
- 2 and 3 June 1916, Germans attack the fort directly with flamethrowers and force French troops outside to retreat into the fort. The Germans begin to enter the fort through the coffers of the "contre-escarpe"
- June 5, 1916, Commander Raynal requests the French army bomb the fort, where the top is taken over by the Germans, in order to allow a part of the garrison to evacuate the fort.
- June 7, 1916, for three days water supplies are empty and the fighting takes place inside the galleries with grenades, guns and bayonets. The Commandant Raynal is captured by the Germans under military honours for having fought bravely in extreme conditions with a thirsty garrison.
- From 8 June to 1 November 1916, the fort is used by the Germans as a shelter and command post for nearby area. The French attempt to retake the fort several times with enormous loss of life. They bombard the fort to destroy it with heavy shells, including 400 mm rounds, but the concrete walls resist. However, life inside the structure becomes impossible and the Germans eventually abandon the fort at the end of October.
- November 2, 1916, the fort is recaptured without resistance by a French patrol which finds it empty.
- By the end of the battle, in December 1916, the fort is almost in the same condition as it was in June the same year - except for some damage caused by French artillery.
- 1916–1918, the Bourges Casemates are rehabilitated before being rearmed and an observatory along with an armored command bunker are equipped with machine-guns. Further defenses including machine-guns are fitted in place of the turret 75, to defend the area between the ravine and the village of Dieppe. Exits and entrances of the fort are equipped with baffles masonry, armed with machine guns and grenade launcher chutes. A network of tunnels 17 meters long is dug beneath the fort and generators are used for lighting and ventilation of the premises.
|Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fort Vaux.|
- (French) Les forts Séré de rivières Le fort de Vaux
- Webpage about Fort Vaux
- The fort in 1916 (in French)
- Memoirs & Diaries: Account of the assaults upon Fort Vaux, Verdun, June 1916