Verdun - Fort de Bois Bourrus IMAGE INTENSIVE!!!

[prettyvacant71]

Very interesting stuff....excellent pics in very challenging light!

 

[TeeJF]

Challenging light! Yeah,in places it was a right mish mash of natural and darkness but it wasn't too bad in most places in the fort to be honest. I did have to make several attempts when I was light painting because I'm still rather new to doing that, I've always just used flash before. I had a mini learning sesh with P7 and Covert Urbex in March which helped a lot.

Thanks very much to everyone for their kind comments.

 

[gingrove]

Fantastic report thanks for posting!

 

[maxmix]

Superb report, would love to visit there myself one day, thanks for the info. and great photos

 

[TeeJF]

Thanks Maxmix. Yeah it's pretty awesome out there and most of it is accesible if you persist. Having said that you run a serious risk of arrest if you are caught because it's technically military training land. That makes two of the forts quite dodgy because they are close to the chasseur's barracks and regularly used. Your worst nightmare would be to be inside and hear them rock up at the "front door"!!! But most of the rest are completely bricked up and never visited.

The forts which still have intact turrets are amazing. The artillery turrets generally just have the breach blocks removed from the guns but the MG turrets normally have empty cradles. Having said that, in one we found an abandoned Hotchkiss MG still in place with a clip attached, no rounds in the clip but presumably one "up the spout" else wise I'd have expected the clip to fall off. It looked like the turret had been lowered with the gun in it's cradle which had bent it so badly it couldn't be removed. Irt's hard to be sure because the ladder up to the firing platform was goosed but you can see it on our photos. It's on our Fort du Regret report from last year which you can search out if you're interested.

Cheers...

 

[skeleton key]

The effort put into this just comes shining through absolute quality
Cheer fella
I wouldnt have wanted to pull a guard duty here lol

SK

 

[TeeJF]

The effort put into this just comes shining through absolute quality
Cheer fella
I wouldnt have wanted to pull a guard duty here lol

SK

Thanks for your kind comment.

You know what chuck, it's actually a really nice place to stag on! The down side would have been the mozzies in the summer but the location is awesome. Not so sure in the winter though!

During the Battle of Verdun which ran from February to December some of the forts got a serious tonking with some very heavy arty, 420 mm was the largest calibre but they also had a 300mm (or 320, I can't remember) and it was equally devastating because the shells were longer and thinner and had far more penetration. Deep within the red band areas of the forts the men were fairly safe though eventually after sustained bombardment even these areas crumbled. This fort and others such as Regret did not crumble as they got far less attention but Vaux and Douamont and Moulainville are a right mess. TJ crawled under the remains of a roof, all re-bar and cracked concrete, in Moulainville but was unable to get any further. The fascination of Bois Bourrus and Regret is how undamaged they are.

Thanks again.