KRONPRINZ SHELTER
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At the exit of the village of Varennes in the direction of the Haute Chevauchée site, these shelters in undergrowth and counter-slopes were set up at the end of 1914, two kilometres from the front lines. Generals and officers of the German general staff established their forward command post there, under the orders of General Kronprintz Rupprecht of Bavaria in charge of the Argonne sector. Reinforcing a strategic position that was already well established, these twenty or so reinforced concrete shelters were additionally connected by a vast and deep network of traffic hoses covered with gratings and barbed wire. Their buried roof, made up of several 6 m thick protective layers and bursting metal rails and sleepers, could withstand large calibre shells. The choice of site was very judicious since the Germans had fortified a naturally strong position, in undergrowth and on a counter-slope. The most remarkable thing is probably their interior equipment: generators, Bavarian stoves, baths with hot water, paneled rooms, rich furnishings with cabinets overflowing with Havana wines, schnapps and cigars... far from a makeshift shelter, it is a luxurious setting and quite a haul a few metres from the front line that the American soldiers of the 77th U.S. discovered when they entered the fort. Most of this interior layout has largely disappeared over the past century. What remains are the massive structures.
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