I took a week off for spring break and went to France to visiti Verdun and the surrounding battlefields. Ove the next couple of weeks I'll be highlighting what I saw. First up, since it was occupied by the German Army on 14 Sep, 1914 is the story of the scenic village of Vacquois. This village sat upon the top of a very high hill and whomever held it would be able to look down upon the enemy and direct accurate artillery fire onto them. I'll start with a look up hill from the museum parking lot. More about the museum later. I will also post a pic of a terrain model of the hill.
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The village ran across the top of the hill. The French Army, knowing the value of this terrain immediately counter attacked to thro the Germans off. They succeeded in tacking half the hilltop when their attack stalled. The Germans ended up on one side of the main street and the French on the other. What followed was 4 years of a bizzare subterranean warfare. During this time the Germans and the French fired a collective total of 525+ mines, trying to blow each other off the top of the hill. Needless to say, the village did not fair to well. As an engineer I found this battlefield very interesting and could on one level admire the work done. Let me introduce you to the village.pseudo-expert -
The white marker in the 2d pic above marks the spot of the first French flamethrower attack of the war. Unlike German flamethrowers that had an integral ignition device the early French flamethowers merely pumped out fuel which was then ignited with thermite grenades or other flaming items tossed into the fuel. So on this spot the French were merrily pumping away at the German lines with flamable fuel, letting it soak the enemy trenches in anticipation of turning them into crispy critters. When the time came to toss in the match there was a huge fireball followed by an explosion that tossed flaming liquid and debris back unto the French. They had set off a stockpile of grenades in the German trench.pseudo-expertComment
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So then both sides dug in and started blasting, sometimes following the blast up with an assault.pseudo-expertComment
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After the war the French put up a monument to those who fought there and also a plaque to the village which for obvious reasons, was never rebuilt.pseudo-expertComment
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All the preceeding views are from the French side. What's really neat though is not what you see, but what you don't see. Let's go down the French side and look at the tunnels that they dug. We start with a sally point, a trench for rushing into No Man's Land. Down the Hill thru the trench system.pseudo-expertComment
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Down to one of several access points for a vast subterranean dugout. Up to 5000 men lived, fought, and died here at any one time on either side.pseudo-expertComment
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The tunnels are currently being explored, excavated, and restored to their wartime configuration. We were lucky enough to be allowed in.pseudo-expertComment
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Unused tunnels were blocked with debris, barb wire etc so the Germans could not sneak up on them. Dirt was taken out via a small push cart on rails, and explosives were brought in as required via the same way.pseudo-expertComment
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The amount of original artifacts still there is amazing. An officer's bed for instance.pseudo-expertComment
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The Germans were equally industrious. There tunnels went over 100 meters deep. There trenches we reinforced. There wire was laid.pseudo-expertComment
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They had three entrances that led to a main gallery that traversed their side of the hill. Off of that they had other galleries for troops.pseudo-expertComment
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Lots of things left down here as well. The Germans had planned a huge mine or series of mines to destroy the whole hilltop but were not able to implement it before the order to retreat came.pseudo-expertComment
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Here is one of several kitchens and a chapel. Must have been catholic given all the wine bottles.pseudo-expertComment
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Living areas and artifacts.pseudo-expertComment
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