TRANCHÉE DES BAÎONNETTES
Verdun
Meuse
France
Location Information
Tranchée des Baîonnettes is located north of Verdun on the D913 close to the Ossuary at Douaumont.
Historical Information
Among many revered memorials on the battlefield is the "Bayonet Trench", which marks the location where some dozen bayonets lined up in a row were discovered projecting out of the ground after the war; below each rifle was the body of a French soldier. It has been assumed that these belonged to a group of soldiers who had rested their rifles against the parapet of the trench they were occupying when they were killed during a bombardment, and the men were buried where they lay in the trench and the rifles left untouched. However, this is probably not historically accurate: experts agree that the bayonets were probably affixed to the rifles after the attack, and installed by survivors to memorialize the spot.
Architect André Ventre, 1920.
Pictures © Nicholas Philpot and text © Gavin Stamp
Tranchée des Baîonnettes is located north of Verdun on the D913 close to the Ossuary at Douaumont.
Historical Information
Among many revered memorials on the battlefield is the "Bayonet Trench", which marks the location where some dozen bayonets lined up in a row were discovered projecting out of the ground after the war; below each rifle was the body of a French soldier. It has been assumed that these belonged to a group of soldiers who had rested their rifles against the parapet of the trench they were occupying when they were killed during a bombardment, and the men were buried where they lay in the trench and the rifles left untouched. However, this is probably not historically accurate: experts agree that the bayonets were probably affixed to the rifles after the attack, and installed by survivors to memorialize the spot.
Architect André Ventre, 1920.
Pictures © Nicholas Philpot and text © Gavin Stamp
