Rupt-en-Woëvre

Description of the stationing system: The municipalities of Mont-sous-les-Côtes (Mont Villers), Mouilly, Rupt-en-Woëvre, Sommedieue, Belrupt-en-Verdunois and Dieue-sur-Meuse, are involved in the stationing phase between late September 1914 and April 1915. During this period, the static front line and difficult fighting mean the French command has to create a rota system described by Maurice Genevoix as follows: 3 days of rest in one of the above villages; 3 days on the second line at the Calonne Crossroads, and 3 days on the front line in Les Eparges.
During stationing, the author describes a different aspect of warfare, involving rest and contact with the local people behind the front. This system enables the men to deal with the conflict, which is beginning to look like a long-term prospect.
Rupt-en-Woëvre: “We go to Rupt, burdened with troops at rest, to try to win a place for our tired comrades”
Maurice Genevoix describes the village as a place of rest. He attends a Christmas mass there in 1914, where he says a prayer: “Have pity on us, forced into war against our will, for us who were once men and despair of ever being so again”
This village is one of the stages on the soldiers’ rota. The author describes stationing “with Mother Bourdier’ in particular.