Pupil groups
Sightseeing and museums
Verdun battlefield
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Built between 1881 and 1884 and then reinforced in 1888 with a special layer of concrete that would resist explosives, Fort Vaux was modernised between 1904 and 1906 with a 75mm gun turret, observation posts, three counterscarp galleries and two casemates, each one fitted with two 75mm guns.
It looked...
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The underground fortress featured 400-metre long parrallel galleries, linked by four perpendicular galleries, and could hold up to 2,000 men. It was therefore used as a shelter (mess, baker's cooperatives and, of course, a hospital) and some members of the local council also exercised their functions...
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Built upon the initiative of His Grace Ginisty, Bishop of Verdun, Douaumont Ossuary was inaugurated on 7th August 1932 by the President of the French Republic, Albert Lebrun.
On the 137m-long façade, the shields of each town or city having helped build the Ossuary can be seen. Its 46m-high tower overlooks...
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Fort Douaumont, set on hill 388, was originally part of the defense system built by General Séré de Rivières to protect France from a German Invasion following the Treaty of Frankfurt.
The building work began in 1882 and it was modernised seven times in the run up to 1914. Its...
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12th June 1916 was marked by the historical yet legendary "Bayonet Trench" incident.
A memorial, set on the northern slope of the Ravin de la Dame just north of Douaumont Ossuary, pays homage to the soldiers of the Bayonet Trench who were buried alive under enemy shelling. At least that is how the...
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Destroyed Village of Fleury
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Besides the very heavy human losses, the Great War also left behind very heavy material damage, included the destruction of nine villages (Beaumont, Bezonvaux, Cumières, Douaumont, Fleury devant Douaumont, Haumont, Louvemont, Ornes, Vaux), which are today cited in the "order of the Army".
The nine...
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An excellent introduction to the Great War, the Verdun Memorial is located at the heart of the battlefields and is among the principal European Great War museums.
Created in 1967, under the patronage of Maurice Genevoix, member of the French Academy and War Veteran, this historic and sanctuary of remembrance...
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