(the destroyed villages) are in northern France, mostly in the French of Meuse. During the First World War, specifically at the time of the Battle of Verdun in 1916, many villages in northern France were destroyed by the fighting. After the war, it was decided that the land previously occupied by the destroyed villages would not be incorporated into other communes, as a testament to these villages which had "died for France", as they were declared, and to preserve their memory.
While three of the villages in Meuse were subsequently rebuilt and are governed as normal communes, the other six are entirely unpopulated and are managed by a council of three members, appointed by the prefect of Meuse. All of these communes are located in the canton of Belleville-sur-Meuse (in the canton of Charny-sur-Meuse before cantonal reorganization in 2015) in the arrondissement of Verdun, and are generally located north of the city of Verdun, in the Lorraine region of northeastern France.