VILLAGE DÉTRUIT DE CUMIERES-LE-MORT-HOMME

This destroyed village, the only one on the left bank of the Meuse among the nine villages destroyed in the 14-18 war, had 205 inhabitants in 1913.

Its origins go back a very long way, since a sepulchral well dating back to Neolithic times was discovered here in 1873.
In the Middle Ages, one of the lords of Cumières began to hold to ransom all those who passed through his lands, particularly the inhabitants of Verdun.
They united against him and destroyed his castle in 1439.

Almost five centuries later, the entire village suffered the same fate, but for different reasons.
After the German army launched its massive offensive in February 1916 to seize Verdun from the heights on the right bank of the Meuse, the German general staff decided to outflank the French resistance from the west?

The Germans first sought to seize the heights of Mort-Homme, in a particularly deadly battle that lasted 10 days, from March 6 to 16, 1916.
They succeeded and extended their attack on March 20 to hill 304, further west.
The fighting was fierce, with a veritable deluge of fire and appalling weather conditions.
Further east, Cumières, held by the 5th Battalion of the 254th Infantry Regiment, was attacked from May 16 to 23, 1916. The village fell to the Germans on May 24, 1916, despite the heroic defense of French infantrymen.

It was not until August 20, 1917, that the ruins of Cumières were recaptured by the marching regiment of the Foreign Legion.

At the end of the war, in 1918, Cumières was placed in the "red zone" along with the entire Mort-Homme hill, and given the unique status of "destroyed village" along with eight other equally martyred villages in the Meuse region.

Between the two wars, the veterans, very active in honoring the memory of the countless poilus who died, were wounded or disappeared under the mud of this important battlefield, made it possible to build the impressive monument of the skeleton on Mort-Homme in 1922 and finally to add the name of this bloody hill to that of the destroyed village of Cumières, "Mort pour la France", just like the 10,000 poilus who fell on this sector of Mort-Homme.

Finally, as in the eight other destroyed villages on the right bank of the Meuse, Cumières le Mort-Homme built the Saint-Rémi chapel on August 6, 1933, using stones from the old church, as a reminder that this was a village happy to live at the foot of its hill.

What to see
- Saint-Rémi chapel built with stones from the former church (paintings by Lucien Lantier);
- The war memorial;
- The Skeleton Monument (a striking work by sculptor Jacques Froment-Meurice, erected by the Amicale des Anciens de la 63e Division d?Infanterie) atop the hill of Mort Homme;
- The remains of the old mill.

DATAtourisme France