Towns that “died for France”

Sign indicating the site of the destroyed village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont

During the First World War, many villages in the French département of Meuse were destroyed by the fighting. After the war, it was decided that the land previously occupied by the destroyed villages would not be incorporated into other communes, as a testament to these villages which had “died for France”, as they were declared, and to preserve their memory. While three of the villages were subsequently rebuilt and are governed as normal communes, the other six are entirely unpopulated and are managed by a council of three members, appointed by the prefect of Meuse.

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