WWI Battlefields in Verdun

Driving back across France we decided to make a WWI pit stop at the grounds in Verdun.  It is not too far from the German border and only about 2 hours away from our house.  Few traces of WWI remain in Europe today, but the battlefields of Verdun provide a glimpse into the horrific battles from nearly a century ago.  We drove directly to the L'Ossuaire de Douamont, a tomb of the 130,000 French and Germans who lost their lives in Verdun.  The artillery shell shaped tower and cross design of the tomb symbolizes war and peace.

L'Ossuaire de Douamont

The tiny windows at the base of the monument are where you can peek into the tomb of the soldiers.

It was a bit eerie but all the while very moving, after experiencing the film inside and looking through the little picture boxes of actual photos taken during the war.  Over 800,000 lives were lost in WWI.

Then we made our way to the nearby Fort de Douaumont.  This was the most important stronghold in the network of forts built to protect Verdun.  It was built into the hillside and served as a command center for both sides at various times.  There are about 2 miles of hallways inside (that we didn't go into) but the Fort was completely useless by 1916 when German shelling rocked it.

Fort de Douaumont

Since much of the land is now covered by forest, only monuments are placed at the sites of former villages that were completely wiped out.  Thirteen villages in fact were never resurrected.  While there are ruins of shelters in the hillsides, it was really awesome to be driving along and see one of the Trenches along side the road.  The picture below was most likely French because it is dirt, while the Germans were built with concrete as in the second picture.  Those Germans, always so logical.

WWI Trench with dirt construction

WWI Trench with concrete construction

The Trench of Bayonets is a memorial and tomb of an entire company of soldiers who were buried alive.  Here, the soldiers bayonets remained above ground for decades.  The concrete monument surrounding it was donated by the US.

Trench of Bayonets

Former site of a village that was never rebuilt after the war destroyed it.

We stayed overnight in Verdun, which really is not a great place to stay overnight in.  Our hotel was about a 20 minute walk from the city center where there a many restaurants a few monuments of the War.  It was sunny and warm so we sat down next to the Muese River at Viv's Pub for a drink.

Couldn't resist a stop here at my mom's namesake pub :)

We then found a nice French-Italian place where no English was spoken, had a nice dinner and walked back to the hotel.  In the morning we checked out and made the short 2 hour drive back home.  Had we realized before that we didn't need the entire day in Verdun we probably would have driven home the night before but we didn't know what additional WWII or WWI stops we were going to make on the way.  It was a very interesting and historical long weekend as we toured through all of the sights of WWII and WWI.