Vaux
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
FORT, fortified village of France, 4 miles N. E. of Verdun, which was the scene of much fighting during of 1916. the spring and summer On March 3 the Germans, having taken Fort de Douamont, about a mile to the N. E., turned their guns on Vaux. On March 8, the German infantry fought their way into the village from which the French succeeded in expelling them, a German bulletin announcing that the armored fort of Vaux had been occupied. The Germans hung on to the fringe till March 16, but did not reach the crest, and then after a fortnight's rest, an entire German division fought its way nost the village of Vaux and Vaux 12 Pond, scrambling over the rim of the Plateau de Douaumont which represented the northern slope of the Vaux Ravine through the Wood of La Caillette. The German loss of this attack was heavy, and within a few days the French had thrown them back on their old positions. This was part of what was called the "second phase" of the Battle of Verdun and the repulse of the Germans saved Verdun for the rest of the war. Attacks and counter-attacks were kept up during April, May and June. On June 1 the Germans began another important attack and on June 4 succeeded in isolating Fort Vaux. More German attacks followed on June 6 and on June 7 it was stormed and taken, remaining in German hands till November 2 when the French retook it. Later it fell again to the Germans who held it till its conquest by the American forces on June 1, 1918.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's wrote this in 1921, while the ground was still fresh, and its closing sentence has not held up: Fort Vaux did not fall again after the French recaptured it on 2 November 1916, and it was never "conquered by the American forces on June 1, 1918" — it stayed in French hands to the armistice, and American troops fought well to the west and north-west of Verdun in 1918. What the account passes over is now the fort's best-known story: the German capture on 7 June 1916 came only after Major Sylvain-Eugène Raynal's garrison held out for a week without water, sending its last message by carrier pigeon. The fort itself survives, shell-scarred, as a museum and memorial within the preserved Verdun battlefield, with its ruined galleries open to visitors and a plaque to the pigeon; the surrounding "red zone" villages, including Vaux itself, were never rebuilt. The centenary in 2016 was marked at Verdun by joint Franco-German ceremonies.
Written for this edition, 2026.