LE RAVITAILLEMENT DU FRONT

From 1914 to 1918, Bar-le-Duc was a "rear-front" town. This was the expression used when the Croix de Guerre was awarded to the town in 1920. Bar-le-Duc was indeed a hinge between the rear and the front. Soldiers, equipment and supplies of food and ammunition intended for the combatants in the Verdun sector passed through it. Resources from the rear were first gathered in Saint-Dizier, 25 km south-west of Bar-le-Duc and at the Baudonvilliers station, very close by, before being transported to Bar-le-Duc by train, via Revigny, or by road. From Bar-le-Duc to Verdun, two communication routes played a key role: the small railway line known as "le Meusien" and, above all, the Bar-le-Duc-Verdun road, which was soon to be known as the "Sacred Way". For the first time, a road was reserved for automobile traffic. It very quickly became a real umbilical cord. A military commission managed it in a draconian and very efficient way. From the first month of the battle, 800 trucks of troops and 600 trucks of ammunition and equipment left for Verdun every day. This logistical success was one of the factors that enabled the soldiers of Verdun to hold on. The Place Exelmans, where you are standing, was used as a truck park. Vehicles were ready to go up to Verdun and return with troops relieved from the front and wounded.