Verdun (Verodunum, a latinized place name meaning “strong fort”) was founded by the Gauls and has passed back and forth between French and German control many times. It is on the Meuse River in Lorraine, which flows from the south through France, Belgium and the Netherlands. The Meuse Valley is a natural barrier that has historically formed part of the defences as enemies approach the heart of France from the east. For this reason, the city has had great strategic importance, and the fortress of Verdun was the scene of heavy fighting in World War I.

During WWII, the crossing of the Meuse River capped the successful German breakthrough into France in May 1940. The Meuse and its crossings were a key objective of the last major German WWII counter-offensive on the Western Front—the Battle of the Bulge (Battle of the Ardennes) in the winter of 1944/45.

Verdun is in the Meuse department, which is part of the current region of Grand Est. The region is sparsely populated.

From 1624-36, a large star-shaped (bastioned) citadel was constructed on the western end of the rocky bluff. In 1670, the world’s leading military architect, Sébastien le Prestre de Vauban, drew up an ambitious scheme to fortify the whole city. Although much of his plan was built in the following decades, some of the elements were not completed until after the Napoleonic Wars.

THE NAPOLEONIC WARS

Despite the extensive fortifications, the Prussians captured Verdun in 1792 during the War of the First Coalition but abandoned it after the Battle of Valmy. In July 1792, a largely Prussian army led by Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, invaded France, and on 29 August laid siege to Verdun with a force of approximately sixty thousand men and forty guns. Verdun was garrisoned by a unit from the Loire region commanded by fifty-two-year-old Lieutenant-Colonel Nicolas-Joseph Beaurepaire, a retired royalist officer who had returned to serve the revolution. The garrison consisted of just forty-four men, the rest having deserted on the way to Verdun.

The great fortress was not prepared to resist a long siege, but Beaurepaire was determined to resist for as long as possible. However, his enthusiasm to fight was not shared by the leaders of the city and, at a council of war, municipal officers overruled Beaurepaire. His pride could not overcome the disgrace of surrender, and shortly after this meeting Beaurepaire either shot himself or was murdered. On September 2, after a short artillery bombardment, the fortress surrendered.

After the fall of Verdun, the Prussian force continued to advance slowly towards Paris, allowing the French to gather a large army that defeated the Prussians at the Battle of Valmy on 20 September. The Prussians pulled back across the French border, and the French retook Verdun on 14 October

FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR

Verdun again found itself under attack from Prussians during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. The city was besieged from early August 1870 and held out until 8 November before accepting a Prussian offer of surrender with full military honours. Verdun was the last French fortress to surrender in 1870.

The Treaty of Frankfurt, signed on 10 May 1871, obliged the French to hand over most of the territory in the eastern provinces of Alsace and Lorraine and to pay reparations of five billion francs within five years, with a portion of northeastern France remaining under Prussian occupation to guarantee payment. The French government paid off the reparations two years ahead of schedule. With the debt paid, the Prussian occupation force withdrew from French territory, and the Verdun garrison was the last to leave on 13 September 1873.

Shortly after the Prussians left, the fortification for Verdun was revised. After the French loss of Alsace and Lorraine to Prussia in 1870, the French border shrank to just twenty-five miles east of Verdun. Verdun found itself in the middle of the shortest and most direct route from Germany to Paris. So, beginning in 1874, France began building new military fortifications: a mutually supporting ring of twenty-two polygonal forts, some as far as eight kilometres from the city, and an inner ring of six forts. To staff these forts, a permanent garrison of more than six thousand men was posted. The costs of this construction were enormous, but perhaps for naught because of the development of high-quality rifled cannon and the invention of new high explosive projectiles during the 1850s. These inventions rendered the brick and stone masonry forts of Verdun obsolete.

Not to be deterred, from 1888 all existing and new forts were sheathed in thick layers of reinforced concrete. By 1914, the fortified area facing Germany from Verdun extended up to fourteen kilometres east and contained thirty-two major defensive works manned by almost five thousand men. In addition, 114 protected artillery battery positions armed with 407 mobile field guns were constructed. To support and supply these fortifications, eight reinforced concrete ammunition storage bunkers, three concrete-protected command posts, numerous supply depots, an airfield, a training and storage facility for observation balloons and protected infantry shelters were added. All of these fortifications were linked by a network of roads and narrow-gauge railway lines. In total, the French military spent nearly 820 million francs on improving Verdun’s defences between 1874 and 1914, a huge amount of money for the time.

Fort Douaumont was the centrepiece of this defensive network. Located on a 390-metre ridge nine kilometres northeast of Verdun, Douaumont was the highest work in Verdun’s defences as well as the largest. It had a twelve-metre-thick concrete roof and two large retractable armoured gun turrets. The fort was garrisoned with 820 soldiers housed in a two-level barracks.

Despite the expense in constructing the Verdun fortification system, by 1915 the French Army General Staff had decided that these forts were once more obsolete and did not expect there to be any major German attack in this area. As a result, on the eve of the Battle of Verdun, these fortifications were undermanned and under-armed.

THE BATTLE OF VERDUN (FIRST WORLD WAR)

The bloodbath that was the Battle of Verdun was ostensibly fought for control of the small, fortified region east of the town of Verdun. Unlike any battle of the past, this battle raged for almost a year and involved millions of soldiers. German forces pushed unrelentingly against determined French resistance in a battle of attrition with no real strategic goal by Germany except to kill as many Frenchmen as possible and so compel the French into submission.

The French never foresaw a battle taking place at Verdun. While the area was protected by eighteen defensive forces, the French high command did not consider the area as either vital or a likely path of attack. For this reason, the forts were deficient in heavy artillery and undermanned. German general Erich von Falkenhayn, the army chief of staff, decided to stage a major assault in the Verdun area. While there is some scholarly debate on the point, the generally-accepted objective of the attack was to cause such heavy losses of French fighting men that France would surrender.

In late 1915, the Germans began to assemble along the Verdun front, taking advantage of heavily-forested areas to bring up troops and shells by night and hide them in underground galleries. At least 168 German airplanes were dispatched to the area to ensure aerial supremacy. Stealth combined with bad weather prevented the French from taking note of the German build up.

Artillery bombardment was the main source of death in the First World War, and Germany planned to use massive bombardment and barrage to decimate the French defenders at Verdun. This strategy envisaged deliberately sacrificing German troops in a limited offensive designed to provoke a French counter-attack that could then be decimated by massed artillery fire. For this purpose, in February 1916 the Germans secretly massed 1,200 guns near Verdun along with a stockpile of 2.5 million shells. This initial stockpile was deemed sufficient for six days of intensive fire. A further two million shells were to be fired over the succeeding twelve days, brought up by dedicated munitions trains at a rate of thirty-three trains per day. Replacement gun parts, barrels and repair equipment were stockpiled at depots close to the front and the Germans made arrangements to ship pieces requiring more extensive repair back to factories especially configured to repair them quickly for return to units..

The initial German bombardment was to be the heaviest ever experienced in warfare to date and was part of a sophisticated fire plan intended to target every facet of the French defence. The Germans emplaced approximately two hundred minenwerfer (mortars) of 75mm, 170mm and 250mm caliber close to the front line. They situated 77mm, 100mm, 105mm and 210mm field guns farther back from the front line. Mortars and field guns were tasked with obliterating the French front-line trenches. Longer-range pieces targeted the French support trenches and French artillery positions, roads and rail tracks linking the French front line and rear areas

Massive siege artillery including huge 305mm and 420mm howitzers—cannon with short barrels intended to throw shells in a high arc to maximize their impact—were stationed farther back from the front line and used to pound the French forts. . There were also three 380mm naval guns of the type of gun mounted in German battleships. These weapons were more accurate and had longer range than the howitzers and were assigned to drop a steady forty rounds per day into the town of Verdun and the roads and rail lines on the west bank of the River Meuse. The naval guns were sited in woods twenty-seven kilometres northeast of Verdun. They each weighed more than two hundred tons and had 15-metre barrels mounted on massive traversable steel platforms. These were in turn anchored in 6-metre-deep concrete-lined pits that incorporated chambers for sophisticated fire control equipment. They had an accurate range of up to forty kilometres. The pits were linked to concrete-protected underground ammunition stores by light railway like those employed in coal mines. Each 380mm round weighed around 725 kilograms. One of the emplacements can still be seen in the Bois de Warphémont.

The Battle of Verdun opened on February 21, 1916, initiated by the opening shot from a German 38cm-long barrel gun. At 07:12, 1220 guns on a twenty-kilometre front straddling both sides of the River Meuse began the barrage. In the opening minutes of the attack, all telephone links between forward positions and brigade headquarters were cut, and the long-range German guns began to seek out the network of fortifications that protected the city of Verdun. This initial bombardment continued until the afternoon of February 22, at which time six divisions attacked on the east bank of the Muese River. German storm troopers equipped with grenades and flamethrowers led the assault. Waves of German infantry followed the storm troopers. The French immediately began to absorb serious casualties. The constant shelling, lack of artillery support and general under-supply had its negative effect on French morale, and on 25 February, Fort Douaumont, the main fort of the Verdun defensive system, fell without a shot being fired.

It appeared that the German army was poised for a breakthrough at Verdun, but the French were resolved not to abandon the fortress. The Battle of Verdun was to principally be an artillery battle. The Verdun defensive system was based upon a series of permanent fortifications built of reinforced concrete. General Philippe Pétain, who assumed command over the Verdun sector on 25 February 1916, decided to supplement these with the emplacement of thirteen heavy batteries assembled on the west bank of the River Meuse to deliver a burst of concentrated fire. As the shelling and counter-shelling tactics of both sides progressed, the battlefields of Verdun devolved from defined trench lines to infantry-holding shell holes and craters. The German offensive became static between March and May as it became increasingly difficult to move men and supplies over the landscape of mud, craters and decomposing bodies. The battle of attrition began in full measure.

Pétain also changed infantry tactics from the massed assault to a system of limited offensives, with infantry advancing no farther than artillery support could reach. Only after an enemy had been ground down and exhausted could a series of breakthrough operations be launched and manoeuvre warfare restored. Combat was intense, characterized by localized struggles for strategic high ground and key positions. Each side sought to capture or recapture tactically important positions—Fort Douaumont, Le Mort Homme, Côte 304, Fort Vaux, Thiaumont and Fleury.

To supply the defenders, the French constructed a light railway and established a vehicle supply route passing up the road from Bar-le-Duc. By June, some twelve thousand vehicles, one every fourteen seconds, would navigate this route. This road was immortalized as the Voie Sacrée (Sacred Way) by the patriotic French writer Maurice Barrès, and this designation is inextricably linked to the legend of Verdun. During the months of battle, this dirt road link to Bar-le-Duc was simply called “la Route” and consisted of a small railway with a metre-wide track called the “Meusien” and a minor dirt road running roughly parallel to it. Between 22 February and 7 March, trucks carried twenty-five thousand tonnes of supplies and ammunition into Verdun. Verdun was thus the first battle in history to be supplied by truck rather than by horse cart. To maintain la Route, around ten thousand labourers, many from Indochina and Senegal, were employed to hand shovel tonnes of stone from local quarries onto the road. In addition to supplies, hundreds of thousands of French soldiers travelled la Route. French policy was to rotate units in and out of battle to Brent to prevent physical and psychological stresses from dampening fighting effectiveness. As a result, eventually close to three-quarters of the entire French fighting force was rotated through Verdun in 1916..

It is difficult to imagine the horror that was the Battle of Verdun. Tens of thousands of men died or were mutilated every week for almost a year, most by artillery. Both sides fought surrounded by dead and decomposing comrades teeming with rats and other scavengers. Mud was everywhere as were the gory remnants of men and horses. Covered in this patina of filth, combatants cowered during barrages wondering if this was to be the day their luck ran out.

A war hero pigeon
Fort Vaux was the smallest fort in Verdun’s defences and housed a garrison of 150 men. Early in the battle of Verdun a German heavy artillery shell completely destroyed the fort’s single retracting gun turret and badly damaged the superstructure of the emplacement. This damage stripped the Fort of its primary armament. However, Major Sylvain-Eugene Raynal, a 49-year-old infantry officer, stationed the garrison deep into the interior corridors and stations of the fort, where they met the attack of German assault troops on 2 June. A five-day-siege then ensued. The besieged French garrison repulsed German assaults, including fighting underground from barricades inside the corridors, Raynal’s men resisted German attempts to penetrate deeper into the interior of the Fort in intense hellish underground fighting.
With the defenders was a spaniel named Quiqui and a small loft of four military carrier pigeons.
The garrison eventually ran out of water, ammunition, medical supplies, and food. On Wednesday 7 June 1916 Raynal was finally obliged to surrender to Leutnant Müller-Werner from Fusilier Regiment 39.
During the siege, with telephone lines cut, Raynal sent several messages via homing pigeons requesting relief for his soldiers. The last, Carrier Pigeon No. 787–15 (“Vaillant”), was released with the message : “We are still holding but are under very dangerous attack by gas and fumes. Urgent relief is imperative. Do give us optical communication with [Fort] Souville, which does not respond to our calls… This is our last pigeon”. The bird was injured by toxic fumes, the bird still managed to deliver its message before dying. Carrier Pigeon No. 787–15 was awarded a posthumous Légion d’Honneur for its dedication to duty, and officially designated as Mort Pour le France (died for France) and preserved for posterity with the aid of a taxidermist. He is honored and in a 1929 plaque from placed by the Société Française de Colombophiles (The Society of French Pigeon Fanciers) in the courtyard of Fort Vaux where it remains to this day. Souvenir replicas of the bird can be purchased from the fort gift shop.

In late May 1916, Germany renewed the offensive with no clear objective other than to impose significant losses to the French. In June 1916, the six hundred defenders of Fort Vaux were subjected to a ferocious bombardment and eventually, under the command of Major Sylvain Raynal, retreated to the cellars of the fortress. There they were attacked by flamethrowers and forced to breathe toxic smoke. On June 8 they were forced to surrender. In their resistance, the French suffered only one hundred casualties compared to 2,740 German. The fight for Fort Vaux is indicative of the significant casualties associated with any advance on the Verdun front.

General von Falkenhayn pushed the German 5th Army to maintain the offensive, but the onset of the Somme Offensive in June 2016 by the combined Anglo-French force, combined with intensified fighting on the Eastern Front, forced the redeployment of German reserves and an end to the Verdun Offensive.

In October 1916, the French went on the offensive. Using newly-developed tactics of creeping barrage (supported by the excellent French 75mm artillery gun) followed by mass infantry attack, the French were able to recapture much of the ground taken by the Germans in a matter of days. Fort Douaumont was retaken on October 24 and Fort Vaux on November 2. By December 15, the battle finally concluded with almost all territory previously captured by the Germans again in French hands.

Casualties from the Battle of Verdun were abysmal. The French lost 156,000 dead and 195,000 wounded. German losses were 142,000 dead or missing and 187,000 further casualties.

In part because of the failure of the Verdun Offensive to bleed the French out of the war, General von Falkenhayn resigned and was replaced as chief of staff by General von Hindenburg

Douamont Ossuary and French National Cemetery

Verdun Today

The Battle of Verdun - Muese Memorial Sites

Virtually all the Muese was an active battle site during World War I including not only front-line trenches but also forts, French and German supply and rear support areas. To this day, the battle sites of the area remain contaminated and dangerous. In the forest and beneath the apparently lush ground lie thousands of unexploded munitions, lethal levels of arsenic, unexploded bombs, tracts of barbed wire and the remains of the men who gave their lives fighting for control of this strip of land almost one hundred years ago.

The forest is so dangerous that swathes of it have been declared a no-go zone and access is not permitted. The area is categorized as a “Zone Rouge” and the land itself remains a memorial to the fighting.

There are five main sites in and around Verdun:

1. The Verdun Memorial is an excellent museum jointly funded by France and Germany. Spread over two floors, it contains over two thousand artifacts and effectively lays out the history and background of the battle. It is wheelchair accessible, and all the displays have explanations in French, German and English. Map Rank 10 memorial-verdun.

2. Fort Douaumont is quite well-preserved with approximately half of it accessible to visitors. The most notable remaining structures are the barracks room and the 155 mm gun turret. Map Rank 9

3. Similarly, Fort de Vaux affords a further glimpse into underground life during the battle. Fort de Vaux has preserved a command post, infirmary, telephone switchboard and telegraph office, dovecote and Bourges Bunker with 275mm guns. Visitors with mobility issues will find both forts difficult to visit. Rank 9

4. Near Fort Douaumont is the Douaumont Ossuary and French National Cemetery.. Map Thirteen thousand crosses adorn the field in front of the ossuary, which holds roughly 130,000 unidentified remains brought in from the battlefield. Every year yields more remains, which are often placed inside the ossuary vaults. Some of the remains may be seen through viewing windows at the base of the monument. The main hall of the ossuary is inscribed with the names of the dead and swathed in red filtered light; it is humbling. You can view the cemetery from the top of the tower (accessible by stairs only).. Rank 9

5. TThe Citadelle Souterraine de Verdun is located within the town of Verdun.. Map Used as a command centre during the battle, the citadel was beyond the front lines and well preserved. Access to the citadel is via a small 8-12 passenger tram ride only. The tram moves visitors through the citadel and features audio-visual projections. Translation headsets are available, and reservations are required.. Rank 9

All five of these sites require paid admission, and a five-site discount pass is available for purchase at each location. While it is possible for an intrepid visitor to visit all five sites in one day, we recommend spreading it out over two days. Please note that admission to some of these sites may be cut off forty minutes before closing.

Other notable sites to visit include:

a. Destroyed Villages : nine villages along the battle front were destroyed during the Battle of Verdun. A few traces of these villages remain with the positions of houses and public buildings marked out reminding visitors of the communities that once existed. They were never rebuilt and are kept as ghost villages as a tribute to the non-combatant losses arising from the battle.. Destroyed Villages Rank 7

b. The Trench of Bayonets, where a dozen bayonets are lined up in a row, marks the location where bayonets were discovered projecting out of the ground after the war; there was the body of a French soldier below each rifle. Some people assume these belonged to a group of soldiers who had rested their rifles against the parapet of the trench they were occupying when they were killed during a bombardment. The men were buried where they lay in the trench and the rifles left untouched. However, this is probably not historically accurate: experts agree that the bayonets were probably affixed to the rifles after the attack and installed by survivors to memorialize the spot. Map Rank 7

c. The Victory Monument is in the centre of Verdun and was inaugurated in 1929. Seventy-three steps on the monument lead to a hall containing a list of names of soldiers awarded the Verdun medal, and it affords an excellent view of the town. On 1 November every year, a ceremony takes place there when the sacred flame is brought from the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The ceremony is linked to commemorations of the armistice in Paris. Map Rank 6

d. The World Centre for Peace is housed in the former archbishop’s palace in Verdun. The original palace was designed in 1724 by Robert de Cotte, Louis XIV’s senior architect. The entrance courtyard, gardens and apartments stand as an excellent example of French classical architecture. For the past twenty years it has served as a memorial to the First World War and the Franco-Prussian War, hosting exhibitions and serving as a conference centre. centremondialdelapaix Rank 6

e. “From Flames to Light” is a sound and light show staged June and July every year. It features special effects and three hundred actors. spectacle-verdun

Other Military related sites in the Meuse:

The Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial is located at Romagne-sous-Montfaucon to the northwest of Verdun. ap It is the final resting place for 14,246 American military dead, most of whom died in the Muese-Argonne Offensive. The chapel contains a memorial to the 954 American missing whose remains were never recovered or identified.

Jouy Fort is located between Toul and Verdun. Map This fort was built between 1883 and 1885 and is built entirely of freestone and has never been modernized. It has four courtyards and a moat defended by four caponiers. It is open on the second and fourth Sundays of the month from April to October and by arrangement. fortdejouy Rank 6

Fort de Liouville was part of the system of defences in the upper Meuse. Guided tours are available on the second Sunday of the month and every Sunday in July and August. fortdeliouville Rank 6

Fort de Troyon was built in 1878 entirely out of stone rather than concrete and withstood massive shelling in September 1914. Map Located on the eastern flank of the French lines, it was attacked several times by German forces but did not fall. Volunteers now maintain the fort. fort–de–troyon Rank 6

Saillant de Saint-Mihiel was formed in September 1914 when the Germans forced more than twenty kilometres beyond the French lines. Map It was the site of heavy fighting, and the landscape has changed little since 1914. French and German trenches are still visible. There is also a German cemetery and former German hospital. Guided tours are available with advance booking.. coeurdelorraine-tourisme Rank 7

Montsec American Monument in the Meuse Hills shows the location of villages and the position of the fighting on the Saint–Mihiel Saillant. Map It commemorates the names of American units that fought in this area in 1918. The site affords a panoramic view of Lake Madine and the Meuse Hills.

Les Éparges is a ridge overlooking the Woëvre Plain towards Metz. This was an area of intense fighting in 1915. This sector includes the Calonne Trench where several French authors died. The ridge is scarred by mine warfare craters. There are also numerous memorials across the site. Map meusetourism Rank 6

The village of Vauquois was mined with explosives and razed in February 1915. The Butte de Vauquois hillside overlooks the impressive creators by created by explosive charges and the restored trenches on both French and German sides. Map Guided tours of underground passages are available (advance booking required). Numbers are limited for safety. Allow two hours for this visit. butte-vauquois Rank 7

The Val Dunois History Museum houses a documentary exhibition about the Natzwiller–Struthof concentration camp. valdunois Rank 5

Falouse Fort was used to billet soldiers behind the lines of Verdun. This fort is intact and has been restored by Great War enthusiasts. It provides a view of the everyday life French soldiers (using models). The site contains turrets, observation platforms, a firing parapet, trenches and a communications trench. Map ouvragedelafalouse Rank 8

Base Arrieres Allemandes (German bases in the rear) is set in the Warphemont woods, the Duzey battery was an emplacement for the German 380mm SKL gun. This weapon was one of the most closely-guarded secrets of the First World War and was established in a particularly strategic position behind German front lines. Originally made for one of the Germany’s battleships, the silo of the gun is four metres deep and twenty-three metres in diameter. This twenty-tonne long-distance gun began operation in October 1915 and was used in the Verdun Offensive. Another large naval gun with the same dimensions and dating from the same period has also been set up at the site. This is accessed by a footpath. Allocate forty-five minutes for the visit. Map Rank 6

Other places of interest in Verdun and the surrounding area:

Notre-Dame de Verdun Cathedral was consecrated in 1147 but was built on the site of an earlier church. Map The 12th Century Lion Door on the north side has a lavishly decorated tympanum. The whole building was restored in the 18th Century. The crypt is considered a significant piece of Romanesque architecture and is a memorial to the soldiers who fought at Verdun. cathedrale–verdun Rank 6

The Princerie Museum is located in the former residence of the princes of Verdun. Map It contains historic works of art from the region. musee–princerie–verdun Rank 6

For those interested in truffles (and who isn’t?), Maison des truffes et de la Trufficulture (The Truffle House) has an interpretive centre, cooking demonstrations and, most importantly, tasting sessions. Meals are available for groups with an advance booking. Map maisondestruffes. Rank 5

And since we are considering gastronomy, the European Beer Museum is found in Stenay. Map Located in an old food store within a citadel, it contains exhibitions and artifacts related to beer history and production. museede-la-biere Rank 6

Archaeological site Nasium provides historical recreations of Roman life. The “22 Nasium Legion” parades during the summer. Guided walks from June to the end of September feature a Roman town or the capital of ancient Gauls. On some weekends the walks include visits to active archaeological digs. www.nasium.org Rank 6

For more information about these and other attractions, visit: tourisme-verdun

Other Events

Bar-le-Duc hosts its annual Festival Renaissances of street entertainment. festivalrenaissances Rank 7

Les vieux métiers is a nineteenth century replica village with volunteers in period costumes. It is open every Sunday in May. vieuxmetiers Rank 7

There is a covered market in Verdun Friday from 07:30 to 13:00, Sunday from 08:00 to 11:45.at the corner of Rue de Pont des Augustins and Rue de Ru.

While access to actual battle sites is not permitted, there are a series of hiking and bicycling paths through the area. For information about bike routes Circuit

For other information about the Meuse area and Verdun visit meusetourism or tourisme-verdun

For collectibles, try La Tranchee Du Poilu 22 Avenue de Douaumont, 55100 Verdun

Eating

Chez Mamie offers good portions of authentic French cuisine for an average price. 52 Avenue de la 42ÈME Division, 55100 Verdun +33 3 29 86 45 50

Romeo E Giulietta offers Italian food in the historic district of Verdun. Nice terrace. 37 Rue des Rouyers, 55100 Verdun, France +33 3 29 85 88 86

Accommodations:

Les Jardins du Mess Hotel: A nineteenth-century building with an elegant facade that is a short walk from Verdun Cathedral. 22 Quai de la République, 55100 Verdun-sur-Meuse +33 03 29 80 14 .lesjardinsdumess

Gîte La Paysanne 11 Rue des Eparges, 55160 Fresnes-en-Woëvre, gitesmeuse.

Chambres d'hotes Villa Nantrisé minutes away from the American Cemetery. Tasteful, comfortable rooms in a garden setting. 46 Rue de L'Argonne, 55110 Romagne-sous-Montfaucon +33 3 29 84 73 85

Verdun and the selection of France’s unknown soldier

Having been the focus of one of the First World War’s most intense battles, Verdun also played a key role in the French national commemoration of the conflict. It was decided that an anonymous fallen soldier would be selected to represent the sacrifice of all those killed.
The original plan was to intern the unknown soldier in the Paris Pantheon alongside other notable French citizens. However, a public campaign led to the base of the Arc de Triomphe being selected instead.
The method of choosing the Unknown Soldier was simple and poignant. Eight coffins containing unidentified remains selected from battlefields across the Western Front were laid out in one of the Verdun Citadel’s underground chambers. On 10 November 1920 Soldat Auguste Thien from the 123rd Régiment d’Infanterie selected the sixth coffin, reportedly after adding together the digits of his regiment’s number. The selected coffin was then transported to Paris where it lay in state until being interred on 28 January 1921.
The other seven sets of remains are interred in a special plot in the centre of the Faubourg Pavè military cemetery on the eastern outskirts of Verdun, which contains around 5,000 French First World War casualties (along with seven Royal Air Force and Royal Canadian Air Force aircrew killed on 8 March 1943).

BATTLEFIELDS

VERDUN

THE NAPOLEONIC WARS

FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR

THE BATTLE OF VERDUN (FIRST WORLD WAR)

Verdun Today

Verdun and the selection of France’s unknown soldier