Home

Douaumont

Douaumont is a locality in northeastern France, near Verdun in the Meuse department of the Grand Est region. The name is associated with three World War I sites on the Verdun battlefield: Fort Douaumont, the village of Douaumont, and the Douaumont Ossuary, a memorial established on the battlefield.

Fort Douaumont is part of Verdun’s system of fortifications built before World War I. In 1916, during

The Douaumont Ossuary, completed in the early 1920s, contains the remains of about 130,000 unidentified soldiers

The village of Douaumont was destroyed during the fighting and was not rebuilt after the war. Today,

The Douaumont sites remain important in memory and education about World War I and are among the

the
Battle
of
Verdun,
it
was
captured
by
German
forces
with
relatively
little
resistance,
marking
an
early
milestone
in
the
fighting.
The
fort
remained
under
German
control
for
much
of
the
battle
and
later
sustained
heavy
damage
as
the
front
lines
shifted.
who
died
at
Verdun.
The
complex
serves
as
a
national
memorial
to
the
battle,
with
a
chapel
and
surrounding
graves.
It
is
one
of
the
most
visited
memorial
sites
related
to
World
War
I
in
France.
the
fort
and
the
ossuary
stand
on
or
near
the
site
of
the
former
village
and
are
the
principal
reminders
of
Douaumont
in
the
landscape.
principal
components
of
Verdun
battlefield
tourism.