Forests of Herméville, Autrey, and Braquis
South of Etain lies an extensive forest area that stretches from St. Maurice in the northeast to Manheulles in the southwest. In the northeastern extension lie the forests of Herméville, Autrey, and Braquis.
Remains of German camps can be found, such as the Wollersdorf camp and the Autrey forest camp. Many artillery positions can also be identified. Several light railway routes ran through the forest area with various stops for loading and unloading. For example, remains of the Ballonwiese station can be found immediately north of the D 908 between Braquis and St. Maurice, and of the Franzosenlager station on the D 108 between Braquis and Herméville-en-Woevre.
Furthermore, in a north-south direction in the forests of Autrey and Braquis, there is a chain of concrete bunkers of the type from 1917 onwards, which are predominantly infantry shelters. The position area was called the Hagen-Riegel. In addition, in the western area of the Bois d’Herméville, there are remnants of enemy trench systems from 1915 at some locations, as well as several German and French concrete structures that were already erected in 1914 and 1915.
Excursion: Baroncourt Gun and Info Path
On the initiative of the municipality of Herméville, an info path along various relics from the First World War was created east of the D 108 leading to Braquis. Those responsible have been working on the project since 2012. They include above all the mayors of Herméville-en-Woevre and Gincrey, Bernard Robert and Jean-Louis Périquet, as well as Cyril Cary, a civilian employee of the French armed forces in Verdun and a passionate historian. The official inauguration of the facility took place on September 5, 2015.The main attraction is the position of a French 14 cm naval gun, which the Germans called the Baroncourt gun.
In April 1915, a complex gun position sunk into the ground was created by the French in the western part of the Bois d’Herméville, consisting of a concrete bed as well as likewise concrete dugouts for accommodating ammunition and the gun crew. A naval cannon was installed in the bed on a metal firing mount. It was a gun barrel of the Type L/55 Model 1910 (Canon de 138 mm/55 Modèle 1910), which served, among other things, as secondary/intermediate armament on French battleships of the Courbet and Bretagne classes. The ships of the Courbet class possessed a total of 22 of these guns; they were installed in 11 gun turrets on each side of the ship.
In September 1914, naval guns of various calibers (14 cm – 24 cm) were assigned to the commander of the Verdun fortress. By mid-October 1914, the designated crews from the fortress of Brest under the command of Lieutenant de Vaisseau (Hauptmann (captain)) Héritier and Capitaine de Frégate (Oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel)) Grandclément reached Verdun. Initially, the guns were installed in prepared positions in the immediate vicinity of the fortress and the ring of forts. After Verdun lost its independent command structure in August 1915 and was subordinated to the 2nd French Army as the “Région Fortifiée de Verdun” (RFV), the requirements for the artillery also changed due to the stagnation of the fronts into position warfare. Targets were mainly central transport hubs, railway lines, and larger railway stations. However, these were frequently outside the range of the fortress artillery, so they were designated as targets for the longer-range naval artillery. The guns were gradually moved closer and closer to the front lines in order to be able to strike deeper into the German hinterland.
In early April 1915, in the area of the St. Mihiel salient, the French launched their major offensive that became known as the Spring Battle between the Meuse and the Moselle. In order to be able to shell the railway stations of Conflans-Jarny and Dommary-Baroncourt, which were essential for the supply of German troops, a 16 cm gun was placed in the Bois d’Hennemont and another 14 cm gun in the Bois d’Herméville, each only about 1,000 meters behind the foremost combat lines. The gun in the Bois d’Herméville was under the command of Enseigne de Vaisseau de 1ère Classe de Réserve (Leutnant der Reserve (second lieutenant)) Courteville. Already at the beginning of the fighting, the crew succeeded in destroying the church tower of Rouvres-en-Woevre, which had served the Germans as a far-reaching observer.
As planned, the railroad station at Dommary-Baroncourt was heavily shelled in the following months. It was one of the main supply railroad stations for the units of the Armee-Abteilung Strantz (Army Detachment Strantz) stationed in the St. Mihiel salient, as well as for the southern sector of the front in front of Verdun. Although the French did not succeed in significantly disrupting railroad traffic or achieving notable hits, the gun nevertheless caused constant unrest in the surrounding village quarters and encampment areas. Among the Germans, it was given the name Baroncourt-Geschütz or, following a spelling error, frequently also Barancourt-Geschütz.
On February 21, 1916, the Germans began the attack on the northern fortress belt around Verdun. In the initial phase, the naval guns were involved in the French defensive efforts. Almost all guns in the forward front area were captured by the German attackers in the following days. Some remained operational, but predominantly they were rendered unusable by the French.
After the Germans prepared to attack also in the area of the Woëvre plain, the order to evacuate the advanced areas was issued on February 24, 1916, by the commander of the French 30th Army Corps (30e corps d’armée), Géneral Paul Chrétien. The batteries were ordered to fire off all ammunition by the next morning and to render the guns unusable on their own responsibility. Within a good hour, the gun in the Bois d’Herméville fired another 80 shells at the Dommary-Baroncourt area. Then Leutnant Courteville decided on demolition. Since the detonators (petards) intended for this purpose failed, the rear barrel section was blown up with the aid of a shell casing. The explosion was so powerful that not only was the gun destroyed, but the emplacement also collapsed, and Leutnant Courteville nearly lost his life in the process. The gun crew marched out via Braquis. Around February 26, 1916, the gun was captured without a fight by units of the Kgl. Bayer. Ersatz-Division (Royal Bavarian Ersatz Division), here of the 4. K.B. Reserve-Infanterie-Regiments (4th Royal Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment), although the details could not be conclusively clarified to date.
The information trail around the gun begins at a parking lot immediately west of the D 108. It leads via the remains of a light railway route to the exposed gun emplacement, in which an identical gun barrel of Type L/55 Model 1910 (Canon de 138 mm/55 Modèle 1910) is openly installed. This one was in service in 1916 near Saint Julien northeast of Ypres. Like the two other gun barrels in Gincrey (24 cm) and at the Langer-Max-Stellung near Duzey (30,5 cm), it originates from the Base Nautique Militaire de Gâvres (Morbihan). The barrels were originally intended to be scrapped. They were made available to the municipalities of Gincrey, Duzey, and Herméville-en-Woevre through the mediation of Cyril Cary.
The trail continues along the remains of German and French artillery positions along with various concrete structures. Additionally, there is a French observation tree that has survived both its wartime use and the following 100 years. Driven-in metal staples still lead up its trunk today. The trail continues along former German light railway routes, which are still easily discernible in the ground by their ballast. The trail concludes with a German bunker from 1917, which was part of the Hagen-Stellung running through the Herméville forest. Due to the authenticity of the points of interest, it is a military-historically highly valuable site of exceptional character in this region.
were AI-edited (notice pursuant to Art. 50 Regulation (EU) 2024/1689).