Sign indicating the site of the destroyed village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont

Landscape around Cumières-le-Mort-Homme during the Battle of Verdun

During the First World War, specifically at the time of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, nine villages in the French département of Meuse were completely destroyed by the fighting. After the war, it was decided that the land previously occupied by the destroyed villages would not be incorporated into other communes, as a testament to these villages which had “died for France”, as they were declared, and to preserve their memory. While three of the villages were subsequently rebuilt and are governed as normal communes, the other six are entirely unpopulated and are managed by a council of three members, appointed by the prefect of Meuse. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (868x365, 47 KB)Battle of Verdun: Mort-Homme and Hill 287, May 1916 Downloaded from [1] File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (868x365, 47 KB)Battle of Verdun: Mort-Homme and Hill 287, May 1916 Downloaded from [1] File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Combatants Allies: Serbia, Russia, France, Romania, Belgium, British Empire, United States, Italy, and others Central Powers: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Ottoman Empire Casualties Military dead:5 million Civilian dead:3 million Total dead:8 million Military dead:4 million Civilian dead:3 million Total dead:7 million The First World... Combatants France Germany Commanders Philippe Pétain Robert Nivelle Erich von Falkenhayn Strength About 30,000 on 21 February 1916 About 150,000 on 21 February 1916 Casualties 378,000; of whom 120,000 dead 337,000; of whom 100,000 dead The Battle of Verdun was a major battle... 1916 (MCMXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 - The Royal Army Medical Corps first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... Template:France divisions levels, Junkyard Willie The départements (or departments) are administrative units of France and many former French colonies, roughly analogous to British counties. ... Meuse is a département in northeast France, named after the Meuse River. ... The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. ... In France and many other French-speaking countries, a préfet (English: prefect) is the States representative in a département or région (in the later case, he is called a préfet de région). ...

List of villages

• Beaumont-en-Verdunois
• Bezonvaux
• Cumières-le-Mort-Homme
• Douaumont (rebuilt)
• Fleury-devant-Douaumont, next to the Verdun Memorial
• Haumont-près-Samogneux
• Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre
• Ornes (rebuilt)
• Vaux-devant-Damloup (rebuilt)

Bezonvaux is a commune of the Meuse département, in northeastern France. ... Douaumont is a village and a commune in the Meuse département in France, near Verdun. ...

See also

• No man's land, the area between the lines during the First World War
• Oradour-sur-Glane, a village in Limousin destroyed in the Second World War and later rebuilt nearby

No mans land is a term for a land that is not occupied or more specifically land that is under dispute between parties that wont occupy it because of fear or uncertainty. ... The entrance to Oradour-sur-Glane. ... Capital Limoges Land area¹ 16,942 km² Regional President Jean-Paul Denanot (PS) (since 2004) Population  - Jan. ... Combatants Allies: Poland, British Commonwealth, France/Free France, Soviet Union, United States, China, and others Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan, and others Casualties Military dead: 17 million Civilian dead: 33 million Total dead: 50 million Military dead: 8 million Civilian dead: 4 million Total dead: 12 million World War II...

External links

• Website commemorating the destroyed villages (in French)