Fort Vaux

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Fort Vaux, 2016
80 cm tank observation dome ( Observatoire cuirassé ) Fort Vaux today

Fort Vaux (actually "Fort de Vaux" - briefly also called "Fort de Dillon") was a French fortress of the belt fortress Fester Platz Verdun in Lorraine / France.

designation

Originally it was named Fort de Vaux . By presidential decree of January 21, 1887, the Minister of War, Georges Boulanger , implemented that all forts, fortified artillery installations and barracks of the Système Séré de Rivières had to bear the names of former military commanders, which is why the fort was named Fort Dillon after Général Arthur Dillon . On October 13, 1887, Boulanger's successor, Théophile Ferron, canceled it with the note n ° 14980 of the same date and the fort was given its original name.

Away

Fort Vaux floor plan

Fort Vaux was built in the first phase of the fortification belt around Verdun between 1881 and 1884. The fortress was extensively modernized and strengthened around the turn of the century and until 1912. In particular, the large-scale use of reinforced concrete was unavoidable due to the new grenades with impact and delay fuses, if the fortress should be able to stand up to an attacker. In addition, revolving Mongin towers, revolving and retractable Galopin towers as well as machine guns with revolving and retracting towers were introduced in French fortresses at the turn of the century . The Casemate de Bourges were also developed around the same time . Due to the high demands on static and dynamic loads, both of these necessitated the use of reinforced concrete. Fort Vaux was equipped with a Tourelle de 75 mm R modèle 1905 and two Casemate de Bourges on the right and left side of the valley. In addition, the obligatory tank observation domes ( Observatoire cuirassé ) were installed for the gun turret .

Location in the fortress belt

Fort Vaux is located about 2500 meters southeast of Fort Douaumont on a hill above the village of Vaux-devant-Damloup, which was completely destroyed in the war . South of the facility is the Bois Fumin (Fuminwald) and behind it the Bois de Vaux Chapitre (Chapitrewald). To the south-southeast is the Battery de Damloup and in the Bois de la Lauffée is the intermediate plant Ouvrage de la Lauffée . The ridge on which the fort lies is bounded by the Vaux and Tavannes gorges.

Course of the battle

German attack on Fort Vaux
Inner courtyard of the fort in March 1916
Aerial view of Fort Vaux, 1916

At the Battle of Verdun in 1916 the fort, unlike Fort Douaumont , was not evacuated by the French troops, but was included in the fighting. The situation on the north side of the front in the area around the Ouvrage de Thiaumont and the Ouvrage de Froideterre was deadlocked. Therefore, according to German orders of February 26, 1916, the fort was to be taken on the same day. However, the fighting in the north-east of Hardaumont (see Ouvrage de Hardaumont ) dragged on until the evening.

The interrupted fighting resumed the following day, again with the aim of taking the fortress with the surrounding forests. Remote observation from the occupied Ouvrage de Hardaumont revealed that the constant bombardment had severely damaged the fort and the barriers; it was rated as "ready for storm". However, the German advance was quickly stopped by French barrages and counterattacks. In another attack on March 2nd, the area and the fort itself were to be stormed. The attack was initiated with heavy artillery fire, but failed due to the equally violent return of fire by the defenders. The fighting dragged on until March 3rd. Another attack took place on March 8th. The result was hardest fighting, but the Germans did not see any success.

A false report was issued on March 9: "... village and tank fortress ... taken in a brilliant night attack ...", which, among other things, resulted in the award of the order Pour le Mérite to the commanding General Berthold von Deimling . This led to Allied propaganda making fun of the German army command and the press. It is probably true that it was assumed that no more troops could be accommodated in the fortress, which had obviously been completely destroyed, and that the night attack “must be successful”. As a kind of escape from the dilemma of false reports, another storm was scheduled on March 10th. But this, as well as other attacks, failed with high losses in the funnel field. Towards evening the fort was declared ready for storm again, but the attacks continued to be lossy and unsuccessful. The attacks were temporarily stopped on the morning of March 11. New attacks were planned on March 17th, and the German side moved new formations to this combat zone. The night attack of March 17th was stopped after a few meters and the attacks of March 18th only brought losses. A French counterattack followed on March 19, but it gave the Germans a small advantage. From March 19, the Germans wanted to increase the efficiency of their attacks by setting up a "Mudra attack group" supported by a technical staff under the leadership of Major Kewisch. The attacks dragged on until March 27, without success. The German troops were extremely exhausted. The company was called into question by the enormous losses in infantry (8,800 men on March 25) as well as in artillery and mortars.

At the end of March, intensive research was carried out in order to prepare the new advance scheduled for March 31st. Unsuccessful attacks and counter-attacks followed by April 2. The fort was to be attacked again on May 7th. The major attack on the fort, which was then occupied by around 400 men, finally took place on June 1st. To increase the combat effectiveness of the German troops were flamethrower allocated. The fighting for Fort Vaux was extremely fierce; There was not only fighting in the trench around and on the fort, but also - after the German troops were able to advance into the interior - around every meter of the barricaded central corridor of the fort. After the German use of flamethrowers inside by the heavy smoke and soot formation became impossible, the attackers and defenders in the corridors switched to fighting with machine guns and the massive use of hand grenades and explosive charges. The visibility in the almost unlit corridors was a few meters at best, the air was hardly breathable and the conditions for attackers and defenders were very difficult to endure.

surrender

French defenders in the fort

Neither side was able to achieve a breakthrough until the French water supply finally ran out and the man ration of water sank to well below half a liter per day. Forced by thirst to surrender, the troops under Commandant Sylvain Eugène Raynal surrendered on June 7, 1916 in front of parts of the German infantry regiments 53 and 58. Characteristic of the total exhaustion of the defenders is Raynal's error in the deed of surrender, which he mistakenly dated with “le sept mai” (May 7th) stated. The fighting left around 5,000 dead.

French counterattacks on June 8th and 9th were unsuccessful, the Germans held the dilapidated fort until the great French counteroffensive from October 21st. It was cleared on November 2nd, with parts of the facility being blown up by German pioneers . Only in the early morning of November 3rd was it reached by French raiding parties , found abandoned and occupied again by other forces. The planned bombardment with the 400 mm howitzer Obusier de 400 mm modèle 1915/1916 therefore no longer took place.

See also

literature

  • Alexander Schwencke, Martin Reymann: Battles of the world war. Part 2, Volume 14 The tragedy of Verdun 1916 - The struggle for Fort Vaux. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, 1928 Oldenburg i. O./Berlin 1928, (on behalf of the Reichsarchiv). Link to the full text on Archive.org .
  • Paul C. Ettighoffer: Verdun. The great judgment. Bechtermünz, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-8289-0735-0 .
  • Henry Bordeaux: Le Fort de Vaux 1916. Flammarion, Paris VI è 1932.

Web links

Commons : Fort Vaux  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Note n ° 5285 of March 25, 1886 from War Minister Boulanger to the General Commanders of the Military Regions; Presidential decree of January 21 on the renaming of forts, fortified artillery installations and barracks, as proposed by M. le général Boulanger, Minister of War.
  2. ↑ http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65580980/f25.image.r=Ecole+d'application+du+G%C3%A9nie+ann%C3%A9e++fortification.langFR
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g h Guided tour / information boards in Fort Vaux
  4. ↑ a b A. Schwencke, M. Reymann: battles of the world war. Part 2, Volume 14 The tragedy of Verdun 1916 - The struggle for Fort Vaux. Verlag Gerhard Stalling, 1928 Oldenburg i. O. / Berlin (on behalf of the Reichsarchiv), pp. 5–32.
  5. ↑ A. Schwencke, M. Reymann: Battles of the world war. Part 2, Volume 14 The tragedy of Verdun 1916 - The struggle for Fort Vaux. Pp. 33-52.
  6. ↑ a b c A. Schwencke, M. Reymann: battles of the world war. Part 2, Volume 14 The tragedy of Verdun 1916 - The struggle for Fort Vaux. Pp. 53-117.
  7. ↑ A. Schwencke, M. Reymann: Battles of the world war. Part 2, Volume 14 The tragedy of Verdun 1916 - The struggle for Fort Vaux. Facsimile of the negotiating chapter.
  8. ↑ A. Schwencke, M. Reymann: Battles of the world war. Part 2, Volume 14 The tragedy of Verdun 1916 - The struggle for Fort Vaux. P. 118 ff.

Coordinates: 49 ° 11 ′ 59.8 "  N , 5 ° 28 ′ 11.9"  E