Clearing out the shelter under which the mountain gun, photographed opposite, used to fire, after its destruction by a 210.
Monument erected to the memory of "Poilus", killed in the attacks on Vauquois.
Cazeneuve, of the Opéra Comique, Adjutant of the 46th Regiment of the line, who had volunteered at the age of fifty-four, was also killed at Vauquois by a bomb which shattered his dug-out.
Vauquois for long remained a particularly dangerous sector, the scene of frequent surprise attacks, of mining and counter-mining, and of continuous bombardment. The Germans were not reconciled to the loss of this position, which gave the French an outlook over Varennes and the road which formed a continuation of the light railway which they had built between Montfaucon and Spincourt. On March 22, 1915, near the ruins of the church, they attacked a trench with liquid fire. Mines were exploded almost every month, followed by fighting for possession of the craters.
The battle of Verdun was followed by comparative calm in this sector, both sides practically abandoning mine warfare. In 1917, there was hardly anything except surprise raids or reconnoitring parties. On September 26th 1918, the first day of the Franco-American offensive, the outskirts north of Vauquois were completely cleared and Boureuilles was captured by the Americans.
On Vauquois Ridge: the front line trench.