Dragon's Cave (Chemin des Dames)
 Entrance area of the museum |
|
| Data | |
|---|---|
| place | Oulches-la-Vallée-Foulon 
|
| Art | |
| opening | 1969 |
| operator |
Conseil Général of the Aisne Department
|
| Website | |
The Drachenhöhle (French: Caverne du Dragon , more rarely Grotte du Dragon ) is a former underground quarry on the Chemin des Dames , a mountain range in northern France , which was used as an underground bunker for a field camp during the First World War . After 1969, the bunker, supplemented by an above-ground entrance building, was transformed into a museum on the history of the First World War in the region.
The name dragon's cave goes back to the fact that the cave formerly had seven entrances ("mouths"), all of which were manned with weapons that "spat fire" and the cave thus became a "seven-headed dragon" (cf. Revelation 12.3 EU ) did.
Location and structure
The cave is located in the district of Laon in Aisne in the region of Hauts-de-France . The entrance is south of the road that gives the ridge its name ( Chemin des Dames = "Damenweg" ; today department road D18 ) at the Hurtebise homestead in the municipality of Oulches-la-Vallée-Foulon between Cerny-en-Laonnois and Craonnelle .
The cave lies at a depth of 15 to a maximum of 30 meters underground. The cave system, consisting of a large number of chambers, extends about 100 m in east-west and north-south directions. A large part of the former quarry is no longer open to the public. In addition to the main entrance, there are two further entrances in the north and south in the area which is now a museum; originally there were up to seven entrances.
The cave, like the entire Chemin des Dames, is located in the " Red Zone " of the First World War, an area that was completely devastated by heavy artillery bombardment that lasted for months. Since the cave was safe from heavy shells, including explosive shells, due to its depth , the Dragon Cave is one of the few fortifications from the First World War in the area that has largely been preserved intact.
history
Before the First World War: originated as a quarry
In the Aisne region there are numerous quarries, some above ground and some underground (French: creutes , creuttes or boves ), some of which date back to the Gallo-Roman times. Here sandstone was extracted as a stone for the construction of buildings. The quarry treated here, now known as the Dragon's Cave , was probably built in the 16th century and operated as such until the 19th century.
During the First World War: used as a bunker
When the Germans conquered this part of the Chemin des Dames in early 1915, they also occupied the Drachenhöhle, which at that time was not used for military purposes in an organized manner. Since the cave was strategically located and offered optimal protection against artillery fire, the Germans built the cave system into an underground field camp in the weeks and months that followed. Inside there were bedrooms and lounges for soldiers like in a barracks , a kitchen, a chapel and even a small cemetery , as well as a shooting range , weapons and material stores. The cave was provided with electrical lighting and a water supply.
At times, from mid-September to early November 1917, the southern part of the cave was occupied by the French and the northern part by the Germans. The opponents were only separated by a wall that the Germans had drawn across the tunnel system for defense.
After the First World War: expansion into a museum
Shortly after the end of the war, in 1920, the Dragon Cave was declared a national war memorial and opened for visitors. During tours of the cave, visitors initially carried candles and later gas lamps.
The cave was only expanded into a museum almost half a century later on the initiative of the French war graves agency Le Souvenir français and regional business and tourism organizations. On May 4, 1969, the museum was opened in the presence of the French Minister of Research, Robert Galley .
In 1995, the operator Le Souvenir français transferred the Dragon Cave to the Conseil Général of the Aisne department for 30 years . At the same time, work began on modernizing the museum and, in particular, expanding the above-ground part. After the work was completed, the museum was reopened to the public in mid-1999.
museum
In the underground passages and rooms of the quarry, the history of the First World War is documented with the help of texts, photos, graphics, video and audio documents and original objects. A special focus is placed on the Chemin des Dames and the fate of the soldiers in trench warfare.
Visiting the underground part of the museum is only possible in the company of a museum guide. A guided tour in English takes place once a day.
Web links
- Official website of the Caverne du Dragon Museum (in German)
- http://aisne.com/Caverne-du-Dragon
- http://www.focus.de/wissen/mensch/geschichte/erster-weltkrieg/ard-doku- sucht-spannende-entdeck-die-drachenhoehle-gefechtsstand-in-der-unterwelt_id_4154933.html
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e story. In: La Caverne du Dragon, Musée du Chemin des Dames. Conseil général de l'Aisne, accessed December 12, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Lea Herrmann: Visit to the Caverne du Dragon - Combat, Attente, Relève. Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Institute for Romance Languages and Literatures, accessed on August 22, 2016 .
- ↑ a b Memorial tourism in the Aisne department. In: Mission Centenaire 14-18. Agence de Développement et de Réservation Touristique de l'Aisne, accessed on 22 August 2016 .
- ^ A b Sabine Harling: Searching for traces in the Champagne. In: Bonn in the First World War 1914 to 1918. Bonner Geschichtswerkstatt eV, 2014, accessed on August 22, 2016 .
- ↑ Andrew Uffindell: The Nivelle Offensive and the Battle of the Aisne 1917: A Battlefield Guide to the Chemin des Dames . Pen and Sword, 2015, ISBN 978-1-4738-2987-9 .
- ^ Vauban à Todt: Les fortifications du Chemin des Dames: la Caverne du Dragon (2/6). In: Fortification et Mémoire. Retrieved December 12, 2016 (French).
- ↑ Caverne du Dragon (Chemin des Dames). In: HoriZon14-18. Retrieved December 12, 2016 (French).
- ↑ FAQ. In: La Caverne du Dragon, Musée du Chemin des Dames. Conseil général de l'Aisne, accessed December 12, 2016 .