A Somber Visit to Verdun, WW1 Battlefield
Because we were slowly making our way to Reims from Strasbourg, we spent one of our days on the somber WW1 battlefield of Verdun. While Americans were not involved in this costly and deadly battle, I learned a great deal of a horrific battle.
Logistics
I would hurry to read our overall travel planning post here to get some tips! Because we drove to Verdun, our trip was very easy as to plan and coordinate. Our hotel, Les Jardins du Mess, was in the middle of Verdun located on the river. Since the hotel provided breakfast and dinner, it was really great!
If traveling via train, the journey can be quite long and probably not possible as a day trip unless you like 4 hour train rides! Coming from Paris, one would have to connect in Metz to Verdun for about 3-4 hours of total train time.
Verdun Activities
Because of the village’s somber history, we wanted to see the WW1 battlefield - sorry, I wanted to see it! Since I did not know too much about the battle, I wanted a guide so I researched heavily on google and stumbled upon a great guide, Thierry Houba, who does many WW1 and WW2 tours around Belgium and France. While a private tour is more expensive at 440E, I really wanted to do it since I am a history buff!
Foggy Verdun
After Thierry met us at our hotel, he began our tour by giving us an overview of Verdun’s nasty history. Designed by the Germans to inflict mass attrition and to wear down the French, Verdun almost held no strategic value other than the surrounding hills offered an unique vantage point. Should the hills be captured, the Germans could focus their heavy artillery on the French and British counter-attacks and let them run into a meat grinder.
Beginning on a foggy morning on 21 February 1916, the Germans attacked with a 1 million artillery barrage. By 25 February, the Germans would advance as far as they would in the 10 month battle and far away from their planned objectives. For the next 300 days, there would be over 300,000 deaths, 300,000 wounded, and many, many scars. Described as hell on earth, the French eventually rotated nearly every division through Verdun so people could take a break.
To this day, it is still estimated that 100,000 French and German soldiers remain in the woods that still contain artillery shells. The death count is astounding and Verdun is still considered to be the bloodiest and deadliest battles in the world.
Because I am not an official history professor, I want to limit my thoughts to the sites we visited and experienced all with Thiery’s help!
The Forgotten Villages
At the onset of WW1, many villages near the frontlines were evacuated. After Verdun, there are six completely destroyed villages that were never rebuilt due to the utter destruction and danger presented by unexploded artillery shells. Instead of houses, we saw giant, empty shell holes that looked more like moon craters. Because of the fog, we were very spooked out to be their in the forgotten village.
According to Thierry, these six forgotten villages are still listed as official towns with a mayor. Nearly every year, the village reunites and celebrates their unique status! They also contributed to the rebuilt chapel and cemetery. Even in devastation there is hope!
Fort Driant
On a cold, foggy day in February 1916, the battle of Verdun began with a massive artillery attack with over 1 million shells. Next, 8-10k Germans came to what is now Fort Driant against 1200 light French infantry commanded by Lt Colonel Driant. Surprisingly, the French did the impossible - they held on for two days giving the French high command invaluable time to rush reinforcements to the Verdun sector. The bravery exhibited by Driant’s forces enabled the French to prevent destruction.
Not only was Driant a famous author and politician, he was a very popular commander. As his forces were retreating, he died in the woods. From this circumstance, a big controversy would occur. The Germans buried him with full military honors where he died in the woods, but the French did not like that so they reburied him at a more famous location after the war.
Buried Alive
Perhaps no where in the Verdun sector accurately describes the hell on earth better than the Trench of Bayonets memorial. In the heat of battle in June 1916, the Germans unleashed another offensive against nearby Fort Deaumont. The French troops in the front trenches were surprised and shocked, waiting for the ground troops except the amount of lead, metal, and earth buried them alive. After the battle, people found bayonets sticking out from the completely filled trench, still attached to the rifle and standing soldier.
After the war, an American banker heard about it and donated the money and material to the memorial. While the story has been proven to be more myth than truth. While they likely weren’t alive at the time, the memorial still represents the horror of Verdun.
French Cemetery at Douaumont
By the time we reached the French Military Cemetery at Douaumont, the weather was turning for the worst and we could barely see 10 feet ahead of us. Within this cemetery lies 16,000 brave French soldiers.While the situation made for eerie pictures, we were sad that we could not see the magnificent memorial.
Inside the memorial lies an unique tribute to the fallen. Because Verdun was a massive battlefield and inflicted over 300,000 deaths, people keep finding bones well after the war. Rather than toss them aside, Ferdinand Noel, a local priest, collected and organized by sector so people could at least have something to remember their missing family members. To this day, the memorial is very organized, but it is very creepy to see these bones.
In the chapel, we gazed at its inane beauty. The names or units are carved throughout the chapel if you want to pay similar to a memorial. As a representation of the Verdun battle, this memorial is worth the visit!
Key Verdun Sites
Throughout our tour, we stopped a few more unknown stops. Each represent an unique perspective of the battle whether French or German.
Tomb of the Unknown
At the French cemetery in Bras-our-Meuse, Thierry informed us of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier lying underneath the Arc de Triumph in Paris. Because of the massive death rates, the 8 Verdun sectors nominated one unknown soldier each and one was selected to go to the more famous Tomb of the Unknown. The other seven were buried in this cemetery and seemingly forgotten by most crowds.
Fake or Real?
As we were driving around Verdun, Thierry would randomly stop at various trenches to show us the really good ones. Throughout the forests, the trenches still remain in great shape for being over 100 years old! Because of their original depth and excellent build, the trenches have been preserved in history.
However, for the 100 year celebration, when politicians visited, they recreated a fake trench for the publicity photos. Although Thiery hates stopping here, we had to walk through the fake one for our photos! Thiery does not like the fake trench because it does not represent anything like the real ones. For the most part, they wouldn’t have real wood!
Verdun "Palace"
On both sides of the battle, armies built insane “palaces” for their men to give them a break from the constant shelling. Holding over 300 people, the shelter was still shelled like crazy. There are craters throughout the area and I can’t imagine the shelter gave them much of a break but better than being exposed!
Fort Douaumont
For our final stop of the day, we visited the famous Fort Douaumont - the crown jewel of the Verdun defense. As the largest fort protecting Verdun, the French did a really smart thing before the battle and removed all guns from the fort in 1915. In the beginning days of the battle, the fort surrendered on 25th February (the 4th Day) and remained in German hands for most of the battle.
Despite all the great German engineering, they failed to do one thing - protect the ammunition dump! During one of the constant shelling by the French, one shell got really lucky and instantly killed over 600 Germans at the fort. Because the rumble serves as a burial ground, the French granted an exemption and allowed a German flag in their sector for their dead.
While the fort does allow inside tours, the weather was getting really bad and dusk was upon us. The outside of the fort is like an old playground and we could tell why it was the crown jewel of the original Verdun defense.
The UnChartered Summary
While I do not know much about WW1 unlike WW2, Verdun opened a new perspective for me as the battle of attrition, on both the French and German sides, paved the way for WW2. The mass loss of death experience here and other WW1 battlefields is astounding and is the primary reason why everyone wanted to avoid a similar fate in WW2. By hiring our private guide, Thierry Houba, we experienced through a local’s eyes and learned so much that a self guided tour would not have been able to provide.
- Thierry Houba is a terrific guide and I hope to use him again - perhaps on an American battlefield!
- For history buffs, I highly recommend seeing Verdun for your own eyes. Because of the horrific devastation caused by the battle, it is nearly frozen in time. Every step is similar to 1920!
- Most importantly, visiting (and remembering!) battlefields like Verdun remind us to never repeat those mistakes again. The battle of attrition strategy was never going to be succesful nor was it ever needed. Hopefully, we can never repeat!