VERDUN - Azannes - Romagne-sous-les-Côtes - Damvillers - La Grande Montagne, American Memorial - Consenvoye 

  • by Pierre Grande Guerre
  • •
  • 20 Mar, 2019
  • •

Year of visit: 2009

From the Destroyed Village of Ornes we continue our route along the 1916 German Jump-Off Lines to the German War Cemeteries of Azannes I, Azannes II, Romagne-sous- les- Côtes, and Damvillers. To break this possible monotony we visit the American 316th I.R. Memorial at La Grande Montagne, a former German stronghold, also known as Hill 378. We end our meandering trip with the German War Cemetery of Consenvoye along the east bank of Meuse river.
We start at the western outskirts of Azannes-et-Soumazannes with a visit to the
Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Azannes I.
The German military cemetery Azannes I was created at the start of the Battle of Verdun in February 1916 by German troops, when they for the first time were in need of a burial place for their dead. The majority of buried soldiers here were killed in the first three months of the battle. Many of these men were involved in the attack at Fort de Douaumont. They belonged to six divisions, which in this area of numerous attacks and defence had to suffer particularly high losses. The Royal Bavarian Armierungsbattaillon X even created his own memorial on the cemetery. These soldiers belonged to army units of their home garrisons in Bavaria, Hesse, Saxony, Brandenburg, East Prussia, Mecklenburg, Posen and Schleswig-Holstein.
"ON THIS CEMETERY REST 811 GERMAN SOLDIERS"
After all this information about the cemetery, I will spend only some necessary words.
The Memorial of the Royal Bavarian Armierungsbattaillon X (a construction battalion):
"LOYAL INTO THE DEATH"
"THE ROYAL BAVARIAN ARMIERUNGSBATAILLON X TO THEIR UNFORGETTABLE BRAVE COMRADES"
The grave of a driver of a 60 cm. railway benzol locomotive. 
(Read my previous page about the railway system; "Bezonvaux and Ornes".)
Graves of two Leutnants. The Hebrew words on the grave of the Jewish Leutnant Levi mean:
Top: "HERE RESTS BRUNO LEVI"
Bottom: "MAY HIS SOUL STAY CONNECTED TO THE CIRCLE OF THE LIVING"
With a last view we leave the cemetery, ...
... and continue northward, along the D 66, to the
 
Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Azannes II.
A communal grave for 187 soldiers oversees the cemetery.
The German military cemetery Azannes II was created at the start of the Battle of Verdun in early March 1916 by German soldiers, when, after initial successes of the German offensive, the front had moved a few kilometres to the south. At this time, the medical units were also advancing further and did set up in the area around Azannes several dressing stations and field hospitals. One of these dressing stations used to be on the edge of a wood on the location of this cemetery. This dressing station alone dealt during the period of 7 until 27 September 1916 with 3.500 wounded men. Those who succumbed to serious injuries, were the first to be found a final resting place on this cemetery. When the war ended in November 1918, the cemetery contained about 800 graves. After the war the French military authorities extended the cemetery significantly with the supplement of the fallen soldiers , which were found by the hundreds until 1920, during the clearing up process of the abandoned battlefield. Even nowadays human remains are recovered again due to the construction, agricultural and forestry works, and the forces of nature, like frost and defrost of the soil.
The then reburied soldiers came from almost all the focal points of the battle: Samogneux, Thiaumont, Vaux, Romagne-s/s-les Côtes, Fleury, Douaumont, Beaumont, Mort-Homme, Côte 304, Avocourt, etc.; from a total of 145 municipal or district areas. The soldiers, resting at Azannes II, belonged to army units of their home garrisons in Bavaria, Hesse, Saxony, and Thuringia, or came from almost all Prussian provinces.
"ON THIS CEMETERY REST 7.450 GERMAN SOLDIERS"
Again: After all this information about the cemetery, I will spend only some necessary words.
We leave and continue northward via the D 66 to the ...
... Romagne-sous-les-Côtes Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof.
Next to the communal, civilian cemetery lies the German war cemetery.
The German Military Cemetery Romagne-sous-les-Côtes was created with the beginning of the German attack on Verdun in February 1916 by German soldiers. (*)
At that time the initial positions ran just 2-3 km south of Romagne. Consequently many men, fallen during the first days of attack, rest here at the cemetery. In addition to the wounded they were brought back from the front line by combat troops . The majority of them were killed in the Bois de Chapitre, before Souville and Fleury, or at Fort de Douaumont. Others died at Damloup and near Fort de Vaux. Even before the start of the offensive several hospitals and dressing stations had been established in Romagne. Many of the severely wounded succumbed here to their injuries and also found a grave in this cemetery. The French attack in August and September 1917 again demanded heavy sacrifices and led to the evacuation of Romagne-sous-les-Côtes, which was constantly under bombardment of French heavy artillery. This ended in August 1917. A small number of casualties from the first battles at Verdun in August 1914 were recovered from their graves in 1916 and were buried also in this cemetery. The soldiers, buried here, belonged to army units from Bavaria, Brandenburg, East and West Prussia, Mecklenburg, Pomerania, Hanover, Hesse, Baden, and Lorraine.

((*) Don't mix up Romagne-sous-Montfaucon, Argonne, with Romagne-sous-les Côtes.)
"ON THIS CEMETERY REST 2.223 GERMAN SOLDIERS"
Again; only some necessary words...
"HONOUR THE DEAD. THEY DIED FOR THE FATHERLAND".
A grave of a soldier of the "2nd Company of the Prussian "Armierungsbataillon" Nr. 8".
"RESTING PLACE OF OUR LOYAL COMRADE RICHARD HELLER BY ILL FATE KILLED IN A DEADLY ACCIDENT IN AZANNES AT 15-4-1916 2nd. COMPANY PRUSSIAN ARMIERUNGSBATAILLON 8."
Against the cemetery wall rest 4 remarkable headstones.
The grave of an Obergefreiter, a Corporal.
A Pionier, killed on 15 June 1916.
Two Pioniere share this grave, also killed on 15 June 1915.
A last view over the cemetery.
We continue westward to Damvillers, but we make a short detour south-westward. 
Halfway, at the crossroads of the D 19d and the D 125, near the village of Gibercy, we have a good view at the Côte d'Horgne. On the right, on the higher hill top, was located the Gündellturm.
Der Gündellturm - The Gündell Tower
Shortly after the German occupation of the Côte d’Horgne (353 m.) German soldiers of Pioniere Bataillon 5 started on 28 September 1914 the construction of this observation tower. That day they finished the first floor of the observation tower. The next day they constructed the second floor. On 1 October they completed the third floor and the observation cabin on it. On 2 October they continued constructing the tower with another extra 6 m. until a height of 24 m. The Germans named the height and the tower after the Commander of the 5th Reserve Army Corps, General von Gündell.
On 26 February 1916 Kaiser Wilhelm II visited the tower for a panorama view over the battlefield. In October 1917 members of the Reserve.I.R. 7 pulled the tower down.
(Info: courtesy by J.C. Broek Roelofs, the Netherlands.)
We return via the D 125 back to the D 19, to continue to Damvillers,  ...
... to turn right at the village, and follow the D 102 northward to the Damvillers Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof. 
The jump-off positions of the German 1916 offensive were located a few kilometres south of Damvillers. The Germans established in the village facilities for a large number of staffs and field hospitals. From February to mid-September 1916 one dressing station in particular, Reserve Field Hospital No. 48, set up as a ”Leichtverwundetensammelplatz”, took care here of about 8.400 wounded men. Brought back dead, or succumbed to injuries, and as a result of accidents or illnesses, the number of graves of the dead augmented here rapidly. Many dead soldiers came as victims of the French counteroffensive in August 1917 and the Franco American Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918. During this time four soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Army died and were buried here. They belonged to one of the four Austrian divisions, which were send to the Western Front to support the German Armies in the summer of 1918. The German soldiers, who rest here, belonged to army units from almost all German countries of Imperial Germany and from the Prussian provinces.
"ON THIS CEMETERY REST 1.113 GERMAN SOLDIERS" - There are also buried 2 soldiers of the Imperial Austrian -Hungarian Army and 2 Belgian civilians.
Reserve Field Hospital No. 48 was situated at this location.
"In Memory of the brave Warriors, who rest here". - "Erected by the Reserve Feld Lazarett No. 48 1916"
A view westward over the Damvillers cemetery.
From the entrance of the cemetery a south-east view at the northern slopes of the Côte d'Horgne.
We continue our trip, and from Damvillers village we follow the D 102 westward to
 La Grande Montagne - Hill 378.
At 1 kilometre west of the La Grande Montagne Wood, at a location, called la Haute Chène we have this view northward. 
We follow a country road upward to the  American Memorial of La Grande Montagne, ...
... dedicated to the American 361th Infantry Regiment of  the 79th Division.
This hill used to be the infamous German stronghold of Hill 378. 
Before we continue, a concise story about one of the last battles of the Great War, an almost forgotten battle,
the Battle of La Grande Montagne.

The Battle of La Grande Montagne (3 -7 November 1918)
After the First Battle of the Marne in September 1914 the Germans constructed in this area on both banks of the Meuse impressive defensive positions, the Kriemhilde Line. It ran roughly from Apremont in the west until Damvillers in the east.
Almost at the end of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive (26 September - 11 November 1918), on 23 October 1918, the Americans succeeded to conquer the villages Sivry-sur-Meuse and Consenvoye at the foot of the height of la Grande Montagne (378 m.).
After the conquest of these villages the height of La Grande Montagne formed the first height to conquer at the east bank of the Meuse. The height is also known as Hill 378 and is also called la Haute Chène or the Borne de Cornouillers. The American soldiers dubbed the last name in “Cornwilly”. 
This bloody battle of La Grande Montagne seems almost forgotten in history.
After defending the battlefields of Côte 304, and fighting at Montfaucon and Troyon in the Argonne , the 316th I.R. arrived in this sector on 28 October 1918. The 316th I.R. belonged to the 158th Infantry Brigade commanded by Brigadier-General Johnson, which was a part of the 79th Division and the 5th Army Corps. They immediately started digging and constructing defensive lines.
To sketch the dangers of these circumstances I show you some excerpts from the 1919 war journal of 316th I.R.:
In the early night of 3 November Major Manning is ordered to begin “an offensive reconnaissance”. The Major and his troops know to occupy the crest of the hill in shell hole defence positions and not in trenches, but they were almost annihilated by German machine gun fire and artillery fire.
On 4 November 1918 started officially the offensive for Hill 378 which the Americans call the La Grande Montagne Offensive or the Battle of La Grande Montagne. On their left flank they were supported by the French 15th Colonial Division and on their right flank by the American 315th I.R.. During the attack Major Parkin was seriously wounded. 
On 5 November started the failed attack of Major Manning, during which he was killed.
At the end of the day of the 6th of November the 316th succeeded to occupy the crest of the hill, still in shell hole defence positions. 
From 9 November the 316th I.R. continued fighting northward. On the the 11th, on Armistice Day, the regiment reached a line 1 km. south of Damvillers and Gibercy.
 
Although many Germans retired during the Battle of La Grande Montage northward, and although the Americans took hundreds of Germans prisoner, the exact number of German casualties is unknown.
 
Out of a total of 1.936 casualties during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive the 316th I.R. counted 825 casualties during the Battle of La Grande Montagne, which counts for half of it's casualties during the whole campaign!
Unfortunately I could not find any pictures of the heroic Majors Parkin and Manning, nor of the regiment's commanders Colonel Williams and Lt. Colonel Haedicke.
Two commanders of the 5th Army Corps, Corps Commander General George H. Cameron and the Commander of the 79th Division, the "Liberty Division", Major General Joseph E. Kuhn.

Read more about this in the History of the 316th Infantry Regiment itself and click HERE . Visit also the Argonne Photo Impressions and Montfaucon in particular for more info and detailed maps concerning the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

Quite remarkable: the Memorial mentions 3.128 casualties and 78 officers casualties.
The "Montfaucon" side of the Memorial tells, why the German stronghold of Hill 378 has been such an important location for observations over the Meuse valley. 
The spot of the Memorial offers a panorama view over the area of the American campaign and over the battlefields from Montfaucon, towards and over the river Meuse.
On the horizon you will detect the Doric column and the statue of the American Meuse-Argonne Memorial at Montfaucon.
American Meuse-Argonne Memorial at the Butte de Montfaucon, Argonne.
View the Argonne Photo Impressions and Montfaucon in particular for more detailed maps about the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.
From La Grande Montagne we continue our route via Sivry-sur-Meuse to Consenvoye.
Passing Sivry-sur Meuse, a view south-westward over the Meuse valley to the Mort Homme.
We near the bank of the Meuse, south of the village of Consenvoye.
 French period aerial photograph
This French period aerial photograph shows the German barbed wire entanglements and trenches along the Meuse in and around the village of Consenvoye, which the Americans succeeded to conquer on 10 October 1918.
Along the Meuse and the D 964, 1 km. south of the village, lies the ...
... Consenvoye Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof. 
The German military cemetery of Consenvoye was created in 1920 by the French military authorities as a collective graveyard. During the initial fighting in August 1914, during the trench warfare of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, the summer of 1917, and the period of September –November 1918, many German soldiers were buried in makeshift graves.
German bodies were reburied here from a broad sector between Verdun and the Meuse and Henay, left and right of the Meuse. More human remains of soldiers followed, which were found during restoration works on the battlefield. This work lasted almost until the beginning of the Second World War. At this cemetery rest German soldiers of army units of almost all countries and provinces of Imperial Germany.
"ON THIS CEMETERY REST 11.148 GERMAN SOLDIERS" - There are also buried a German nurse, one Russian soldier, and 62 soldiers of the Imperial Austro-Hungarian Army.
A mass grave, containing the human remains of 2.537  soldiers, oversees the cemetery.
On the mass grave lies a bronze plaque with inscriptions in the French and German languages.
"At 22 September 1984, for the first time in the history of both nations, the French State President and the German Bundes Chancellor met at this Soldatenfriedhof. In communal memory of the dead of both World Wars they did lay wreaths and declared: "We have reconciled. We have come to an agreement. We have become friends."
"IN A COMMUNAL GRAVE REST HERE 2.537 GERMAN SOLDIERS 933 STAY UNKNOWN"
The mass grave contains 24 bronze tiles  with lists of names of fallen soldiers. 
View over the thousands of flowers of the mass grave.
In between the graves with iron crosses, ...
... lie communal graves with bronze tiles, ...
... inscripted with lists of names.
View from the mass grave over the Meuse, ...
...  to the slopes of the Mort Homme.
Silently and impressed by these huge numbers we leave the cemetery and we end our trip along the former German lines around Verdun.
 Go  next to  the  YPRES SALIENT - Menin Road, Stage 1 - Railway Wood - Canadian Light Infantry Memorial - Nécropole St. Charles de Potyze - Wieltje Northumbrian Division Memorial

AISNE - Chemin des Dames

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 29 November 2019

De Vanceboro Bridge Bomaanslag

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 14 November 2019

Inleiding: Franz Von Papen & Werner Horn; schaker en pion

Onlangs stuitte ik in een oud boek (1) van 1919 op een opmerkelijk verhaal over een Duitse Luitenant, die in begin februari 1915 een half geslaagde bomaanslag pleegt op een spoorbrug over een grensrivier tussen de Verenigde Staten en Canada. Ook al staat de bekentenis van de dader, Werner Horn, deels in het boek te lezen, de naam van zijn opdrachtgever zal Horn blijven verzwijgen. Na wat verder zoeken vond ik ook de naam van Horn’s opdrachtgever, Franz von Papen, een van de aangeklaagden van het latere Neurenberg Proces in 1946.

In een Grote Oorlog als de Eerste Wereldoorlog  is Horn’s aanslag op de brug uiteraard slechts een bescheiden wapenfeit. Toch vermoed ik dat dit relatief onbekende verhaal, dat de geschiedenis is ingegaan als de “ Vanceboro International Bridge Bombing ”, nog interessante kanten kent. Het is onder andere een spionageverhaal over hoe in een groter plan een sluwe schaker zijn naïeve pion offert.  

Beknopte situatieschets Canada en de Verenigde Staten in 1915

ALSACE-LORRAINE - The Gap of Charmes - La Trouée de Charmes

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 1 October 2019

This trip we start at the Léomont near Vitrimont and we will with some exceptions concentrate on the Battle of Lorraine of August-September 1914 in the area, called, the “Trouée de Charmes”, the Gap of Charmes.

After the Léomont battlefield we continue our explorations to Friscati hill and its Nécropole Nationale. Next we pay a visit to the battlefield of la Tombe to go on to the Château de Lunéville. There we cross the Vezouze to move on southward to the Bayon Nécropole Nationale. At Bayon we cross the Moselle to pass Charmes for the panorama over the battlefield from the Haut du Mont. North-west of Charmes we will visit the British Military Cemetery containing 1918 war victims. From Charmes we go northward to the battlefield of the First French Victory of the Great War, the Battle of Rozelieures of 25 August 1914. North of Rozelieures we will visit the village of Gerbéviller. From there we make a jump northward to visit the ruins of Fort de Manonviller to finish with an interesting French Dressing Station bunker, west of Domjevin.

LORRAINE - Avricourt - Leintrey - Reillon - Domèvre - Parux

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 18 September 2019
Though we depart from Badonviller in the Northern Vosges , we make a jump northward to the east of Lunéville and Manonviller. We start at Avricourt on the border of Alsace and Lorraine. From the Avricourt Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof we explore the southern Lorraine battlefields ; the mine craters of Leintrey , the Franco- German war cemetery and Côte 303 at Reillon , and some German bunkers near Gondrexon , Montreux , and Parux.

LORRAINE - Montreux - German Front Walk 

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 13 September 2019
We depart from Raon-l’Etape to drive northward via Badonviller to Montreux to visit the  "Circuit du Front Allemand 14-18", the  Montreux German Front Walk 14-18,  with its trenches , breastworks , and at least twenty bunkers.

LORRAINE - The Battle of Morhange - 1914

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 8 September 2019
North-east of Nancy, east of Pont-à-Mousson, and south-east of Metz we visit the battlefields of the Battle of Morhange of 14 until 20 August 1914. We follow mainly topographically the route of the French advance eastward over the Franco-German border of 1871-1918.
During this visit, we try to focus on the day that the momentum of the battle switched from the French side to the advantage of the Bavarian side: the day of 20 August 1914, when the Bavarians rapidly re-conquered the territory around Morhange , being also the day of the start of their rather successful “Schlacht in Lothringen”.
We will visit beautiful landscapes of the "Parc Naturel Régional de Lorraine", memorials, ossuaries, and cemeteries. Sometimes we will divert to other periods of the Great War, honouring Russian and Romanian soldiers, who died in this sector. We start our route at the border village of Manhoué, and via Frémery, Oron, Chicourt, Morhange, Riche, Conthil, Lidrezing, Dieuze, Vergaville, Bidestroff, Cutting, Bisping we will finish in Nomeny and Mailly-sur-Seille, where the Germans halted their advance on 20 August 1914, and where they constructed from 1915 some interesting bunkers.

LORRAINE - Lanfroicourt – Nomeny - Monument du Grand Couronné 

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 5 September 2019
South of Manhoué we start this trip at Lanfroicourt along the French side of the Franco-German 1871-1918 border, marked by the meandering Seille river. We visit some French bunkers  in Lanfroicourt, near Array-et-Han and in Moivrons. From there we go northward to the outskirts of Nomeny and the hamlet of Brionne to visit the ( second ) memorial, commemorating the events in Nomeny of 20 August 1914. We continue westward to finish at the Monument du Grand Couronné at the Côte de Géneviève, a former French artillery base, which offers several panoramic views over the battlefield.

LORRAINE - Bouxières-sous-Froidmont - Verny - Feste Wagner

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 28 August 2019
North of Pont-à-Mousson and south of Metz, we explore the relics of German bunkers and fortifications along the Franco-German 1871-1918 border. We start at Bouxières-sous-Froidmont to visit the nearby height of the Froidmont on the front line. This time we will show only a part of the Froidmont, focusing on its military significance.  From the Froidmont we continue via Longeville-lès-Cheminot and Sillegny to the “Forêt Domaniale de Sillegny” to explore some artillery ammunition bunkers. Next we continue to Marieulles for its three interesting bunkers and to Vezon for its line of ammunition depot bunkers. From Vezon we continue to the “Deutscher Kriegsgräberstätte Fey – Buch”. From Fey we go eastward, passing 6 bunkers near Coin-lès-Cuvry to finish our trip at the top construction of the “Feste Wagner” or “Fort Verny”, north of Verny.

VOSGES - Mutzig - Fort de Mutzig - Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 25 August 2019

From Badonviller or the Col du Donon we continue north-eastward for a visit to an extraordinarily well restored sample of German fortifications:  the Feste Kaiser Wilhelm II, or Fort de Mutzig,  lying on a height, some 8 km. away from the 1871-1918 Franco-German Border.

VOSGES - Ste. Marie-aux-Mines - Tête du Violu / Bernhardstein

by Pierre Grande Guerre • 23 August 2019
We concentrate on the German side of the front around "Markirch", Sainte Marie-aux-Mines, the so-called "Leber" front sector . We first pay a visit to the Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof, and next to the southern side of the Col de Ste. Marie for the many interesting bunkers of the German positions at the Bernhardstein, at the north-eastern slopes of the Tête du Violu. On the next photo page about the Haut de Faîte we will continue with a visit to the northern side of the pass and the "Leber" sector.
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