Caption:  Situated two to three kilometers behind the lines, the relatively good-size town of Varennes-en-Argonne was used by the occupying Germans for several purposes–including an engineer’s camp situated on the D-38a, west of Varennes.  (The Narrow Gauge Railroad Station in the previous Then and Now post was part of the camp.  As usual, the Germans took full advantage of the steep slopes of the hill as well as the fairly protected level ground just below the hill.  The map also shows the web of German narrow gauge tracks in and around Varennes.

Location:  On the D38a.    The area marked “Schlossplatz” on the map is now the location of the Pennsylvania Memorial.

Source of Then Photo:  “Pennsylvania in the World War:  An Illustrated History of the Twenty-Eighth Division, Volume II.”  Page 587.

Source of Then Map:  “In Stellung nach Vaquois:  Kriegstagebuch des Pioniers Hermann Hoppe” by Adolf Buchner.  Page 33.

Source of Now Photo:  The Webmaster, on his 2014 trip to the region.