attacks on the village began at 7 a.m. At approximately 5 p.m., the Germans massed opposite the village, straddling the road between Ornes and Chambrettes. At 6 p.m., squeezed on three sides, the garrison evacuated Ornes and reached Bezonvaux, where the 44th IR, which had dug in on the Bezonvaux front in Maucourt Wood, was located. After La Woëvre withdrew, the Germans appeared on the Bezonvaux road, Chemin de Douaumont, the artillery barrage that isolated the village facilitating their advance. The makeshift defences fell one after the other. On 25 February 1916, the 4th LIB and 44th IR desperately held out in the village. The Germans stepped up their attack and, at approximately 5 p.m., the line broke, with the battalion defending the village in hand-to-hand, house-by-house fighting. The Germans gradually tightened the noose and at dusk, after killing nearly all the defenders, took Bezonvaux. Douaumont Fort had fallen on the same day. The French troops withdrew to Fleury. From March to July the German troops, driven by an iron will, tried to cross the heights separating them from Verdun. They advanced more slowly than the general staff had expected and the line was stabilized from mid-July onward. It should be pointed out that at the same time, the Battle of the Somme was monopolising reserves of men and munitions.
The inhabitants discovered the destructiveness of modern warfare as early as the beginning of 1916. Their homes destroyed, their only choice was to leave. Hopes of "going home one day" gave them the strength to face the heartwrenching decision to abandon their property. For these men and women were fiercely attached to their land, which was not very generous and required hard work but was nevertheless that of their roots. The prospect of going back home one day was a precious source of support for these wretched refugees. Unfortunately, the reality in 1918 was quite different. The destruction was too widespread and the threat of unexploded munitions too great to allow rebuilding. This desolate landscape could no longer be a welcoming haven. In their deep distress they had nothing left but the possibility of working for national recognition and the survival of their village if only judicially. They pressured local officials, members of parliament and ministers, even speaking to President Raymond Poincaré, who was born in the Meuse region. Their efforts were successful. In 1919, a law endowed each destroyed village with a municipal commission and a chairman who had the same powers and prerogatives as a mayor. A chapel-shelter and, as in every village, town and city in France, a monument to the dead were built between the world wars. The monument was engraved with the names of native sons who had given their lives for their country and with the text of the army citation that the government awarded by decree. Three times a day, the tolling angelus recalls that the villagers who once lived in this forested site studded with stones of remembrance were deeply Christian.
On 24 October, General Mangin launched an admirably planned attack that took back Thiaumont, the fort and village of Douaumont as well as the village and battery of Damloup. A few days later, French troops entered Vaux Fort, which the Germans had just evacuated. The success of this operation, but also its incomplete nature, led the French military leaders to contemplate repeating such an attack with a limited objective on a front approximately 10 kilometres long. The date chosen was 15 December. Communications with the rear were re-established and the work necessary for setting up a sufficient number of guns was carried out. On 10 December the French began a fierce artillery barrage to soften up the German positions. At 10 a.m. on 15 December, French troops stormed the German lines from Vacherauville to Eix. Four of the French army's best divisions took part in the assault, in this order: the 126th, 38th, 37th and 133rd. In particular, three distinguished regiments making up the infantry of the 37th division - the 2nd and 3rd Zouaves and the 3rd Algerian Tirailleurs - left Douaumont Fort in the east, advancing all day long through snow, mud and barbed wire networks towards the front. Many soldiers ended up with frostbite. The attack started again at 2 a.m. on the 16th. The goal was to take Bezonvaux. The assailants captured two key points - Liubeck's fortification and the Kaiserslautern trench - before killing many Germans. Then the Zouaves met up with the chasseurs of the 102nd battalion belonging to the 133rd division. These brave men had reached the edge of the village on the previous day; however, the sizeable number of defenders and the organisation of the ruins blocked their advance. Despite a French artillery error and fierce German shelling, the French completely rid Bezonvaux of its previous occupiers. The attack did not surpass the objective set and the front in this sector remained stable for the next two years. The chapel's stained glass windows immortalise 16 December 1916, a day marked by the presence of soldiers dressed in mustard-khaki and others in sky blue side by side. After the fighting, the chasseurs of the 102nd LIB were nicknamed the "glaziers of Bezonvaux". The line, which the Germans held until the armistice on 11 November 1918, was materialized after the war by a helmeted marker set up on the departmental road that passed through the destroyed village, which died for France.

Beaumont seems to have been founded in 324, at the end of the Gallo-Roman period; its first name was "super fluvium orna" ("above the River Orne"). Afterwards the village was successively called Bellusmons, Blermont, Byaumont and Beaumont.

In the early Middle Ages the Abbess of Juvigny-sur-Loison had high seigneury rights over Beaumont, whose inhabitants paid her the tithe. In August 1252, Beaumont was freed by the Count of Bar and the Abbess of Juvigny. In 1635 and 1636, during the Thirty Years' War, Hungarian, Polish and Swedish troops ravaged the area, burning down villages and massacring the inhabitants. The population of Beaumont found refuge in fortified castle at Ornes but a plague epidemic broke out, killing 430 people, including 22 from Beaumont. Around 1700, Monsignor de Béthume, bishop of Verdun, elevated Beaumont to a presbytery. The first church built in the middle of the cemetery was replaced by another in 1786-1787, which stood on the site of the present First World War monument in the village centre. The Prussians then invaded Beaumont in 1815 and the Germans in 1870, when a regiment of cuirassiers entered the village on 24 August. Beaumont is 15 km northeast of Verdun. Its land area is 787 hectares. In 1911, the census recorded 186 inhabitants. In September 1914, Beaumont's residents were evacuated to southern France. From mid-August to mid-October, Beaumont was between the two lines, a six- to seven-kilometre wide no man's land stretching from Louvemont to the woods north of the village. The German artillery destroyed the church in early October. In mid-October, French troops occupied a line from the northern crescent of Caures Wood to Ville Wood and the hamlet of Soumazannes. All the land that was administratively part of the village was in the French zone until February 1916. Attack and capture of Beaumont - 24 February 1916. The relative quiet suddenly ended on 21 February 1916. Despite the chasseurs' heroic resistance, Caures Wood fell. Colonel DRIANT wanted to retreat to Beaumont, probably by the old Flabas road, which leads to Gobi (territory of Beaumont). When the columns emerged from Champneuville Wood, they came under withering German machine-gun fire. The colonel, who was bringing up the rear, was killed, but fragments of sections managed to reach Beaumont and reinforce the garrison there. 24 February was a crucial day. The sky was grey, snow covered the ground and it was bitterly cold. The battle for Beaumont was about to begin. In the village, components of two French regiments (four companies) fought off repeated attacks. As the troops of the 18th German Corps entered the village, machine guns firing from cellar windows mowed them down. The enemy formations, which were particularly dense, advanced so quickly, with each wave passing the previous one, that the French automatic fire seemed to overwhelm them and they suffered terrible losses. The Germans started systematically shelling the village again. When they attacked again they still met with resistance but the balance of forces was too uneven. A few troops managed to break through and reach Louvemont. Beaumont fell on the afternoon of 24 February 1916.
At 6 p.m. on the same day, silent hand-to-hand fighting continued in the woods near Joli-Coeur. To the west, a company's tattered remnants struggled to contain the Germans, who were trying to reach Anglemont Ridge. Suddenly a large, cheering party of Germans left Beaumont on the Rue du Moulin and reached the national road. This time the retreat was cut off. The battalion commander rallied a few company remnants (approximately 60 men), had a still-able-bodied bugler sound the charge, and thrust himself and this handful of brave men in front of the enemy on the Anglemont. Against all odds, the Germans stopped. Surprised, they did not even fire a shot. Better yet, they fell back, unaware of how exhausted the French troops were. The Germans did not try again, enabling the French to keep the road open as an escape route. Only when they were ordered to, on 25 February at 2 a.m., did the survivors of the 2nd Battalion of the 60th RI reach the côte du Poivre (Pepper Hill) by way of the Vaux meadow, Vacherauville ravine and Grillot Woods. "Partial reconquest of Beaumont - August 1917. The 32nd Army Corps including four infantry divisions led the attack in the Beaumont sector. From 20 to 26 August, the Germans turned the village into a formidable fortress, which underwent relentless shelling. On 26 August, two regiments, the 154th RI and the 155th RI, attacked but failed to take Beaumont, which remained in German hands. On 2 September, a final French offensive failed to retake the Beaumont sector. The US Army occupied Beaumont in the earliest days of November 1918.

1919 - The postwar period Beaumont was declared a "red zone", meaning that it was forbidden to rebuild the village and return the land to farming. In 1920, the prefect appointed a municipal commission. In 1925, a monument was built to the memory of the children of Beaumont who died for France. Afterwards, to honour the ancestors' memory and pay another tribute to the native sons who died on the battlefield, the interior of the cemetery was levelled, the walls raised and a monument erected engraved with the text of the army's citation to the village and the names of its war dead. The chapel was built in 1932-1933. In 1932, the decision was taken that on the fourth Sunday in September, the patron saint's feast day (Saint Maurice), "the former inhabitants and their families would gather to honour their dead and breathe the air of the land where they were born", a tradition that carries on today.

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Creation of the cemetery

The National Cemetery of Fleury-devant-Douaumont contains the remains of French soldiers killed in the fighting that took place in the Verdun area from 1914 to 1918, and in particular the Battle of Verdun. Created in 1923, the cemetery was developed until 1936. Once the site had been chosen, in 1923, the War Graves Department, with the aid of the Metz engineers’ regiment, levelled a plot of land of several hectares, where major clearance work had been carried out to recover any abandoned hardware and hazardous munitions.

Once the land was level, the avenues and graves were laid. In August 1925, the bodies buried in small cemeteries around Verdun were transferred to the right half. In November, the cemetery received the exhumed bodies from the disused Fleury cemetery. In October 1926, it received those from the Fontaine de Tavannes cemetery. Over subsequent years, as bodies went on being discovered in the “red zone” – up to 500 per month – they were laid to rest here, over half of them identified. The cemetery also received the bodies from the cemetery of Bois Contant.
In accordance with the Law of 29 December 1915, which instituted a perpetual resting place for servicemen killed in action, the cemetery contains over 16 000 bodies in individual graves, and a Muslim plot containing 592 graves. Of the 1 781 Muslim graves laid in plots or rows in 16 cemeteries, the largest plots are to be found at Douaumont, with 592 graves, Bras with 254, and Dugny with 201. Each grave is marked with a Muslim gravestone, engraved with the words “Here lies” in Arabic, followed by the name of the deceased. There is also a special burial plot for unknown soldiers whose bodies were discovered recently. Six French soldiers killed in the Second World War are buried here.

Historical information

 The Battle of Verdun

Forty kilometres from the German border established in 1871, the village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont had a population of 422 in 1913. By September 1914, at the end of the First Battle of the Marne, the front line had reached the outskirts of Fleury and became entrenched to the north of the village. Located on the road between Verdun and Douaumont, at the heart of a major fortified position, in 1915 Fleury was naturally incorporated in the fortified area of Verdun, i.e. at the convergence between the two opposing armies.

On 21 February 1916, Operation Gericht, the brainchild of General Falkenhayn, was launched against the French positions. From February to December 1916, French and German troops fought one another in what was one of the most terrible battles of the Great War. From the outset of the offensive, the village came under severe bombardment, and was immediately evacuated. After the fall of Fort Douaumont, on 25 February, Fleury became particularly exposed to pressure from the enemy. Situated between the fortifications of Froideterre and Souville, it lay at the heart of the defence of Verdun.

By May 1916, the village was in ruins. After the loss of Fort Vaux, on 7 June, Fleury became decisive in the battle for Verdun. Fierce grenade battles took place here, giving the French considerable cause for concern. Between June and August, the village changed hands 16 times. In this fiercely contested sector, where the units engaged soon reached the limit of their strength, the French troops of the 128th and 130th Infantry Divisions vied with each other in audacity against the Bavarian guard and the elite units of the Alpenkorps. Stepping up the battering, the Germans were now no more than four kilometres from Verdun. On 11 July 1916, they captured the Fleury powder magazine, a munitions store dug out of the rock, ten metres below ground.

Yet the German impetus was halted, because the French soldiers had received orders to stand firm everywhere and counter-attack with whatever resources were available. At considerable human cost, the French clung to their positions and succeeded in defusing the pressure from the enemy. The ruins of the village were finally retaken on 18 August by the marsouins of the Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco, and were used as a base for the autumn offensives whose objective was to recapture the forts of Douaumont and Vaux.

There is nothing left of the village and surrounding farms. In 1918, the village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont was one of 12 villages in the department awarded the status of “village meusien mort pour la France” (Meuse village that died for France). After receiving an army citation in September 1920, the ruins of the village of Fleury were included in the “red zone”, over time becoming a key remembrance site of the Battle of Verdun.

The ossuary

Officially opened on 23 June 1929 by President Gaston Doumergue, the national cemetery was bound up with the construction of the Douaumont ossuary, since there had been no front-line cemetery here during the First World War. Dominating the cemetery, this imposing monument was erected on the initiative of Monseigneur Ginisty, bishop of Verdun. From as early as 1919, it was often impossible to attribute an identity, or even a nationality, to hundreds of thousands of remains found scattered across the sectors of the Verdun region. Monseigneur Ginisty, chairman of the ossuary’s committee, travelled throughout France and across the world giving talks to raise the funds needed to erect the final monument.

The first stone was laid on 20 August 1920 by Marshal Pétain, honorary chairman of the ossuary’s committee. The transfer of the bones from the temporary ossuary to the permanent ossuary took place in September 1927. It was officially opened on 7 August 1932 by President Albert Lebrun, at a ceremony attended by French and foreign dignitaries and a huge crowd of veterans, pilgrims and families of the dead and disappeared.

With its grandness and clean lines, this imposing structure was designed by Léon Azéma, Max Edrei and Jacques Hardy. The main body of the monument consists of a 137-metre-long cloister, with recesses housing the 46 tombs (one for each main sector of the battlefield, from Avocourt to Les Éparges) containing the remains of 130 000 French and German soldiers. In line with the cloister, above the main porch, stands a “Tower of the Dead” in the form of a lighthouse whose rotating beam illuminates the former battlefield.  Rising to a height of 46 metres, the tower offers panoramic views and from it a two-tonne bell, the “Bell of Victory”, rings out at each ceremony.
Today, the monument is part of the Meuse landscape. For some, it resembles a sword embedded in the earth up to its hilt, with only the handle showing, serving as a lantern. For others, the tower evokes a shell, a symbol the industrialisation of this major battle of the First World War. Meanwhile, the cloister may evoke the soldiers’ heroic defence of Verdun, or embody the Verdun fortifications, against which waves of enemy attacks proved in vain.

Close to the cemetery are two other religious monuments. One, erected in 1938, is in memory of the Jewish soldiers who died for France in the First World War. The other, located in the commune of Douaumont and unveiled in 2006, honours the Muslim soldiers killed in that conflict.

At the foot of the main staircase, the remains of General François Anselin, killed in action on 24 October 1916, were buried in 1948. Assigned on request to the command of the 214th Brigade, he was mortally wounded by shrapnel while conducting operations in the Poudrière ravine aimed at recapturing Fort Douaumont.

Facing the cemetery, a plaque remembers the historic handshake between President François Mitterrand and Chancellor Helmut Kohl that sealed Franco-German reconciliation in 1984.

The complex comprising the National Cemetery of Fleury-devant-Douaumont and the Bayonet Trench is classed as a Major National Remembrance Site, in honour of the sacrifice made by French soldiers in the Great War at Verdun (1914-18).

Ossuaire de Douaumont

55 100 Douaumont

Tél. : 03.29.84.54.81

Fax : 03.29.86.56.54

Mail : infos@verdun-douaumont.com

Departmental Tourist Board
Tel.: +33 (0)3.29.45.78.40

Verdun National Cemeteries Department

13, rue du 19ème BCP

55100 Verdun

Tel.: +33 (0)3.29.86.02.96

Fax: +33 (0)3.29.86.33.06

Email: diracmetz@wanadoo.fr

Opening times

The National Cemetery of Douaumont is open to the public all year round.
Douaumont Ossuary is open to the public free of charge from September to November. 9 am to 12 pm and 2 pm to 5 pm / 6 pm - December: 2 pm to 5 pm - 
Closed from 1 February to the February school holidays - March: 9 am to 12 pm and 2 pm to 5.30 pm - April to August: 9 am to 6 pm / 6.30 pm

Douaumont Ossuary

Meuse Departemental Authority

Meuse Tourist Board

Verdun tTrism Office

Initially a private collection, this project grew to such an extent that it turned into a veritable museum overseen by the “Mémoire des combattants en Gascogne” (Memory of the Gascony Fighters) association.

From the beginning, the founders placed their museum space at the crossroads of remembrance and the memory of contemporary conflicts.

The choice was thus made to offer visitors a historical journey through the two World Wars.

The museum chronologically presents the evolution of soldiers’ arms and uniforms from the Great War to the Résistance.

This undertaking is unique in the Gers department and presents widely diverse collections for the pleasure and interest of all:

front pages of newspapers, photos, posters, letters, brassards, containers, arms, uniforms, etc.

Visits and admission price: The museum is open year-round to all, free of charge, by appointment.

Musée des anciens combattants pour la liberté

Museum of the veterans of the fight for freedom:

Malherbe - 32500 Brugnens - Tel.: +33 (0)5 62 06 14 51

Association “Mémoire des combattants en Gascogne”

“Memory of the Gascony Fighters” Association:

Tel.: +33 (0)5 62 06 62 06

e-mail: elian.dasilva@wanadoo.fr

e-mail: xavier.da-silva@orange.fr

Office National des Anciens Combattants du Gers

Gers National Office of Veterans:

29, chemin de Baron – 32000 Auch – Tel.: +33 (0)5 62 05 01 32 – Fax: +33 (0)5 62 05 51 05

e-mail: dir.sd32@onacvg.fr

Founded in 1954 by Louis Villanova, Marcel Daguzan and Louis Leroy, the Auch Museum of Resistance and Deportation, in Gers, was opened on 5 October 1975 by Andre Bord, the then Veterans Minister. The exhibits feature objects, documents and other items from the period owned by resistance veterans.

This remembrance space preserves these important relics for generations to come and keeps the memory of the Resistance operations in Gers alive.

One of the objectives of the museum association founded in 1994 is to expand the collections over time. The exhibition rooms lead visitors through the history of the Resistance from its first steps to the region's liberation. One room is also dedicated to the Deportation, displaying objects, documents, illustrations and a memorial to the deportees from Gers.

Auch Resistance and Deportation Museum

rue Pagodoutés

32000 Auch

Tel: +33 (0)5 62 05 74 79

                 +33 (0)5 62 61 21 85

Free admission

Enquire for opening days and times.

Gers Resistance and Deportation Museum Association : Auch Town Hall

Departmental office for the national bureau of war veterans and victims of war

29, chemin de Baron - 32000 Auch

Tel: +33 (0)5 62 05 01 32 - Fax: +33 (0)5 62 05 51 05

Email: dir.sd32@onacvg.fr

This fine property, built in the typical Bigorre style, is located in the heart of Tarbes’ old town, near the cathedral, and contains the personal belongings of Foch and his family.

Since the end of the First World War, a plaque has reminded passers-by that the Supreme Allied Commander was born here. 

A listed building since 1938, the house was made into a museum in 1951.

On 1 March 2008, ownership of the property was transferred from the French State to the City of Tarbes.

A typical 18th-century Bigorre house, it is of particular architectural interest, with its balustered exterior gallery with pelmets and marble-framed windows. Inside is a fine staircase in carved wood, imitating 17th-century ironwork.

This intimate setting was where Ferdinand Foch spent the first 12 years of his life. Today, the family home houses the personal belongings and mementos of Foch the officer. Portraits depict the military man who was made a Marshal of France, a British Field Marshal and a Marshal of Poland.

The collection consists of personal belongings of Foch and his family, which chart both his personal journey and his public life as a Marshal of France. One room is devoted to the gratitude of the Allied countries.

A graduate of the École Polytechnique, a trained artilleryman and a teacher of tactics of warfare, Foch is remembered as one of the great figures of the First World War, who led the Allies to victory. Marshal Foch died on 20 March 1929 in Paris, leaving behind the memory of international gratitude.

Maison Natale du Maréchal Foch
2, rue de la Victoire - 65000 Tarbes
Tel.: +33 (0)5 62 93 19 02
Email: musee@mairie-tarbes.fr

Tarbes City Council