Location 11 – A Walk along the Cote de Froideterre (Sentier de Froideterre)

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Brief History - Crisis of the Battle

Directions – From Fleury continue along the D913 until you reach the junction at the corner of the National Cemetery. Continue straight ahead to the Ossuary and park in the car park at the rear. Leave the car and, facing the rear of the Ossuary, walk to the right. At the edge of the car park you will meet the Sentier de Froideterre, which is basically a sign-posted footpath which guides you south-westwards along the Côte de Froideterre to Ouvrage de Froideterre and back again. This sector saw some of the heaviest fighting during the late spring and early summer of 1916.

Practical Information – A good pair of walking boots are advisable for this part of the tour as it can get muddy and it is worth buying the map of the battlefield, ("Forets de Verdun et du Mort-Homme") which is on sale at Forts Douaumont and Vaux, to aid direction. As it may be lunchtime when you get here, it would make sense to break for some refreshments at the Abri des Pélérins the other side of the Ossuary first, as the walk takes at least two and a half hours if you want to study the area properly. A torch may also prove useful if you want to explore inside some of the shelters and fortifications en route. Although beware! The French do not have quite the same attitude to health and safety as the UK and just because you can enter places such as the Ouvrage de Froideterre, does not necessarily mean that it's safe to do so! Last piece of advice – unless it's wintertime, take some insect repellent with you – the mosquitoes here take no prisoners!

From my experience very few visitors make the trip away from the main sites accessible by car, yet this is one of the most rewarding parts of the entire tour. Only by following the ground here can you really begin to understand how the battle developed as it did on the right bank after the fall of Douaumont. The key features are as follows:

Ouvrage de Thiaumont (images 2 - 4) - Thiaumont was a small intermediate fortified position, linking Fort Douaumont with Ouvrage de Froideterre. It sits in a commanding position on the Côte de Froideterre and was originally equipped with a Bourges casemate housing two 75mm guns, machine guns and an observation post. Once Douaumont had fallen, like Vaux, its importance lay in its command of the approaches to the village of Fleury. For five months between May and September 1916 the battle swirled around this position.

The height of the battle here began on 23rd June when, following a two-day preparatory bombardment including the heaviest calibre shells and gas, five Bavarian regiments stormed the Thiaumont position heading south-westwards along the ridge towards the Ouvrage de Froideterre itself. What happened to that advance is explained later in this section, but suffice to say here that on 30th June the French were in a position to counter-attack and the 248th Line Regiment recaptured Thiaumont. From then until 8th August it was to change hands no less than 16 times in a deadly seesaw struggle that saw first one side, then the other take the advantage. In mid-August the French command changed their tactics and slowly began to encircle Thiaumont but it was to be another two months before the position was finally permanently back in French hands. By then literally thousands of men had been killed and lost forever in this wasteland.

P.C.118 (images 5 - 7) – This command post lay at the edge of the Ouvrage de Thiaumont and was, originally, just a dug-out to provide command facilities and shelter for troops defending the positions between the forts. Before the battle began, reinforced concrete walls were added and it became a centre of resistance for both French and German soldiers as the battle swayed back and forth. Stone crosses were laid after the war by families to commemorate the loss of loved ones here.

P.C.119 (images 8 & 9) – This was another of the command posts that dot Froideterre Ridge. Again it was in the thick of the fighting between June and October 1916 with no less than twenty French divisions attacking or defending it over the five-month period. The reason that the French and Germans found it so difficult to consolidate their gains can be clearly seen here and was largely a matter of topography. Basically once the Germans moved off the crest of the Froideterre Ridge at Thiaumont towards P.C.119, the flat trajectories of their field artillery could no longer offer effective support. Likewise once the French moved out of the cover of the reverse slope of the ridge towards P.C.118 and the Ouvrage de Thiaumont they came into direct view of German artillery observers to the north.

Other Fortifications (images 10 & 11) – As you continue along Sentier de Froideterre south-westwards there are two further fortifications, both on your right that would have provided command posts and shelter to French troops moving up to assault P.C.118 and Thiaumont. They appear better preserved again than P.C.119 and, apart from the German assault of 23rd June, would have been behind the front line.

Ouvrage de Froideterre - Built in 1887-88 and completed from 1902 to 1905, the Ouvrage de Froideterre played a key role in the Battle of Verdun during the summer of 1916. Following the capture of Forts Douaumont and Vaux, it, together with neighbouring positions at Thiaumont and Souville, were the last fortifications between the Germans and the town itself.

The most severe attack came on 23rd June when, after two days of continuous bombardment, the Germans launched 19 regiments against the French defences. Despite being only an intermediate type fort and lacking underground communications between the fighting casemates and turrets, the garrison of Froideterre performed magnificently and the 75mm gun and two machine guns defeated the German assault.

When you have completed your exploration of Ouvrage de Froideterre return down the tarmaced access road to the main road and continue left. Almost immediately on the other side of the road you will see the:

Abri des Quartre Cheminée - or "Four Chimney's Dugout" after the ventilation shafts that break the surface marking its position. Unlike the neighbouring fort, which looks out from atop the Douaumont Ridge, the dugout was sunk into the reverse slope in an attempt to protect it from enemy fire. It was used during the battle as a Brigade Command Post and Field Hospital. During the massive bombardment prior to the 23rd June attack, some gas shells penetrated into the dugout and hundreds of the wounded, immobile and without gas masks, were asphyxiated. On 23rd June itself, the position was attacked by five Bavarian regiments that reached the top of the dugout and started throwing grenades down the ventilation shafts. A bayonet charge by the 114th Chasseur Battalion restored the situation but, tragically, too late for the dugout's occupants.