Petit Dépôt –
Dépôt intermédiaire h – Steinbruch 579 – Stützpunkt „Hölle“
About 750 m southwest of Fort de Vaux, at the apex of the Damloup Gorge (Fond de la Horgne) and immediately east of the former connecting road to Fort de Tavannes (today’s D 913a) was one of a total of 26 intermediate magazines of the fortress ring around Verdun, the so-called „Petit Dépôt“. The tactical designation in the French army was „Dépôt intermédiaire de Vaux sud (h)“. On the German side, due to its proximity to a corresponding terrain feature, the facility was called „Quarry or Stützpunkt 579“. Since it was located in a heavily contested battlefield area during the battle, contemporary eyewitness accounts also frequently use the designation „Stützpunkt Hölle“ or even simply „Hell“.
The Petit Dépôt was built in 1889 at a cost of approx. 25,000 francs. It was built into the native rock out of brick and rubble masonry at the head of a small quarry in the last bend of today’s D 913a before reaching Fort de Vaux and had a rock and earth cover of about six to seven meters. There were no concrete reinforcements.
Like the other intermediate magazines, the Petit Dépôt was intended for the supply of the artillery positions, which were mostly located in the open terrain and exposed to enemy fire, in the event that the connection to the further rearward sector magazines („Magasins de Secteur“, „M-Räume“) was interrupted. For this purpose, between 1,200 and 2,400 shells along with fuses were intended for storage, which corresponded to the requirements of the assigned batteries for one to two days.
The Petit Dépôt was connected to the track system of the Verdun fortress area by a 60 cm gauge industrial railway. Its assigned sector magazine was the „Pouderie de Fleury“. Like most of these structures, it consisted of an antechamber of about 3.50 x 11 m with a separate accommodation room for the garrison, a chicane-like intermediate area with a thick protective wall against external explosion effects, and an ammunition storage room of about 15.5 x 3.50 m.
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