They leaped up and slammed grenades into the loophole, ending the resistance of the brave French machine-gun crew. German pioneers tried unsuccessfully to knock them out with bundles of grenades, until they heard the sound of a machine-gun jam and muffled French curses from the gunners. Unlike Douaumont, Vaux’s machine-gun bunkers were crewed and prepared, and spat rounds into the oncoming German soldiers. Two German battalions moved forward, swarming Fort Vaux’s superstructure. The garrison endured the bombardment for 48 hours, when it stopped suddenly before dawn on June 2. He could see massive crowds of German infantry - if only his 75mm gun worked! Vaux’s machine-gunners, nevertheless, tore holes into the ranks of baffled German soldiers from over a mile away, compounding Falkenhayn’s desire to take the position. Raynal watched helplessly as German attacks routed the French infantry positions ahead of the fort. He had only been appointed on May 24, his first impression upon arriving in the crowded, squalid structure was of soldiers crammed together, “in such numbers that it is extremely difficult to move, and I took a very long time to reach my command post… If an attack materialized all the occupants would be captured before they could defend themselves.” Major Sylvain-Eugene Raynal, a tough 49-year old colonial soldier from Bordeaux, commanded the motley garrison. Four carrier pigeons and a signalman’s pet cocker-spaniel rounded out the complement. Many were wounded, or stragglers and strays from other units, stretcher-bearers, signalers, who had gotten lost and hid in the fort. Inside the fort had a complement of 600 men, crowded together in a fort designed for only 250. On June 1, a colossal German bombardment began on the fort, at one point firing shells at the rate of 2,000 an hour. It had no massive, retractable gun turrets, mounting only one 75mm howitzer turret, which had been shattered by a German satchel charge in February, and a few machine-gun pillboxes. It was much smaller than Douaumont, or its other neighbor Fort Moulainville. Vaux did not look like much of an obstacle with that in mind. ![]() Subsequent efforts to right the claim and take the fort had been forced back with heavy casualties, but in June, Falkenhayn ordered that the fort’s capture finally be completed.ĭouaumont, the strongest fortress guarding Verdun, fell almost without a fight in February. In February, after the capture of Douaumont, the Germans had claimed, incorrectly, that Fort Vaux had fallen to them too, a boast that brought some ridicule down on the Crown Prince. Next to Fort Douaumont at Verdun was the smaller Fort Vaux, which alongside its stronger neighbor formed the linchpin of the first line of defenses of the city. Pictured - Machine-gun trained on the door, a German squad watches the bombardment of Fort Vaux.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |