Verdun - Fort Marre, June 2011. Image intensive.

You will probably be aware that we cut our teeth reporting wise with a series of reports on some of the WWI fortresses around the French town of Verdun earlier this year. QWe haven't quite posted every report from that period however so here's another which is Fort Marre.


Fort Marre was one of the earliest forts built immediately after the initial six "Forts de la Panique" - literally the Panic Forts - which had been built in great haste in 1874 when diplomatic relations between Germany and France again deteriorated to the point where it was expected that another war was imminent. As it turned out the diplomatic crisis evaporated but tension between the two neighbours simmered, and the French, still reeling from their defeat in the recent Franco-Prussian war, continued to build, anticipating another attack along much the same route sooner not later.

As with all the forts around Verdun careful planning ensured the best possible location for Fort Marre on high ground shielding both Verdun itself and the road to Paris along which the Germans had pressed so hard to reach the capital only a few years before.

The initial design of the fort was quite different to that of the fort which eventually faced the new onslaught during the Battle of Verdun in 1916, a plan of which is shown below - with thanks to Cedric and Julie Vaubourg who's absolutely excellent site can also be accessed by clicking the plan image.


Initially the fort had been armed with reinforced exterior emplacements for the deployment of none permanent artillery, and there was very little in the way of reinforcement against plunging enemy artillery over the fort itself. Then with the crisis precipitated by the German invention of a far more deadly explosive together with the emergence of bigger and better ordnance designed and implemented by the mighty Krup works, an urgent need was identified for better shell proofing. Stressed concrete was poured in certain areas of vulnerability and then a special, highly reinforced, and armoured concrete was developed to encase the barracks blocks within the fort. Numerous other improvements were made including the provision of electric lighting and ventilation but the biggest addition to the fighting capability of the fort was the addition of a twin 75mm fast firing retractable, armoured gun turret, together with an armoured observation cupola from which command and control of the turret could be implemented. Thus equipped Fort Marre entered the Great War in 1914. After the horrendous fighting of 1916 all the Verdun forts underwent a series of modifications in the form of the so called Traveux 17. A series of deep concrete lined tunnels were constructed to connect all fighting compartments within the fort, and to provide an exit from the fort in the case of a need for final abandonment in the face of overwhelming enemy forces.

The fort today is very heavily damaged and the devastating effects on the structure of the heavy German artillery pieces such as their 420 mm howitzers, can be clearly seen. parts of the fort facing the German advance were so pulverised that it is hard to find a way through the rubble and the top of the fort is now massively overgrown effectively barring this route as an alternative. We were unable to find a route to see the twin 75mm turret, which is a great shame as this turret is one of the few that did not survive the German artillery and was actually destroyed. Given the heavy armour of these turrets this is a real rarity around Verdun and so it would have been well worth a look.

Penetration of the subterranean areas is possible and it is relatively easy to get a good idea of the layout, though things do get rather confused towards the front of the fort. The interior is very badly damaged and the floor is undermined in many areas leaving only thin layers of aged and rather crumbly concrete over deep pits. Together with the weak ceilings post bombardment, it does not fill one with much confidence!

You go to places I can only dream of but the photo's you post are first class. so saves me the trip.

Wonderful stuff, thank you.

Excellent stuff guys really interesting looking place ! Many thanks for posting!

Thanks for the report.

During the 90' I made many visits to the area between Dixmude and Albert,,,,,,,,, and was shaken by the experiences. I got to see a couple of relative's names on memorials and visited a trench system near Albert where a thoughtful German put his bayonet through my G/father's leg to incapacitate him rather than into his body which would have killed him and effectively stopped me from existing. I still have the walking stick he used post war.

During a short stumble through Railway Wood near Ypres a fallen tree's roots revealed a boot complete with foot and sock,, (now in Hill 60 Museum} ,,, and when walking a field near Zonnebeke fresh mole-hills delivered many used cartridges and two tunic buttons,,,,,

I don't want to go back!!

Thanks guys for your kind comments.

Yes Jools, a very sad place wasn't it the Western Front. I am saddened now by the way it's all becoming a tourist trap instead of being afforded the respect a mass grave should deserve. That's the reason we go off the beaten track at Verdun now instead of walking in the footsteps of a thousand and one school kids per day at Ypres or on the Somme.

I got a shock this time at Newfoundland Park on the Somme when we were coming back from Verdun. We found a great uncle buried in the front row of a cemetary I have walked past countless times without ever realising. We didn't know about him until my mother found him after researching the family tree. He fell on the first day of the Somme but his elder brother who had already served two years in the Boer war, survived WW1 and came home having gone out in early '15 and faced the first gas attack and the first use of flammenwerfers at Ypres that spring. And my other great uncle was shot in the shoulder and paralysed in the Kasierschlact in March '18. He was dragged back after lying in no man's land all day but he never saw or heard who had rescued him. In his 80s he heard of the death of someone he only vaguely knew in his home village only then to learn in a chance conversation that the recently deceased was the bloke who'd dragged him back in 60 some years before! The thing was, the soldiers of the Great War bottled up their experiences and never talked about them - for example he wouldn't even discuss what happened to him until the 60s. But how sad never to have realised his saviour had lived just down the road all that time and he'd never had the chance to thank him. I have his experiences on a tape recording which is very moving.