Most of the men buried here were killed in action at l'Ouvrage de La Ferté, May 18-19, 1940, in one of the few actual battles at a fortification of the Maginot Line during the German invasion of May-June 1940. All of the soldiers manning the fort died. Most did not die of battle wounds; they were asphyxiated when the ventilation system failed after German shelling set fire to the above-ground works. The surviving soldiers took refuge in the subterranean tunnel system and never made it out.
Most of the men buried here were killed in action at l'Ouvrage de La Ferté, May 18-19, 1940, in one of the few actual battles at a fortification of the Maginot Line during the German invasion of May-June 1940. All of the soldiers manning the fort died. Most did not die of battle wounds; they were asphyxiated when the ventilation system failed after German shelling set fire to the above-ground works. The surviving soldiers took refuge in the subterranean tunnel system and never made it out.
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