Battle of Fort Vaux

The battle of Fort Vaux is one of the most heroic episodes of Verdun. From 2 to 7 June 1916, the small garrison commanded by Major Raynal resisted, cut off from all supply, against massive German assaults on and inside the fort. After terrifying bombardments, German infantry managed to infiltrate the galleries and fight the defenders with flamethrowers, grenades, and bayonets, in the darkness and stench of the tunnels. The French, encircled, deprived of water, exhausted, continued fighting for six days, communicating by carrier pigeons and improvised signals. Resistance ended only when the garrison, dying of thirst, no longer had the strength to continue: Raynal handed over his sword to General von Guretzky, saluted by the enemy for his bravery. The fort would never fall again during the war and Raynal became a national symbol of French endurance.

Fort Vaux, one of the elements of the Verdun defensive system, had been partially disarmed before the war. After the loss of Fort Douaumont, the defence of Vaux became strategic. Raynal, an infantry commander wounded several times, took command of a composite garrison: infantrymen, gunners, signallers, stretcher-bearers, etc. From May onward the fort was pounded without respite: the cupolas were pulverized, access was cut, shelters were flooded with gas and shells. When the Germans launched the final assault in early June, the garrison was totally isolated, supplied only by carrier pigeons (the famous Vaillant) and improvised messages. The defenders fought in inhuman conditions: darkness, gas, heat, lack of water (the wounded drank their own urine), rats and corpses littered the corridors. Despite promises of relief, no reinforcements would arrive in time. The fort's resistance galvanized the rear and reinforced the legend of Verdun.

The Germans employed considerable means: continuous bombardments (420 mm shells), assault sappers, flamethrowers, gas grenades, explosions to open caponiers. The assault unfolded in two phases: first the exterior attack (where the defenders fell back into the galleries), then underground fighting in the corridors, where every metre was disputed with grenades and bayonets. The French organized barriers in the galleries, used all available ammunition, and sabotaged exits to slow enemy progress. Communications were maintained by a last pigeon (Vaillant), bearer of Raynal's desperate message to headquarters: 'We are still holding but urgently request relief, situation critical.' Evacuation of the wounded became impossible; lack of water caused deaths by dehydration. Raynal ordered surrender on 7 June, considering it no longer possible to defend the fort without needlessly sacrificing the survivors.

The fall of Fort Vaux, despite tactical defeat, was a moral victory for France: Raynal and his men were acclaimed as heroes, and their resistance galvanized public opinion and the army. The episode of the pigeon Vaillant entered military legend. The French army drew major tactical lessons on the need for reinforcement, supply, and coordination in positional warfare. The fort would be retaken by the French in November 1916, during Nivelle's counter-offensives. The memory of Vaux (and Raynal) structures Verdun commemoration: plaques, ossuaries, school and military visits perpetuate the memory of sacrifice and fraternity in arms. The enemy himself, General von Guretzky, saluted the garrison's bravery. Fort Vaux remains today a high place of national memory.