Romagne-sous-les-Côtes –
The German Village and its Surroundings

The small Lorraine village of Romagne-sous-les-Côtes was captured by the German Army as early as late August 1914, following the Battle of Longwy/Longuyon and the continued advance of the German Army to the west. Despite the at times heavy fighting in the area, the village remained almost undamaged. The hamlet gradually developed into one of the most important supply hubs for supplies, troop replacements, and the provisioning of the fighting units behind the entire front sector at Verdun.

After the French population had been evacuated, the expansion of the village for military purposes took place from September 1914 onwards. Several military hospitals, pioneer parks, and other infrastructure facilities were established in the surrounding area. Added to this were large storage areas in the surrounding forests as well as barracks camps on the eastern slopes of the heights. In the village itself, houses and concrete bunkers were built to accommodate officers and staffs. Some of these structures can still be found today. Ultimately, around Romagne-sous-les-Côtes at the beginning of the Battle of Verdun, accommodations for more than 18,000 men were available.

On the heights near the village, many observation posts were established for the artillery units deployed in the surrounding area. An extensive position system developed, including concrete positions and trench sections. Starting in the summer of 1917, a German fallback position, the Kriemhild Position, ran along the ridges. In the course of its construction, the existing position system was expanded once again.

Many of the soldiers who died in the surrounding military hospitals were buried in the military cemetery established as early as wartime. They were joined by the fallen from the costly battles starting in February 1916. After the war, many soldiers who had initially been buried in individual graves in the area were reburied there. The cemetery does not have a comrades’ grave, which is rare on the Western Front. A total of 2226 soldiers rest there. There are several noteworthy gravestones as well as a monument formerly erected in the village center from 1914 for the fallen of the Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment 102 (102nd Landwehr Infantry Regiment).

From August 1917, the village, which had remained almost completely intact until then, as well as the surrounding military facilities of the German Army, were heavily damaged by artillery and aerial bombs during massive French attacks. The Germans evacuated the entire area by October 1917. In November 1918, Romagne-sous-les-Côtes was almost completely destroyed during the French-American Meuse-Argonne Offensive. In the 1930s, a new church was built. Gradually, some of the residents returned and built a new village out of the ruins. Today, Romagne-sous-les-Côtes once again has approximately 110 inhabitants. However, rural depopulation is omnipresent here as well.