THE TERRIBLE STORY THE FRENCH SOLDIERS WALKING PAST A FALLEN COMRADE NEAR THE FORT DE DOUAUMONT AT VERDUN...

 French soldiers walking past a fallen comrade near the Fort de Douaumont at Verdun, December 24, 1916.

Today 108 years ago, on February 25, 1916, the German Army captured the Fort de Douaumont 'without a single bullet fired' during the Battle of Verdun.

Fort de Douaumont was the largest of 19 defensive forts surrounding Verdun called the "RFV" (Fortified Region of Verdun). The RFV was built in the late 1800s as a stronghold for a potential German invasion. The Fort de Douaumont was equipped with bunkers and armaments, such as artillery and machine-gun turrets.

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In August 1914, the Germans had demonstrated how their heavy artillery was superior to fort defenses in Belgium, making them obsolete sitting ducks in battle. In the face of the growing demand for weapons elsewhere on the Western Front, throughout 1915 the RFV forts were stripped of their armaments and soldiers. Realizing the forts' vulnerability, plans were made to demolish the Fort de Douaumont before it fell into German hands. 

On February 21, 1916 the German Army launched its major offensive towards Verdun and advanced swiftly, forcing the French to initiate a major withdrawal from the Wöevre Plain to Verdun. Withdrawing to the Fort de Douaumont was ideal as an anchor of a new defensive line, and would be more suitable than the Belgian forts to withstand the German bombardments.

However, its earmarking for demolition had made most French soldiers and commanders forget about it, and in the ensuing confusion of withdrawal, practically no French forces thought to occupy the Fort de Douaumont. 

By February 24, the German advance had reached the Fort de Douaumont, and the German troops were ordered to halt 750m before it. However, on February 25, a raiding party of some 10 combat engineers from the 24th Brandenburg Regiment approached the fort to investigate, under the leadership of Pioneer-Sergeant Felix Kunze.

Under the protection of thick fog, Kunze and his men soon reached the walls of the fort without resistance. A German artillery shell breached a hole through the wall, and Kunze's men entered the Fort de Douaumont.

Inside the Fort de Douaumont, Kunze soon found a French artillery team, utterly clueless due to the fog, and took them prisoner. Soon more German troops arrived, taking full control of the Fort de Douaumont and captured the just 56 French soldiers inside. 

Reportedly not a single shot was fired during the capture of the Fort de Douaumont, and only a single German casualty was sustained when a soldier tripped and scraped his knee inside the fort.

The loss of the Fort de Douaumont was a severe blow to French morale and a point of major celebrations in Germany, with Kaiser Wilhelm II announcing February 26 as a public holiday.

An estimated 100,000 French casualties were suffered in the following months during the Battle of Verdun at the Fort de Douaumont, as the French attempted to retake it. The Fort de Douaumont would stay in German possession until October 24, 1916, when the French recaptured it in their counter-offensive at Verdun.

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