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Updated: June 7, 2025
Lamps appeared, and flaring torches too were brought in by the soldiers, who at once proceeded to search that part of Douaumont. In a dream, as it were, shaken by what he had gone through, and overcome somewhat by the sight and sound of friends, Henri had tumbled to the floor again, as he heard an officer give vent to a sharp order.
Some idea of the great courage and devotion displayed by the French troops during the intense struggle around Douaumont village may be gained from the statement made by an infantry officer which appeared in the Army Bulletin, and from which some quotations may be made.
The Germans are still several miles outside of Verdun itself, and only at Douaumont have they touched the line of the exterior forts, which before the war were expected to defend the city. In Paris and elsewhere you will be told that Douaumont was occupied without resistance and that it was abandoned under orders before there had been a decision to hold Verdun.
First phase of the battle closed six days ago with the Germans in Douaumont, and the fighting still going on but the spirit of the French not a jot changed. Here, among the civilians, they say: "Verdun will never fall," and out at the front, they tell us that the poilus simply hiss through their clenched teeth, as they fight and fall, "They shall not pass."
"Steadily foot by foot the French infantry pushed on, driving the enemy before them and taking 3,500 prisoners on the way, till at last after a severe struggle around Fort Douaumont they shot all of its defenders who refused to surrender and won it back to France."
That indeed would compensate them for the hunger they suffered, and for the cruel losses the French were inflicting upon their soldiers. And but for Henri's little band, as we have said, the fortress of Douaumont was captured.
Yet behind Douaumont, behind the Côte du Poivre and the Côte de Talou, there existed yet miles of upland plateau before the city of Verdun could be reached miles which the Germans must cross before they could hope to complete its capture.
"I am a pastry cook," he went on; "my specialty is Saint-Denis apple tarts." A marmite intended for the road landed in the river as he spoke. "Have you ever had one? They are very good when made with fresh cream." He sighed. "How did you get wounded?" said I. "Éclat d'obus," he replied, as if that were the whole story. After a pause he added, "Douaumont yesterday."
If the little Corsican could have looked on, if he could have seen the taking of Douaumont, or if Wellington could have seen the taking of the Ridge, I think that they would have been well satisfied and somewhat jealous to find that military talent was so widespread.
At French headquarters in Chantilly no one could understand this news. For on the morning of the twenty-fifth, after the engagement of the XXth corps, the battle had taken a turn for the better. Reports from the front said nothing about Douaumont. But inquiry showed that the German report was true, though no one as yet knew how the fort had been taken.
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