My friend cetroyer took a trip to Verdun, France and allowed me to share some more pictures. You may click on the photos to be taken to my Flickr account where you can see a larger representation. Shown below are his words describing some of the pictures:
Verdun is site to one of the major offensives in World War I. Verdun was a focal point in France’s defense and Germany decided to take the war to that point. The best estimate is that between 340,000 and 350,000 soldiers died in the year long offensive. It is rather unreal to visit those place and think that a little of 90 years ago, men fought and died on that very spot. The area was shelled very heavily by both sides, and you can still see it in the ground today. The forests have grown back, but the impact craters are still there under the trees and grass.
Fort de Douaumont was captured by one German soldier who was thrown into the fort by a shell explosion. The fort had been almost completely emptied of soldiers because the French gov’t didn’t think the forts were useful in a modern war. The 57 remaining soldiers were out of water and quickly surrendered.
Fort of Douaumont
Fort of Douaumont
The Memorial de Verdun (Memorial of Verdun) is a museum of the battle and also of the war (World War I). There are a lot of weapons, artillery pieces, uniforms, etc.
At Fort de Vaux, the captain in charge held out as long as he could, until he too ran out of water. He tried to get help and sending message by pigeon was one way the army used back then. The last pigeon got through and died shortly after, but it arrived too late. The Germans were very impressed with the captains heroism, so the crown prince of Germany gave him back his sword as a sign of respect. The French army also promoted him to major while he was a P.O.W.
A tribute to the pigeons of Fort de Vaux
The Ossuary is a cemetery for some of the men killed at Verdun. The cemetery outside holds the remains of 15,000 French soldiers. The inside of the building holds 130,000 unidentified remains, both French and German. The walls inside are engraved with the names of the missing.
A suspiciously American-looking restaurant in Verdun.
Thank you cetroyer for sharing. I hope you (the reader) enjoyed the pictures.