Talk:Ouvrage Fermont

Untranslated French
It would be helpful if such French locutions as gros ouvrage, and petite ouvrage, were followed by their English translations for those not fluent in French.Dick Kimball (talk) 13:12, 25 May 2010 (UTC) Dick Kimball (talk) 13:17, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
 * There are some explanatory notes on the usage of terms in the Notes section, like gros and petit ouvrage, and abri. I was a bit puzzled to work in a graceful discussion of fort palmé, which translates to "palm-shaped" or "palm-tree-shaped" fort. You're welcome to give it a try, and I'll have another go at it when I get a moment.   Acroterion  (talk)  13:20, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

Diction
This article contains some odd word choices. For example, it states "The Fermont area did not see significant fighting during the Lorraine Campaign of 1944, but its caserne was used as a resting place for American troops during the Battle of the Bulge." The term "resting place" is commonly used as a euphemism for "grave", as in burial site. This implication is compounded by the term's use in a passage describing a battle, and that a French soldier was buried in the fort. Is this implication correct? If not, another term would likely be better, perhaps "shelter" or even "haven".

On a related subject, the quoted sentence's use of "its caserne" is a bit of an unclear antecedent, as the subject of the sentence is "Fermont area", while the caserne is that of the ouvrage. I'd suggest replacing the "its" with "the ouvrage's".

--Piledhigheranddeeper (talk) 15:33, 25 May 2010 (UTC)


 * A poor choice in translation on my part. It was used to rest soldiers (although it's an open question how restful such a dark, cold place would be). "Recovery station" seems a bit opaque.  Acroterion  (talk)  16:26, 25 May 2010 (UTC)