French villages destroyed in the First World War

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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.

[edit] 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)

[edit] 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

[edit] External links

• Website commemorating the destroyed villages (in French)