Visit to Verdun – Iconic WW I Battleground

The post below is from our trip to the north of France in 2016.  The post is delayed because we had mislaid the photos.

After visiting Reims and the battlefields where Anna’s grandfather fought in the First World War, we planned to visit the battlefield of Verdun in northeast France on our way home.  The small city of Verdun is only about 30-40 kilometers from Sainte Ménehould where we had been staying.

Verdun has a mythic quality for France.  The Great War, or World War I 1914-1918, killed almost 1,000,000 young French men in four years, and devastated the north of France. 

As the war became stalemated in great trench lines, the German Army tried to break the stalemate by selcting a point that they believed the French would have to defend.  They then organized an offensive that the Germnans believed would bleed the French Army to death.  It did almost do that, but the French Army held on, and the result was that the German Army itself suffered massive casualties.

The battle of Verdun between the French Army and the Germans unfolded over about 300 days between February and December 1916.  It was marked by enormous artillery duels and great numbers of battles, large and small.  Casualty figures vary, but the consensus seems to be something between 600,000 and 1,000,000 men on both sides, killed, wounded, or missing.  The French had a number of relatively sophisticated, mostly underground fortifications around Verdun, but most of the men fought and lived from trenches and dugouts.  The front lines in the area did not move more than a few of kilometers in any direction during the course of ten months.  The tonnage of high-explosive and poison gas shells fired by both sides during the struggle was enormous. 

We visited Fort de Douamont, one of the key points during the battle.  The fort was part of the system of fortifications around Verdun.  Most of the fort is deep underground.  The surrounding area has been completely reforested by the French, but the trenches and shell craters are still quite visible in the area.



Fort de Douamont at the end of the battle

 



Fort de Douamont today

 

 

75mm Gun Turret, Fort de Douamont

Note Right-Hand Gun

The right-hand gun above shows a shell fragment that had enterred the muzzle from outside!

The Germans had effectively cut all the lines of replenishment to the area either by occupation or because the roads and railroads, except one, were all under heavy shellfire. In response, the French rapidly built trucks and developed a system of continuous night-and-day convoys into Verdun to keep everyone fed and supplied.  At its height 6000 vehicles were continuously in motion along the route, transporting 50,000 men and 90,000 tons of material per week - one vehicle every 14 seconds on average.  This achievement was absolutely unprecedented as motor transport at the time was very new and truck production, along with truck purchases, had to be rapidly built up from a very low base.  The ability of the French to organize and operate this system contributed almost as much as the courage and fortitude of the soldiers to the ultimate defeat of the Germans in this area.

For more information about the specifics of the Battle, there is a very informative Wikipedia article about the Battle.

The route used by the convoys was baptized after the war as the ‘Voie Sacrée’ or ‘Sacred Way’.  It is now a scenic two-lane highway from the railhead at Bar-le-Duc to Verdun, that we drove along as we headed back to Lyon.  It is marked by ‘bornes’ or kilometer posts along its length topped with replicas of a French Poilu’s helmet.

Voie Sacrée Borne