2022 Battlefield Tour - Fort Douaumont
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- Опубліковано 13 жов 2024
- On day three of the 2022 Battlefield tour, Michael St Maur Shiel shares how Fort Douaumont was captured by the Germans in 1916, and its eventual recapture by the French.
Video produced as part of the National WWI Museum and Memorial’s 2022 Traveling Battlefield Tour: Verdun and Saint-Mihiel. For more information regarding the 2022 tour, and future tours, please visit: theworldwar.org...
For more information about the National WWI Museum and Memorial visit theworldwar.org
I had read Alastair Horne"s "The Price of Glory" when I was a teenager in 1964. This past summer, I crossed off several items on my bucket list, the Maastricht Forts, the Liege Forts, Gros Ouvrage Schoenberg of the Maginot Line, and of course, Verdun. Climbing to the top of the fort really demonstrated how violent the battle was. Inside, I could only imagine the misery of each shell concussing the men, the fetid miasma of bodies, and the terror outside. I honored the fallen Germans, entombed inside, and visited Fort Vaux and the Ossuary. These were truly brave men.
There is a sense of dread and sorrow when you enter the fort. Water pours through the ceiling and it’s a damp miserable place . My son and I walked past the area in which the 700 were entombed. The smell of death was still present. How can that be?
I didn't well understood the story of the man brewing up coffee at the end of the video. Did all the ammo exploded because of the that guy ? If someone can explain me, it'd be great !
Flame thrower fluid is much like kerosene as it’s very volatile. When lit it expands across a large area. The flame came in contact with the shells firing caps or cooked off the explosives. The enormous flame cloud burned a number of men to death. The explosions detonating blew some men to pieces. Those that were in close proximity to the conflagration in the tight confines of the fort were suffocated as the oxygen was quick absorbed by both flame and explosion. It was truly gruesome.