Fort de Moulainville

The main entrance to the fort, 2018. The opening has since been covered over except for a small wrought-iron doorway. 

Map of the fort from 1927 showing the impact sites of large calliber German artillery during the Battle of Verdun in 1916. 

Fort de Moulainville was constructed at around the same time as Douaumont, and was also heavily bombarded by German artillery throughout the battle. As the German army advanced closer towards Moulainville, black powder charges were set up by its commanding officer who feared a similiar outcome to what had happened to Douaumont. On the 27th of February, a German artillery shell caused five of these charges to prematurely detonate resulting in a massive explosion that could be seen for miles. Thinking they had succeeded in destroying the fort, the advancing Germans prepared for an assualt but were quickly repelled by the remained French troops who fired upon them with 75mm turrets. On the 3rd of April, the attackers landed another devestating blow with a heavy artillery shell that killed dozens of French defenders, and caused the remaining survivors to suffer bouts of hysteria due to the toxic gasses, resulting in their brief imprisonment.