DOUAUMONT, FORT

one of the outlying defenses of Verdun, France, forming the northeast angle of the outer circuit of the fixed fortifications, of great strategic importance, and therefore the object of the concentrated and persistent attacks of the Germans, when they made their great general attack on Verdun, in February, 1916. After a week of steady bombardment, in which the fort itself was reduced to a crumbling heap of concrete, the Germans poured in such a ma of infantry that the remains of the fort were taken, on February 26th. During that day’s fighting, centering around the fort, the Germans lost approximately 100,000 men. Having po e ed themselves of the ruined fort, the Germans set about reconstructing the defenses, creating a system of underground trenches even more intricate than that which they had destroyed in taking the bill on which the fort stood. The French efforts to retake this position were continuous. On May 22 the Fr. expelled the Germans temporarily, but were only able to hold it two days. It was not till October 24, 1916, that Douaumont was finally recaptured by the French, and the Germans lost their hold on what they had termed ‘the main pillar of the Verdun defenses.’ It marked the turn of the tide against Germany.