Fleury-devant-Douaumont is a commune

Communes of France

The commune is the lowest level of administrative division in the French Republic. French communes are roughly equivalent to incorporated municipalities or villages in the United States or Gemeinden in Germany...

 in the Meuse

Meuse

Meuse is a department in northeast France, named after the River Meuse.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...

 department in Lorraine

Lorraine (région)

Lorraine is one of the 27 régions of France. The administrative region has two cities of equal importance, Metz and Nancy. Metz is considered to be the official capital since that is where the regional parliament is situated...

 in north-eastern France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

.

Since the end of the Battle of Verdun

Battle of Verdun

The Battle of Verdun was one of the major battles during the First World War on the Western Front. It was fought between the German and French armies, from 21 February – 18 December 1916, on hilly terrain north of the city of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France...

 in 1916, when it had been captured and recaptured by the Germans and French 16 times, it has been unoccupied (official population

Population

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

: 0) along with Bezonvaux

Bezonvaux

Bezonvaux is a commune in the Meuse department in the Lorraine region in north-eastern France.Since the end of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, it has been unoccupied along with Beaumont-en-Verdunois, Haumont-près-Samogneux, Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre, Cumières-le-Mort-Homme and...

, Beaumont-en-Verdunois

Beaumont-en-Verdunois

Beaumont-en-Verdunois is a commune in the Meuse department in the Lorraine region in north-eastern France.Since the end of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, it has been unoccupied along with Bezonvaux, Haumont-près-Samogneux, Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre, Cumières-le-Mort-Homme and...

, Haumont-près-Samogneux

Haumont-près-Samogneux

Haumont-près-Samogneux is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.Since the end of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, it has been unoccupied along with Bezonvaux, Beaumont-en-Verdunois, Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre, Cumières-le-Mort-Homme and Fleury-devant-Douaumont.During...

, Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre

Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre

Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.Since the end of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, it has been unoccupied along with Bezonvaux, Beaumont-en-Verdunois, Haumont-près-Samogneux, Cumières-le-Mort-Homme and Fleury-devant-Douaumont.During...

, and Cumières-le-Mort-Homme

Cumières-le-Mort-Homme

Cumières-le-Mort-Homme is a commune in the Meuse department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.Since the end of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, it has been unoccupied along with Bezonvaux, Beaumont-en-Verdunois, Haumont-près-Samogneux, Louvemont-Côte-du-Poivre, and...

.

History

During the war, the town was completely destroyed and the land was made uninhabitable to such an extent that a decision was made not to rebuild it. The area around the municipality was contaminated by corpses, explosives and poisonous gas, so no farmers could take up their work. The site of the commune is maintained as a testimony to war and is officially designated as a "village that died for France." It is managed by a municipal council of three members appointed by the prefect of the Meuse department.

Before the war Fleury was a village of 422 that produced agriculture and woodworking. Today, it is a wooded area next to the Verdun Memorial

Verdun Memorial

The Verdun Memorial is a war memorial to commemorate the Battle of Verdun, fought in 1916 as part of the First World War. It is situated on the battlefield, close to the destroyed village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont in the département of Meuse in north-eastern France.It was built during the 1960s...

. Arrows guide visitors to where the street and houses used to be.

See also

• Zone rouge (First World War)
  Zone rouge (First World War)
  The Zone rouge is the name given to about of land in northeastern France that was physically and environmentally destroyed during the First World War...
  
  
• French villages destroyed in the First World War
  French villages destroyed in the First World War
  During the First World War, specifically at the time of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, many villages in the French département of Meuse were destroyed by the fighting...
  
  
• Communes of the Meuse department