Fort Saint Michel... |
Fort Saint Michel was one of the six "Forts de la Panique" - literally Panic Forts - built in great haste around 1874 when diplomatic relations between Germany and France again deteriorated to the point where it was expected that another war was imminent. Its location is high up on a densely wooded hill quite close to the city, and only a very short distance east of Fort Belleville. At the time of it's construction it was not actually designated a fort, rather it was a large gun battery with parapets for infantry to defend the guns, and masonry shelters to protect the infantry during heavy bombardments. Unlike many of the later Verdun forts Saint Michel did not have any artillery, machine gun or observation armoured turrets. The fort today is fairly intact, unlike it's close neighbour Belleville, but there are some oddities on the ground which we could not quite reconcile with what we expected to find. Penetration of the fort is very easy but paradoxically it is not easy to get a particularly good idea of the fort layout, so printing off an appropriate plan beforehand is a good idea. The most interesting area of the fort is a large subterranean chamber with a narrow access "well". In the bottom of the hemi-spherical chamber many people have "tagged" their names on the walls and some of the dates are well over half a century old! As with all the Verdun forts great care should be taken when wandering around within the fort as there is little to prevent a serious fall in certain areas.
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