Unexcused Absences France 2014 - Week 11 Recap (he said)

France 2014 – Week 11 Recap (he said)

by Kent 23 Sep 2014

Sunday we drove north-east from Verdun in our rental car to see some behind-the-lines German sites from the Great War, or World War I as we call it in the US. In particular, near Spincourt, there are ruins of a large German camp that was a major staging area for troops and equipment headed to or from the Verdun battle front lines. It is difficult to locate the site, but in the woods one can still find numerous concrete buildings and storage depots, slowly being consumed by Mother Nature. This was actually the Second Battle of Verdun; the first one was in 1792, between French revolutionary forces and the Prussian army.

Remains of German WW I camp near Spincourt

From Spincourt we drove north towards the Maginot Line. The Maginot Line was a set of bunkers, command and observation posts, artillery blocks and other defensive structures that were built during the 1930’s along the entire French-German border to keep the Germans from ever invading again. Unfortunately, in WW II the Germans simply invaded through Belgium, so the Maginot forts saw almost no actual fighting. Although most of the fortifications are now abandoned, several are maintained and are open for tours. We visited Fort Fermont, where a group of volunteers gives tours on Saturdays and Sundays.

The electric rail “station” deep underground at Fort Fermont

Bread oven (center) and wine storage – this IS France

The soldiers had to eat in the corridors on folding tables

Entrance to Fort Fermont

The scale of the works are stunning; while very little of the fort is visible above ground, upon entering we first took a freight elevator 30 meters straight down into bedrock, then rode a small electric train for almost a mile to one of the outer artillery blocks. From there we rode another elevator back to the surface, and explored three large artillery pieces from both inside and outside the fortifications. Back below ground, we saw the inner workings of this self-sufficient fort. The facility, which can house hundreds of soldiers for months at a time, includes areas for sleeping, cooking, food storage, air-purifying, power generation, ammunition storage, a small hospital, and a large wine cellar (this is France, after all), with everything buried 100 feet down in solid rock.

Breech end of Fermont’s artillery pieces

Outside view of the artillery block

A retractable artillery turret (foreground) and observation “cloche”

From the fort we continued north and east to Luxembourg, and spent Sunday night in a nice yet inexpensive hotel in the western suburb of Strassen. Monday we walked around Luxembourg City, explored the old city walls, and visited the Hermès boutique (your correspondent earning “husband points” in the process). The city has the second-highest per capita GDP in the world (about $80k USD) and has used its location in the center of Europe to develop into a banking and administrative center. The area is surprisingly small; one can walk completely around and through this city of 100k inhabitants in a couple hours.

Luxembourg City occupies a fortified hilltop

After lunch and a walk in the park, we drove back to France and stopped at the site of “Langer Max”, a 15-inch gun used to shell Verdun from a distance of about 35 kilometers The gun was enormous; overall length was over 100 feet, the barrel alone was 52 feet long, and the projectile stood as tall as a man. The site is still in pretty good shape, and includes the large concrete basin that supported the gun, some ammunition bunkers (and the tracks for the little train cars that moved the shells), and one of the barrels of the gun.

The barrel of “Langer Max”, a 380mm / 15 inch German WW I gun in the woods near Spincourt

Late afternoon we returned to Verdun to pick up Dad at the train station, and for dinner ate the rabbit terrine we bought from Friday’s market. I presented Dad with a belated birthday gift of a couple dozen different beers acquired from our recent car travels in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France.

We greeted Dad with beer from 3 countries

Tuesday we got up early to visit the local Verdun battlefield, often called the bloodiest battle in history, where between 30 and 60 million shells fired over 300 days killed more than 230,000 soldiers (including 130,000 who were never identified) and wounded another half million. All this destruction occurred in an area of less than eight square miles. We toured Fort Douaumont (an underground WW I fort), then visited the destroyed villages of Fleury and Bezonvaux.

One of the 16,142 headstones at the French cemetery for the Battle of Verdun

Douaumont was captured by the Germans early in WW I and is now open daily to give visitors a chance to see how the troops lived before and during WW I. It is not a pretty sight, although it was of course much better than living in the front-line trenches. For starters, there were no latrines or showers (!) until near the end of the war, at which time the French installed facilities once they re-captured the fort. Also, the fort was under almost 24-hour bombardment, so getting any rest at all probably proved elusive. As there was no central heating (other than the stoves for cooking – makes one long for KP duty), the temperature inside never got above the mid 50’s. So imagine living in a chilly, damp, smelly, lice-infested environment for months at a time. Better than the alternative, I guess.

Fort Douaumont

After the fort we drove a short distance downhill to the town of Fleury-devant-Douaumont, one of the many villages qui mort pour la France (that died for France). During the battle of Verdun, it was captured and recaptured by the Germans and French sixteen times! The land was made uninhabitable to such an extent (by corpses, explosives, and poison gas) that the decision was made to not rebuild. All that is left now are a few foundations and small signs identifying where the various houses and businesses (boulanger, boucher, etc.) once stood. A few miles further north and east is the destroyed village of Bezonvaux. A nice discovery trail is laid out, with signs marking various points of interest, including wreckage of a narrow-gauge railroad built by the Germans to run supplies to the front lines.

Wreckage from a narrow-gauge military supply railroad

At noon we drove to the Moselle Valley and toured Ouvrage Maginot du Hackenberg (Fort Hackenberg of the Maginot Line). This fort is the best-kept example of a Maginot fort still in existence, and is currently maintained by a group of dedicated volunteers. The fort, like Fermont described above, was built in the mid 1930’s, and was in fact the prototype design for the rest of the Maginot defenses. Parts of the works are in immaculate condition. The four diesel engines used to generate electricity are still in working order, as are the electric trains, and an entire retractable turret that houses twin 135mm guns is shown in operation. The complexity of getting a multi-hundred-ton mechanism to rise out of the ground and fire in a 360 degree circle is mind-blowing. If you find yourself in north-east France and have any interest in either history or engineering, do yourself a favor and visit the Ouvrage Maginot du Hackenberg.

From Fort Hackenberg looking towards the Moselle River valley

Massive air filters in case of poison gas attack (Fort Hackenberg)

On the mile-long underground electric train connecting the different parts of Fort Hackenberg

Back in Verdun for the evening we enjoyed a fine dinner at L’Anna Maria, a new restaurant open less than a year, located a short walk south and west from the port. Wednesday we visited the Verdun Cathédrale, stocked provisions at LeClerc, had another delicious lunch at Le Clapier, then continued south on the canal for three hours to a nice parking spot in Ambly-sur-Meuse.

Verdun waterfront at dusk

Thursday morning we met our lockkeeper at 9am for the three hour trip to Saint-Mihiel. That afternoon walked around town and up onto the hill to the north-east, where we found remains of a hilltop château and some German fortifications. The Germans captured this town, located south of Verdun, early in the war, with the hope of using it as a base to launch an offensive that would completely cut off Verdun from re-supply. Thus this town was of enormous strategic value to both sides. The Apremont and Ailly Forests above town saw desperate fighting as each side tried to dislodge the other. Today, the remains of trench lines run unbroken for miles and miles through the woods.

The amazing 16th century sculpture by Ligier Richier in St-Mihiel

Friday morning we hired a taxi to take us to the Bois Brûlé (burning woods) about 10 kilometers outside of town. The site has a few signposts describing the battle, as well as excellent examples of German concrete-reinforced trenches and a reconstructed French front line trench. It is worth noting that in many places the French and German trenches were within several dozen meters of each other. From there we walked north and west following the trench lines and came to the Bavarian Trenches, an area maintained by troops from southern Germany, which was still an independent kingdom during WW I.

French trench line in the Apremont Forest

German trench line in the Apremont Forest

A German bunker near Ailly Forest, now ignored by a road and a farmer’s field

We continued our walk back towards St-Mihiel for several miles along the main road, then turned back into the woods to visit the Tranchée de la Soif (the trench of thirst). In May 1915 the French made a fierce attempt to break the German lines, and they succeeded, pushing all the way to the fifth line of enemy trenches. Unfortunately, the Germans were able to circle behind them and cut off reinforcements, so for three days and nights a company of the French 172nd Infantry Regiment was trapped without food or water. They eventually surrendered, and were nominally the lucky ones as this small area of Ailly Forest saw 60,000 French casualties during 1915 alone.

The “Trench of Thirst”

Friday afternoon we cruised south to Comercy, home to a terrific boulangerie and a fun local restaurant, du Fer à Cheval (the horseshoe) for dinner. We didn’t stay long, though, because we wanted to reach Toul in time to participate in Jours de Patrimoine (Heritage Day) events in the city. When we arrived we docked near our Dutch friends on Jori, and the five of us (Henk and Marjolein, me, Heather, and Dad) had a fun happy hour catching up on our travels over the past week.

A misty morning cruise

While Toul may be overshadowed by its more famous neighbor city, Nancy, Toul itself is well worth a visit. They have a vibrant pedestrian area downtown, with lots of restaurants and shops, and the late 17th century ramparts build by famous French military engineer Vauban (who else?) are almost completely intact. Saturday evening we wrapped up an eventful week with a sound-and-light show projected on the side of the Cathedral.