Just north of Mort-Homme,
a couple of miles from the city of Verdun, you can find the old "stollen"
or tunnels in English that was used by the German forces during the first
world war. At this hill fierce fight took place during 1916 and today
you can still see the scars in the ground, and especially under the ground.
We had the opportunities to follow the Deutsches Erinnerungskomitee Argonnerwald
1914 - 1918 e.V, who are allowed by the French authorities to study the
old tunnels in the area. At the following pictures you can see how it
looks today, almost 90 years after they where built.
In
the middle of the forest we found the entrance to the Kronprinz tunnel.
30
feet under ground.
The entrance to Gallwitz tunnel.
The
way down.
Taken from the bottom of the first part.
We
had to crawl through narrow muddy holes. If you are claustrophobic you
should not go down here.
As
guide we had one of Klaus Klauers´sons. He moved through the tunnel
as he hadn't done anything else in his life.
After
a while the tunnel become very nice, with bricks We were informed that
this part was renovated after the war for tourists.
Some
old barbed wire.
This is the old tourist entrance. This part of the tunnel was destroyed
after the war.
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