Verdun,
a small place for a lot of blood, a name engraved in history for ever, a place never to be forgotten…
While on a short visit to my parents in Dijon we decided to visit Verdun. The town used to be called Verdun-sur- Meuse until the 1970′s. The town is located in the Loraine region in the North East of France. The city, or the area I should say is more well know for its battle of 1916.
I had a great grand-dad who thought the great war, so I have decided to retrace the step of a soldier of the Great War.
I will try to describes the main sites
But first, a little history lesson;
1914: The start of it all, the fatal spiral
On the 28 of June 1914, the Serbian Gavrilo Prinzizip murders the Archiduke Francois Ferdinand heir of the crown of the Austro-Hugarian Empire.
This act begins a conflict that was going to ignite Europe and the rest of the world. Nevertheless, the causes of the First World War are has to look for much further.
Tensions already existed between several European states (colonial crises..) , Tensions were amplified by the alliance system set up at the end of the 19th century. Two blocs were existing:
- The Triple Alliance (Triplice) with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy. She has got many links with the Ottoman Empire
- The “Entente” or Tripple Entente with France, Great Britain and Russia
After Sarajevo, despite some negotiations, it was down a spiral. On the 27th of July, Austria declared war to Serbia. On the 31st Russia launched a general mobilisation. On the 03rd of August Germany declared war to France, and on the 04th, Great Britain enters the war.
The contracted alliances are respected, except for Italy. The idea of a short war was predominant and, in this summer 1914, the soldiers leave for the front persuaded to be back home for Christmas.
1915: The war of mines
In the departement of the Meuse, the Germans wish at all price to force the passage in Argonne to attain the axe Châlons-Verdun and the railway Ste-Menéhould-Verdun in order to encircle Verdun and to disrupt the French re-provisioning. This is as well as the year 1915 view to develop very hard fighting.
Tunnels and trenches were dugged up and war was going underground.
At the front: The Trenches:
The first world-wide conflict is characterized by a front line continues, strengthened, that never will be broken by none of the armies in presence before 1918. The front is constituted of several lines of dug defenses in the earth: the trenches.
The soldiers live and die there, in mud, the invaded body of vermin, in company of the rats and pestilential odor of the corpses in decomposition. A no man’s land render insurmountable by dense networks of barbed ones, beaten by the fire of the machine guns separates the two first lines. The danger is permanent, even in calm period when the activity of the front is weak, the death arises does not import when during a patrol, of a chore, of a relief, or of an artillary bombardment that cuts down itself on the position without special reason.
The aerial observation by airplanes allows the armies to know with precision the configuration of the land of the enemy, so well that the artillary shooting never fall at random, shells always rain, of day as night, while doing the maximum of damages. The soldiers are only in security about ten kilometers behind the lines when they are outside reach of the heavy artillary.
1916: The battle of Verdun
At the end of the year 1915, the Germans decide to hit a big blow on the west front. They choose Verdun, a symblolic city of which the re-provisioning from the back is difficult and of which the forts were disarmed in 1915. Well informed of the German preparations, the French meet again in numerical and material inferiority at the start of the battle.
Conceived by Von Falkenhayn as an attrition battle for “to bleed to white” the French army under a shell flood in a report of losses of 1 for 2, the battle will reveal itself some almost as costly for the attacker: it did more than 300 000 deaths.
The site of Verdun is chosen for multiples reasons.
- This is an important strategic position for its location nearby the shell factories of Briey-Thionville and rail complex of Metz.
-This is a popular symbol that cannot be abandoned to the enemy ( Verdun was divided in 843 between the grandsons of Charlemagne, start of “France”). Therefore the French troops will prefer to die on the spot rather than to back up.
- It is clear also as the Germans gaze at in work their attack plan more quickly than the French. Otherwise, the confrontation very certainly would have taken place on the Somme river.
The battle of Verdun begins at 07h15 on the 21 February 1916 by an excessive German bombardment called “trommelfeuer”. The wood of the Caures took the full blow of the attack; 1600 to 1800 soldiers on foot are put out of fighting.
During nine hours, on a front of 15KM, a million shell ravage the zone. On the 25th of February, the general de Castelnau arrives tin Verdun and orders to withstand the German attacks. It confides the command of the defense of Verdun to the general Pétain.
As early as February the 26, confronted to a dramatic situation, Pétain takes then several decisions: it divides the front into four sectors, rearm the forts and a stationary resistance line. The road Bar-Le-Duc/Verdun, the “Sacred Way”" (Voie Sacrée), becomes the vital organ to supply the fight zone and allows the relief of the soldiers.
A continuous flow of Berliet trucks use the 60KM separating Bar-le-Duc to Verdun. In average 13 000 fighters, 6400 tons of equipment, 1500 tons of munitions are transported daily on this road (more d explanations will follow..)
Despite the forts of Douaumont (25/02) and of Vaux taken by the Germans, the German strategy is a failure. The French offensive begins in October and the Fort au Douaumont is back in French hands on the 24th of October and the one of Vaux the November 2.
On December the 18 1916, after 300 days of fighting, Verdun did not fall.
The losses were horrible, for a gain in territories conquer being null.
After 10 months of atrocious sufferings for the two camps, the battle will have cost 378 000 men (62 000 killed, more one than 101 000 disappeared from and more than 215 000 injureds, often invalid) to the French, 337 000 to the Germans, 22 millions of shells, of which a quarter at least did not explode.
The men showed the worse savageries during ten long months. They underwent rain, the cold, the snow, the fire andshells. Numerous of those that testified that alone in front of death, they felt renovated to the state of beasts. All that for nothing? All that for some square kilometers of earth and without life.
To her alone this battle could symbolize all the absurdity of this war, all absurdity and the waste of all the wars. 90 years after the battle of Verdun, if the forest growed back, it can be noted that the war séquelles are far to be over. The grounds of the red zone are polluted, and for a long time.
1918- Towards the ends of the war
The year 1917 is comparatively calm on the Easter front of the Meuse. The release operations continue around Verdun. In Aout 1917, the lost land on the left shore of the Meuse is back to the French.
The liberation of the Meuse
In 1918, the marshal Foch prepares a big offensive that must be preceded by punctual operations. It confides to the First Americain Army, under the command of the general Pershing, the attack to retreive the Saillant de Saint-Mihiel. (Stategic post and a battle Ground)
With the support of the French, the Americains attack on the 12 of September. The first combined operation using simultaneously the infantry, the fight tanks, the genius, the artillary and the aviation allows to reduce reducing the Saillant in just four days.
The second operation concerns the sector between the Meuse and the Argonne, a sector of first importance to the Germans it depends of the wholefront of the west.
The final assault, in the framework of the generalized attack decided by Foch, must be taken in cooperation with the 4th French army. The combined attack begins September 26 1918. Americans and the French take back the heights of Montfaucau and, after a stop time, the advance resumes from the 1st November.
The whole German front collapses and in less than a week, the Allies arrive to the south of Sedan. On November the 10, the enemy is rejected at the south of Stenay.
The next day, On November 11, 1918, the armistice is signed in Rethondes, putting an end to four years of fighting. This war also brought major changes on the Map of Europe.
It is difficult to resume this part of history, what can we say??
My great Grand dad who thought the battle of Verdun was often traumatised to talk about it, and will never bring the subject, but will over answer questions but will often cry.
He told me the horrors he had to endure, such as walking over bodies of his dead friends, no food, no water… (I was only 7 when he died, but I remember him crying once, they my mum, told me agin some of its thoughts)
Next years, will be 90 years from the end of the war, at the time of writting there are only 2 “poilus” (name given to the WW1 soldiers) left in France. No history book, can depicte what they have to endure and saw, I think that only them can truly understand.
To me this visit was like a pilgrimage, young boys fight for my liberty of today, by visiting the battle grounds will be a sign of respect, a sign that they will not be forgotten what they give to the nation in exchange for freedom: their life. The hell of the trenches, the constant fear of death at any moment was unspeakable for many returning soldiers.
We started our visit by the
Fort de Veaux:
Vaux is the symbol of the ”Poilu” one pushing his direction of the duty until the ultimate sacrifice.
The fort of Vaux , is part of a ring of fortress around Verdun, it was constructed in the period 1881-1884, and reinforced in 1888. Between 1904 and 1906 the fort was being equipped with a 75mm gun turret, three observation posts and two pillboxes. In august 1915 all forts in the Verdun sector where part of a general reformation, as a resulted all forts were being striped from their guns, to use them at the frontline.
Directly after the battle of Verdun started on February 21st 1916 the fort was in the line fire. The German artillery shelled the fort regularly. Due to a direct hit on the entrance tunnel of the 75mm turret, of which the guns were reinstalled, the fort was again a sitting without its main firepower. After Fort Douaumont was taken the Germans were forced to broaden there frontline and due to this the met up with Vaux. During the German offensive from March 5 till 30 the village of Vaux was taken on April the 2nd.
The fort was reached by the German infantry on June 2nd 1916. Due to heavy shelling of the fort the water tanks of the fort leaked and as a result there was no water left in the fort from June 4.
The Germans used toxic gas, hand grenades and flamethrowers to break the French resistance in the fort.
After the commander of the fort, Raynal, managed to evacuate 100 men from the fort in the night of June 5 to 6, he managed to send out a last message by his last pigeon named Vaillant with the text that he could not withstand the Germans. The pigeon who, intoxicated, dies on arrival to the pigeonnier of the citadel of Verdun (decorated honor Legion to title posthume, the bird today is exposed to the museum of Fleury.)
The message read “Nous tenons toujours, mais, subissons une attaque par le gaz et les fumées très dangeureuses. Il y a urgence à nous dégager.Faites-nous donner de suite communication optique par Souville qui ne répond pas à nos appels. C’est mon dernier pigeon.”
The garrison had to surrender on June 7. Attacked since days to the flamethrowers, exhausted, injured, thirsty, this are true ghosts to that the Germans return the honors. Raynal and its men (as well as the spaniel Quiqui) leave for captivity. The order is driven to the QG of Kronprinz, where he was complimented for his valiant resistance. Kronprinz, not having been able to have find raynal’s sword lost at the time of his surrender, will then give him a German dagger as a sign of respect.
The fort was kept by the Germans till November 2nd 1916. At that time the French managed to get as close as 350 meters from the fort.
The visit of the fort was very impressive and sad. it was difficult to imagine how the soldiers lived. The visit include rooms reconstructed showing how the soldiers lived. Including a small chapel.
Then we drive fort a short while to see the Tranchee des Baionnettes.
Tranchée des baïonnettes:
At the entrance of the monument, it was engraved “A la memoire des soldats Francais qui dorment debout le fusil en main dans cette tanchee – leurs freres d Amerique”
The 11 juin1916 , 57 men of the 137th infantry regiment, ready go out of their trench to climb to the assault, are buried living, rifle in hand, by the explosion of a shell. According to the official version that as early as the end of the WW1 conflict gave birth to the one of the myths the most controversial of the 1st World War. After the war, rediscovering the site, the press hurried itself to baptize the place “Tranchee des fusils” “the trench of the rifles” then changed soon it’s name to the most evocative of Tranchee des Baionettes”(“trench of the bayonets “).
Hit by this episode (the photos of the site were broadcasted in the world-wide press) Georges T. Rand, a rich American banker, did a gift of 500 000 francs that serves to the edification of a memorial recovering the trench. So, in June 1920, the sector was searched and 47 bodies were exhumed, of which 14 only were able to be identified.
However, it is impossible that the earth raised by the shells that fall irregularly succeeds to fill a trench. And more, not one not discovers information or accounts under this form in the narratives of the fighters; on the other hand, these lines of rifles or of bayonets alongside a trench, or of bodies, are very frequent. It is a matter of a usage that established itself during the war: after an offensive, it was necessary to bury fastest possible the bodies, including those of the enemies. The solution more practical for these was to fill an unused tube with their bodies. The collective grave next was marked rifles bayonets in the air. This explanation is furnished as early as the end of the war by soldiers former fighters.
This site is an example, of how many soldiers died and were not identified, there are so many “soldats inconu”! “unknow soldiers!
After we went back into the car and drove the destroyed village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont.
Besides the very heavy human losses, The Great War also left behind very heavy material losses, of which the destruction of nine villages in the Meuse Department(Beaumont, Bezonvaux, Cumieres, Douaumont, Fleury-devant-Douaumont, haumont-ores-Samogneux, Louvemont-Cote du Poivre, Ornes and Vaux-devant-Damloup). Because of the high risque of explosions habitants were prevented to rebuilt their villages. But still, aach is managed by a town council of three members named by the prefect of the Meuse. (many other villages were destroyed in other departments.)
These nine villages “mort pour la France” were destroyed in 1916. Before the war they had together about 3000 inhabitants, mostly farmers. These people were force abondon their villages at the beginning of the Battle of Verdun. Sadly for these habitants, the material destruction was such that in 1918, they were unable to regain their homes.
The village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont had 422 inhabitants before the war. It principally lived from grain farming and wood work. It was taken and resume 16 times in 2 months by French and German.
Today place it a remembrance site, Fleury is a wooded space baring the scars of the furious battle that unfolded here and is still visible although lessened by the time. A signposted pathway allows to discover the location of the houses that stood up in the different streets of the town before the destruction of this one.
A chapel was built in the memory of the villagers and each child who died for their country.
We drove past the “Verdun Memorial”, we stop to have a look at the shells exposed in front of the gates, the memorial was now closed as it was 18.30, but will visit it later tomorrow. The shells were huged! one was as tall as my dad!. It have cause chaos and create huge damages when landed on the ground.
We saw another memorial in form of a Wounded Lion, it is in the hounnor of the 130th Division who stopped the Germans in Souville.
After a rest night in the hotel we were back the following day.
Our first stop was the most important memorial and one of the most upsetting, the Douaumont Ossuary.
The Douaumont Ossuary regroups, in one and unique resting place, the unidentified remains of 130 000 French and German soldiers from the batterfields of Verdun.
It was built under the initiative of the Bishop of Verdun Monseigneur Ginity, The Doaumont Ossuary was inaugurated on the 07th of August 1932, by the French President Albert Lebrun.
The building represents a sunk sword in earth to the guard, that alone emerges with the handful using a lantern. The tower also have the shape of a shell.
The Victory Bell rings out during important ceremonies and the light, the lantern of the dead, shines out over the battlefield.
On the 137m long facade, the shields of each town or city having helped to built the ossuary can be seen.
The 46m high tower overlooks the entire battlefield and the cemetery. Hafl way through the clim to the top of the tower, there is samll museum.
In the cloister there are 22 cavities containing 46 granite graves. Each grave represent a sector of the battlefield and contains the remains found in this sector. At each end of the cloister is a 350m3 vault to countain the excess remains of sectors havind endured heavy losses.
My dad told many a few years ago, the visitors were still able to see the bones, skulsss of the remains of soldiers, but it was very upsetting so now they are in granite graves.
In front of the Ossuary, the Douaumont Military Cemetery contains the graves of 15 000 identified French soldiers. Each graves have a rose tree planted in front of it.
Inside the Ossuary were presented a film, “The Verdun Soldier’s Heroism” showing the life of “the Poilu” in the battlefield.
There is also a shop selling books, dvd’s postcards….
It was a weird experience visiting this site, it shows you the scales of the war. So many soldiers did not come home. Now with this memorial it is easier for families to rember their lost and grieve together.
We later continue on our way to visit the fort of Douaumont
Fort De Douaumont:
After the war of 1870 that saw the loss of the Alsace and o Lorraine, a defense plan of the border is established by Séré of Rivers an army chief that has 38 forts built and works on a perimeter of 40 kilometers around the city of Verdun.
The fort of Douaumont, became the most important and powerful and the best armed of this defense line. Its construction begins as early as 1885 and finishes at the end of 1913. It becomes by his volume, the first fort of the Verdun area in 1914.
On the 25 of February 1916, the Germans attacked the Fort and managed to take it as well as 57 prisonners.
On 8th of May 1916, the life of the fort, then occupied by the Germans, was disrupted by an unforeseen event. The day before, bombardments were very violent. The fort had received the injureds, a battalion was resting and many troops were located in the fort at that time. At 6.00 in the morning, it there was a violent explosion, the one of a depot of grenades that then put the fire to a flamethrower depot. The losses were heavy, the Germans began burying the deads but more and more bodies were discovered, the Commander ordered to put them into two bunkers that were walled off. Of the 800 to 900 soldiers that died, 679 are buried behind these walls, cross marks the evnt, this is the German cemetery of the fort.
On the 24th of October 1916, the fort was retaken by a Colonial Regiment of Moroco
The Fort is of three hectares, with a length of 400 meters, several kilometers of galleries and two inferior levels. The ceiling is thick of six meters (rocks, sand, special concrete and earth). The fort allowed capacity for 800 men in 1916, it there was sometimes until 3 000, 3 300.
Life in the fort:
The fort contained water tanks. Nevertheless during the fighting they were unusable as the re-provisionings in water were particularly difficult. At the time, candles and oil lamps were used for the lighting because of the atmospheric pressure (lacks oxygen), always extinguished themselves. The Germans had transported to the fort generating sets that were still in building stage at the moment of the return of the fort.
The ventilation was assured by handhels fans. The toilets did not exist in the fort in 1916. Inside the fort reigned such a pong that the soldiers continually were taken sick. Only, in 1917, the French began the installations of pits for toilets.
There is a room inside the fort to disinfect the uniforms. The soldiers had not left theirs during days and they were full of fleas. As disinfection was done by the vapor and by lime, the eggs of this vermin were never totally destroyed.
The fort of Douamont was about 4 time bigger that the fort De Vaux, it was difficult to imagine all these men pilled up inside it with the smell as companion. I can not imagine what it must have been like! It’s defense was really impressive.
Then we made a quick stop to the Maginot memorial Monument. It was built in the honour of Andre Maginot. He proved himself a very brave and audacious warrior and went went up the ranks. At the of the war, he conducted the ceremony for the Choosing of the Unknown Soldier in the Citadel at Verdun and lit the flame of remembrance at the Arc de Triomphe. He also battle for veterans for the states to them a pension as well as a veteran card.
Andre Maginot built the defense line called “Ligne Maginot”.
Then we went to the Verdun Memorial.
We are now in the heart of the battlefields, the Verdun Memorial is one of the principal Great War Museum in Europe. It was created in 1967 under the patronage of Maurice Genevoix who was a War Veteran. It is a sanctuary of remembrance a bearing witness to the commitment and sufferring of French, German and other soldiers having thought between 1914 and 1918 in this key sector of the Western Front.
The museum hace an abundance of elements as well as a reconstruction of a battlefield. Planes, vehicules, heavy arms & weapons and uniforms can be seen to illustrate this war. Personal belongings and handicraft evoke men’s daily life in the trenches.
Beautiful objects were craft from empty shells.
The resources are enormous, lots of information is provided about the differrent aspects of the war. It a must see museum for any one.
We then made our way to Fort de Souville, it is about a 20 minutes walk in the forrest from the main road.
The Fort de Souville was built between 1875 and 1879. The fort housed the telephone exchange, which consist of two underground lead circuits that connected it to the Fort of Douaumont and the fortification at Thiaumont, plus two overhead cables linking other forts and the Verdun undrerground citadel exchange. The fort was heavily armed with cannons as well. In the forrest surrounding the fort you can still see shell holes from the heavy bombardements.
The inside of the fort is a Red Zone, it means access in forbidden although it is not barricaded. As the fondations are dangerous and the building can collape, if the visitor goes in, well that with is its own problems!
There are still “red Zones”, it means NO ACCESS because bombs still laid unexploded.
After that we made our way back to Verdun, our first stop was the “Centre Mondial de la Paix”
it was a big museum dedicated to the cibema of the Great War.
Later we left following “La Voie Sacree”
The Sacred Road:
For the battle taking place in the Verdun area, the biggest problem was the supplying to the front line:
- By rail via Lerouville, it was impossible as it was cut off in Saint Mihiel and from Chalon, it was the line was severed in Aubreville. A small local railway linking Verdun to Bar-Le-Duc would have innefficient to sustain the 8000 tonnes needed daily, it could only bear a tenth of that amount!
It was decided to use the road linking Bar-le-Duc to Verdun and was named ” La voie Sacree – The Sacred Road by Maurice Barres in April 1916.
Throughout the battle of Verdun, every single day along the 75KM strech of road, 6000 vehicules were driven non stop at a speed of 15-20Km/h
A total of 1200 workers were affected to the maintenance of this road by throwing small stones under the the wheels of the trucks, and other vehicules.
In a week, on average 9000 men and 50000 tons of material& equipement were transported.
Raymond Poincare inaugurated the current “Voie Sacree” on the 21st of August 1922 by marking each kilometer stone surmounted by a helmet and a green laurel wreath.
We stoped at the memorial which was built in 1967 honouring those who drove along this road.
It is with great sadness that, on the 12 March 2008, I heard that the last “Poilu” who though for France died, his name was Lazarre Ponticelli.
He swore in the trenches that he will honour the memory of the fallen, Lazarre never failed to turn up every 11th of November to honour his words, now he left us and went with his fallen camarades…
On this site, he relates his war memories….. (in French!)
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/memoire78/pages/ponti.html
Today, the last British WW1 veterans are:
William Stone, 107,
Harry Patch, 109,
and Henry Allingham 111
Erich Kaestner’s was the last German WW1 veteran, his death on New’s Day went almost unoticed, but was still a man who thought for his country…
To all the fallen, thank you for fighting for our freedom….
No words can describe what they went through only them could tell…
