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Fleury-devant-Douaumont (, literally ''Fleury before Douaumont'') is a commune in the
During the war, the town was completely destroyed and the land rendered so uninhabitable that officials decided not to rebuild it. As the
Meuse
The Meuse or Maas is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea from the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta. It has a total length of .
History
From 1301, the upper ...
department in Grand Est
Grand Est (; ) is an Regions of France, administrative region in northeastern France. It superseded three former administrative regions, Alsace, Champagne-Ardenne and Lorraine, on 1 January 2016 under the provisional name of Alsace-Champagne-A ...
in north-eastern France
France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
.
During the Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun ( ; ) was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front in French Third Republic, France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north ...
in 1916 it was captured and recaptured by the Germans and French 16 times, with all structures being completely destroyed. Since then, it has been declared to have "died for France", and thus remains unoccupied (official population
Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...
: 0), as have the communes of Bezonvaux, Beaumont-en-Verdunois, Haumont-près-Samogneux, Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre and Cumières-le-Mort-Homme.
History
During the war, the town was completely destroyed and the land rendered so uninhabitable that officials decided not to rebuild it. As the land
Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of Earth not submerged by the ocean or another body of water. It makes up 29.2% of Earth's surface and includes all continents and islands. Earth's land sur ...
around the municipality was polluted with corpses, ammunition, explosives and poisonous gas, it was deemed too contaminated for farming to resume. The site is maintained as a testimony to war and is officially designated as a " village that died for France." It is managed by a municipal council of three members appointed by the prefect of the Meuse department.
Before the war Fleury was a village of 422 engaged in agriculture and woodworking. Today, it is a wooded area next to the Verdun Memorial. Arrows guide visitors to where the streets and houses used to be.
See also
* Zone rouge (First World War) * List of French villages destroyed in World War I *Communes of the Meuse department
The following is a list of the 499 Communes of France, communes of the Meuse (department), Meuse Departments of France, department of France.
The communes cooperate in the following Communes of France#Intercommunality, intercommunalities (as of ...
References
Communes of Meuse (department) Battle of Verdun Former populated places in France World War I sites in France Populated places destroyed during wars {{ghost-town-stub