The ruined fort of the Séré de Rivières system near Reims

Constructed between 1880 and 1883 as part of the Séré de Rivières system, Fort de la Pompelle was a supporting position for larger forts near Reims. It was a rectangular fort surrounded by a ditch and caponiers, equipped with six 155mm de Bange 1881 guns and four 138mm guns. Although disarmed in 1913, the fort saw the heaviest fighting of the Reims forts during the First World War, where it was bombarded many times and suffered significant damage.

On September 4, 1914, German forces briefly took the fort, but it was reoccupied by French forces on September 24, 1914. From that point on, it became a principal part of the defense of the Reims sector. A total of 180 different regiments, including two Russian brigades, took turns defending the site. In the spring of 1918, the fort repelled three assaults by German forces, including an attack on June 1 with fifteen tanks.

After the war, the fort was abandoned for nearly forty years before being purchased by the Fédération Nationale André Maginot and sold to the city of Reims for one symbolic franc. Classified as a historic monument in 1922, the site was inaugurated as a museum in 1972. Today, it houses an unusual collection of German army headgear collected by Charles Freise.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons