The mud of the Meuse

Douaumont and Verdun (week 35)

Fleury - on the church site, looking toward the school and café

The Battle of Verdun was the German offensive of 1916.  It lasted 303 days (the longest land battle in history) and cost a combined one million casualties (300,000 deaths).  Needless to say, the region is still scarred and monuments and museums are everywhere, including little pieces of strongpoints in farmers' fields where the farmers have left them be.  We mostly drove through and stopped here and there when something appeared at the side of the road.

- Douaumont Ossuary - As the name implies, it is the collected bones found on the battlefield with an enormous memorial and chapel built over it.  There is also a large war cemetery in front, and the tomb of Lt. André Thome (mayor of a local town killed at Verdun).


- Fleury-avant-Douaumont - a village mort pour la France, one of nine villages completely destroyed during the fighting and not rebuilt as a memorial.  On the cratered site there are white posts marking the routes of the streets and signposts showing where the buildings used to be, e.g., school, farm, blacksmith, church....  It is legally still a village with a mayor and an official census report (0 inhabitants).

- Jewish and Muslim Monuments - markers commemorating people of these faiths serving in the French army (both next to the Ossuary).

- Monument to the sons of Verdun - the town's memorial to its war dead, built into the side of an old fortification.

the Meuse, rowing past the Sons of Verdun

- Monument to victory at Verdun - an ENORMOUS statue in town, overlooking the Meuse.  It is topped by a statue of Charlemagne and has the text of Petain's General Order #9 encouraging his army to hold out through the German attacks.

- Tranchée des Baïonettes - A spot where 30-40 rifles (with bayonets attached) were found sticking out of the ground.  By legend, it was a trench where soldiers were buried by a shell burst just before going over the top; more likely it is a mass grave with rifles to mark the bodies.  Craig's father took several pictures when he was there in the '50s when the rifles were still visible.  They are now all gone and replaced by wooden crosses.

- not the Verdun Memorial - a museum next to Fleury-avant-Douaumont, it is undergoing extensive work and was closed.

- the Wounded Lion - marks the spot of furthest German penetration towards Verdun, in the region defended by the 130th Division.

It was a damp day, so we could imagine the mud of the trenches by extrapolating from the amount of mud that got on our pants simply walking these sites.

Verdun the town has a really ancient cathedral, dating from the 10th century.  A nice cloister is also open to visitors.  Attached (literally) to the cathedral is the old episcopal palace, now home to the World Peace Centre.