Quarries (creutes) during the First World War

During the First World War, from the beginning of the position war, in Northeastern France from Arras to Verdun, the armies of both camps were looking for shelters for their first line units, but also for their billets, their support units, their storages and their hospitals… In order to hold out against the great artillery power, the militaries colonized old subterranean quarries or dug large subterranean works. Many period photographs show lifestyle in these subterranean shelters and so called creutes.

French pictures

First World War remains

German pictures