Verdun and St. Mihiel 2010

As mentioned, Verdun is a WWI site that Steve, Lance and Gerry had visited before, but was over a few days and certainly not enough time to see everything. To be honest we still didn’t see everything.

After the battles of 1916 it was declared a Zone Rouge after the War - so destroyed and with so many munitions still around that unlike the Somme and Flanders, the villages that had been destroyed were not rebuilt. Hence there are a lot of features still to see, from vast underground forts and destroyed villages most things you see or find around Verdun are particularly moving. Verdun was of course the scene of one of the bloodiest and intense battles of him Great War. One infantry soldier wrote "If you haven't seen Verdun, you haven't seen anything of war" and this was the same for the NMBS – hence why Kevin and Stuart needed to go and see Verdun.

Right at the heart of the Verdun battlefield is the massive Ossuary located not far from the site of Fort Douaumont and the ruined village of the same name. The building of this structure took some twelve years, and it was finally inaugurated in 1932.Inside the base of the building are collected the bones recovered from this battlefield - an estimated 130,000 skeletons; and walking around the building one can peer through the small windows to see these grisly reminders of the bloodshed here. Through some of the windows can be seen neatly piled long-bones; through others jumbles and scraps of bones as well as skulls.

This time when all the NMBS visited the Ossuary, the tower was open and so was the small museum and cinema (which shows a very moving film about the battle around the area). Like the steps of the American memorial at Montfaucon, the NMBS strode up the first few before requiring oxygen, but getting to the top was well worth it. The view of the Cemetery in front is outstanding and you get a sense of the scale of the carnage. The slope below the Ossuary are the crosses of the French Cemetery here - a further 15,000 French soldiers are buried here, in the regular rows of graves seen in French military cemeteries.

Decorating the exterior walls of the Ossuary are the shields of many towns and cities across France and further a field - there is one for Londres (London).

Inside the Ossuary itself, the atmosphere is similar to that of a cathedral - voices are hushed and the smallest sounds echo along the halls. There are two main arms of the building leading off left and right from the entrance, with candles at each end. Their flickering flames glow amidst the dim red light that permeates the interior, giving the white marble walls an eerie blood red tinge. Along the hall are alcoves (with the names of areas of the battlefields inscribed above them), and mock tombs inscribed with the names of cities in France. Names are also inscribed on panels on the walls and the roof.

Beyond the cemetery sloping away from the Ossuary is Abri Caverne 320, where several chimneys rise from the cratered ground, and there are again excellent views across the valley beyondNear the Ossuary are several other sites of interest.

There is the Memorial to Muslim soldiers, overlooking the cemetery below the Ossuary. This was originally a small monolith, but in recent years this relatively small monument has been relocated and placed inside a much grander structure, which was inaugurated on the 25th of June 2006 by Jacques Chirac. The memorial is beautiful and is a nice touch to the 1000s of men from North African who died for France. The memorial was not built when the NMBS first came to Verdun, so it was a nice site to see. It compliments the rows and rows of Muslim soldiers who are buried at the cemetery (all are facing Mecca).On the opposite side of the Ossuary is the Memorial to Israelites in the form of a large wall with red script upon it and like the Muslim memorial, it’s a nice touch. A little further towards the Ossuary is another much smaller memorial in a similar style, commemorating that in June to October 1916 there was bitter combat at the Thiaumont Redoubt. The French Infantry Regiments that were involved are listed, and the inscription goes on to commemorate the actions of the 24th of October 1916, when the 4th Regiment retook Thiaumont

Ossuary

Thiaumont

Muslim Memorial

Ossuary

Located a little way along a small road leading north from the Ossuary is the famous Trench of Bayonets (Tranchée des Baionnettes) A long low concrete structure has been built to cover the site. Surprisingly an American benefactor provided the funding for this. History intermingles with legend concerning the Tranchée des Baionnettes. On the 12th of June 1916, this entrenched position was a part of the terrain forming a salient west of Fort Douaumont which the Germans wanted to take before launching their main offensive on the 23rd.

Two battalions of the 137th Infantry Regiment, deployed at the front since the 10th of June, were the object of appalling shelling and very soon found themselves cut off. The regiment's third company had lost 94 of its 164 men by the night of the 11th. The remainder had been placed in row of exposed trenches directly observable by German artillery spotters. The artillery fire on the position increased in the early morning hours and the remainder of 137th Regiment was annihilated almost to a man. . Author Alistair Horne tells what subsequently transpired. "It was not until after the war that French teams exploring the battlefield provided a clue as to the fate of 3 Company. The trench it had occupied was discovered completely filled in, but from a part of it at regular intervals protruded rifles, with bayonets still fixed to their twisted and rusty muzzles, on excavation, a corpse was found beneath each rifle. From that plus the testimony of survivors from nearby units, it was deduced that 3 Company had placed its rifles on the parapet ready to repel any attack and — rather than abandon their trench — had been buried alive to a man there by the German bombardment. When the story of the Tranchée des Baionnettes was told it caught the world's imagination." Sadly souvenir hunters have stolen the bayonets and they have been replaced by replicas, and sadly the replicas get stolen just as quick. Near the Ossuary, and passing the memorial museum at Fleury will take you to a number of sites of interest. First reached is the Lion of Souville monument. The agonised look on the face of the wounded lion is clearly to be seen. Across the road is a memorial marking the site of an ancient chapel

The View from the Ossuary

Some of the remains of the 130,000 Men

Rest in peace

Maginot Monument.

Turning right at the cross-roads by the Lion Monument, the D112 leads to two more memorials. Near the lion and at the far edge of the area of the Ossuary (not on the site of the Ossuary, but about quarter of a mile away, is a nice restaurant. It’s quite ‘posh’ and caters to the more elderly battlefield tourists who turn up in coaches. The NMBS decided that is was dinner time and walked in – obviously, five rough arse men wasn’t the norm for them, but after the first look of “Sacre Bleu” they served us a very fine, Plat d’jour and beer. If you are in the area and peckish, it is worth a stop for a bite to eat, and it is reasonably priced. So refreshed, fed and having a toilet break the NMBS were back on the road again.

Kevin had done a very good itinerary for the memorials around Fleury and the Ossuary and drawn a pin-point map in his “Paperchase” note pad – Kevin and Steve love Paperchase. Museums in France should open Paperchase shops in the museums; it would keep them both in longer.

The D112 road takes you to a number of memorials - The one on the right of the road (travelling south) is to commemorate that on this line the 30th Corps under General Chretian on the 21st to 25th of February 1916 held up the first attacks of the Germans and lost two thirds of its men.

The other memorial, more angular in form and shown in the right-hand picture below, commemorates a later event - how on the 12th of July 1916 the Fort of Souville, the last obstacle in the Germans path towards Verdun, resisted furious and repeated attacks by the Germans for ten hours. Lieutenant Kleber Dupuy and soldiers from the 3rd Company of the 7th Infantry Regiment are mentioned here too, and so is the fact that Fort Souville, which is in ruins (and is dangerous), can be found 200 metres behind the Maginot Monument.

The Maginot Memorial itself is a little further along the D112. It is an imposing monument, which was being worked on by stonemasons at the time of my visit. Andre Maginot fought in the Great War, but was wounded in November 1914. He became Minister for War, and was instrumental in ensuring a defensive line of forts was built after the Great War ended, and this line was named after him: the Maginot Line. Again this was the first time the NMBS had seen this and it certainly is impressive and you can’t really get the scale of the thing in books or pictures.

Located north-east of Verdun there are two main sites to be seen at Fleury. These are the memorial museum, and the site of the village itself, of which nothing now remains. This is just one of the villages near Verdun which were destroyed during the Great War and never rebuilt.

The museum opened in 1967, on the site of what had been Fleury station. It houses several displays, including a number of video presentations. A fee is charged for entry to the museum (around 7 Euros), and there is also a small shop area. It’s a good Museum and has a number of interesting features.

Outside the museum entrance are a number of armaments and other war-time items, such as the American field-wagon shown below, which was used for road repairs during the offensive in September to November, 1918.

There are also several artillery pieces, and shown below are three of these. First, a French 155mm gun used at Verdun. The shells weighed 40Kg each, and had a range of 12 km (about seven an a half miles). In the middle is a 170mm German Minenwerfer, which was buried in the clay during the battle for Hill 304 in 1916 and on the right a French 75mm gun which was used in the defence of Verdun.

Fort Douaumont

Various

This is one of the main and also most interesting sites in the Verdun battlefield. Fort Douaumont was one of a series of forts near Verdun, constructed after the Franco-Prussian War in order to ensure the area could be defended against any future attack. It was constructed mainly between 1885 and 1891, with the concreting taking place in 1888. Work did not finish however until 1913.

The fort stands on a site over 1,200 feet high, and as can be appreciated when walking on the top, it has commanding views over its surroundings. The barracks were built to accommodate a garrison of 635 soldiers, and as well as dormitories contained water tank and kitchens plus a bakery. In 1914 the garrison was smaller in size than the maximum; only a single infantry company plus artillery and engineers, just under 500 men in total. However, after similar Belgian forts failed to hold up the German advance into Belgium, views on the usefulness of such fortresses changed, and the garrison was much reduced. When the German offensive near Verdun began in early 1916, the fort had been disarmed of nearly all its large guns and only a tiny garrison of 57 French soldiers was present. The Germans therefore captured Fort Douaumont on the 25th of February 1916 with relative ease.

On the front of the fort are various plaques with inscriptions; one commemorating the actions of the 24th of October 1916, when French Colonial units including soldiers from Morocco, Senegal and Somalia recaptured the Fort from the Germans. Another remembers the 679 German soldiers who died in the fort when there was a massive explosion of stored munitions early in the morning of the 8th of May 1916. The site where their remains lie can be visited when touring the interior of the Fort. As you enter the fort through a small area where there are a number of items for sale. (There is a small charge for entry – and worth it) and a handout is provided explaining the fort, available in a number of languages – None being Mancunian, Innit. The interior of the fort is damp and chilly - stalactites can be seen on many of the roofs, and when the corridors are empty, sounds echo eerily along them. When Steve, Gerry and Lance last came it was mid February and they were the only ones in the fort (which helped for a few sneaks in “Out of Bound” areas) This time there were a few more people, but the scales, isolation and eeriness of it still was there.

There are several kilometres of tunnels inside the Fort in total, with only a small proportion open to the public (unless you go in mid February and are naughty like Steve and Lance. Gerry isn’t naughty, just easily encouraged). The ceiling of the fort is six metres thick, and it is estimated that in 1916 the fort was struck by between 800 and 1400 German shells each day. This main ground floor corridor was named by the French the Galerie Mangin, after their commander in charge of the operation which recaptured the Fort on the 24th of October 1916.

As you walk along the corridor, a number of features of interest can be seen. Firstly, there are small niches in the wall to the right (now with guard rails) where metal rungs lead down to the level below; these were how the garrison gained rapid access to floors above or below.

Then, there are wires which run along the top of the wall near the ceiling, which carried electricity or Telegraph (Phone) cables as there was a telephone system; during their occupation, the Germans sited a telephone exchange (hopefully without the German equivalent of Kris Marshall).

A room off to the left a little further on (Barrack room 33) is where 30 German soldiers were killed when a French 40 cm shell exploded here on the 23rd of October 1916. A cross is crudely painted on the stone wall, and there are flowers at the base, along with a solemn reminder - fragments of shells.

A little further along is one of several dormitories, which has been re-equipped with iron and wooden bunk beds. Just walking into the room you can imagine that sleep must have been difficult, as every sound, both here and elsewhere in the Fort, echoes and reverberates around. Sleep may also have been difficult due to over-crowding: at some points there were as many as 3,000 soldiers garrisoned here, some four times the number it was designed to hold. If the smell of farts, feet and morning breath is bad in the NMBS with 5 of us, 3,000 must have been hellish. Try as he might, Lance couldn’t muster a fart to reverberate around the corridors.

There are also Officers Quarters, where a single bedstead (Steve quipped that the beds in the gite that he and Kevin were sleeping on were the same) and the iron frame of a chair show that at least the officers had a certain amount of privacy, although conditions must still have been very hard.

Also on this level are kitchens, and at the end is the 'German Cemetery', where the soldiers referred to on the plaque on the exterior of the fort were buried behind a wall. A cobbled section of corridor leads to this room - this may have been part of the western wagon road which passed through the fort.

In total, somewhere between 800 and 900 Germans were killed in the explosion which occurred at 6 a.m. on May the 8th, 1916. It happened when a store of grenades exploded, and nearby flamethrowers also then ignited. The appalling scenes can only be imagined. Some of those who died were buried outside the Fort, but there were so many bodies that many were walled up in two casemates here in the Fort itself. Six hundred and seventy nine lie behind the wall here marked with a cross remembering "the Dead Comrades". There is also a metal plaque on the wall to the left commemorating those who died here.

Next to this, a staircase leads down to the lower floor, where one of the first rooms is the latrines - essential facilities for a large garrison of men. However, the handout reveals that the difficulties of bringing water into the fort reduced the usefulness of these facilities. It also explains that the fort did not have any lavatories in 1916, and that the stench in the fort was so bad that soldiers were constantly affected by nausea – bit like the hire car when Lance pumps.

Stairs towards the end of the corridor lead back to the upper floor, where there are rooms which were powder magazines. On the wall outside one of these is a carving of the head of Jesus, which was done in the Second World War by a German, Josef Zink, whilst held as a prisoner of war here by the AmericansNearby are relics showing how materials were moved around and a carriage on rails can be seen. There was also a boulongerie (or bakery) to prepare bread for the garrison. The oven itself can still be seen.

More latrines can be seen, and then you reach one of the main sites within the fort - the 155mm machine gun turret. This was built between 1907 and 1909. Wheels turned by hand were used to change the aim of the gun, and the turret was retractable, being raised to fire and then lowered again afterwards. Again this was performed by hand; requiring three men to turn the wheels which operated the winch to achieve raise it.

The mechanism relied on heavy counterweights, and so the lowering occurred by the guns own weight. To raise it the 60 cm required for firing, however, took the three men two minutes. The shells used weighed 43 kgs each, and had a range of over 7 kilometres (about four miles). In theory, the gun could be fired very rapidly, but in practice the human constraints slowed it down - the noise was so deafening and the backfire of carbon dioxide each time so great that the men operating it could not fire as rapidly as the machinery allowed.

Walking back along the corridor towards the exit, one has no idea of the temperature or the weather outside - it is a little like leaving a cinema on a bright summers day and emerging blinking into the sunlight after a long time in the gloom.

It is possible to walk up onto the top of the Fort, using paths that lead up from the sides of the main structure at the front. On the way around, one can see the fortifications and defensive positions that were built into Fort Douaumont. On the top of the Fort, there are a number of machine gun turrets and observation positions visible. The largest concrete base is where the 155 mm machine-gun turret seen on the interior of the Fort is positioned.

There is also a 75mm gun turret to be seen on the exterior of the Fort. The barrels of the guns can actually be seen protruding through the cupola.

Like Fort Douaumont, Fort Vaux was one of a series of forts near Verdun, constructed after the Franco-Prussian War in order to ensure the area could be defended against any future attack. It was constructed mainly between 1881 and 1884, although additional strengthening work was carried out in about 1899.

One can walk around the top of the fort and as at Fort Douaumont there are excellent views over the surrounding countryside.

There are on the front of the fort, a number of plaques with inscriptions. One commemorates a carrier pigeon sent out by the Fort commander, Major Raynal, when the Germans were attacking the Fort in June 1916. The pigeon delivered his message to Verdun but then died and was decorated for gallantry. The NMBS could only think of Dick Dastardly and Muttley trying to stop that pigeon. But in all seriousness – the planes in “Stop the Pigeon” and the Uniforms are WWI – so who knows Hanna Barbara may have been inspired.

Vaux is good and similar to Douaumont, but smaller.

Mort Homme

"ils n'ont pas passe"

Although perhaps a less visited area (except for the striking memorial at Mort-Homme), the west or left bank of the River Meuse has many sites of significance and interest. On the D18 road about ten miles north-west of Verdun is the site of Haucourt, one of the villages destroyed in 1916, although there are still farm buildings here today. There is a memorial constructed on the remains of a blockhouse, located on the left hand side of the road as you travel south.

The plaque on the front of the memorial blockhouse shows that it is in memory of six companies of the French 69th Infantry Regiment who disappeared entirely between the 30th of March and the 5th of April 1916, whilst engaged in defending Haucourt and the nearby village of Malancourt. It is also in memory of their 'brothers-in-arms' of the 79th US Infantry Division, who fell here later in the war, in September 1918.

Continuing south from Haucourt on the D18, in a quiet area, located on a road leading off to the left is the monument at Hill 304. The monument is at the end of a long straight road lined with trees, and the road ends by encircling the monument; it does not lead any further. Hill 304 (Cote 304) was first attacked by the Germans on the 20th of March 1916 and then again on the 9th of April. Neither of these attacks was successful, but following further efforts in May, the summit of the hill was finally taken on the 29th of June. Just under two months later, the French reclaimed it. On the sides of the memorial are listed the Divisions which fought here in 1916 (on the right side) and in 1917 (on the left side). Returning to the D18, this road continues south and then joins the D38. Turning left, after about three miles is another left turn that leads northward towards Mort-Homme. On the right side of this road is a fountain commemorating Capitaine Lemoelle. The plaque records that he fell gloriously at the head of his Company on the 16th of March 1916, when he attacked Corbeaux Wood shouting 'Forward'.

The road leads on to Mort-Homme, which was a small hamlet before the war. There are information boards giving details, and showing photographs of the site here as it was shortly after the war. There is a memorial to the men of the French 40th Division, in the form of a tall obelisk with a sword engraved on the front and the words Mort-Homme inscribed on the top. One of the old pictures on the information board shows this memorial standing tall shortly after the war, in a wasteland of ravaged land, craters and trench lines.

There are also the remains of trench lines in the trees nearby, but without doubt the most striking and well-known feature here is the main Mort-Homme monument. Because the peak itself was so badly damaged, instead tunnels were built under the surface, with narrow gauge railways to supply the troops. Fighting continued here from April 1916, with the French launching repeated offensives in the months that followed. However, it was not until August of 1917 until the area was retaken, with the Germans trapped when a large mortar bomb destroyed the northern exit of the tunnel. Also located here are symbolic wooden and stone crosses, remembering both the Germans and the French who died on this blood-soaked hill.

The famous Mort-Homme 'Skeleton Memorial' commemorates those of the 36th Division who fought and died here. It is estimated that 10,000 Frenchmen lost their lives here. The memorial, by Froment-Meurice, was unveiled in 1922, and the information boards show contemporary pictures of it.

On the front is the famous phrase "ils n'ont pas passe" (they did not pass), which came to represent the need and desire of the French to hold onto Verdun. On the plinth of the memorial, officers are listed by name, but there are simply lists of regiments to remember the rank and file soldiers who died. Also Macabre as it seems, Mort Homme means Dead Man. Mort Homme is Steve’s favourite French memorial and the rest of the NMBS will agree it’s a striking sight.

Returning to the D38 and travelling east, the D123 leads off in a northerly direction after another mile or so. On this road is the site of Cumieres, another of the villages destroyed during the fighting. In 1911, there were 211 inhabitants of the village. As with other sites near Verdun there is some detailed background information available on signboards in three languages, and also poignant photographs of the village as it was before the Great War. The civilian population of the village was evacuated on the 12th of February 1916.

The village was involved very early on in the War, when on the 5th of September 1914 an Uhlan arrived here from the village of Forges (to the north). He was taken prisoner, but tried to escape, and in doing so was killed. He was buried in the village graveyard. Raids continued in September 1914, and the Mayor was taken hostage and taken to Germany on the 17th of that month.

The memorial at Cumieres has several commemorations: on the base it remembers the heroes of the 254th Infantry who defended Cumieres between the 16th and the 23rd of May 1916. The central plaque commemorates the village, and the names of those villagers who fought and died during the war can be found on the sides of the memorial. Above the central plaque, the recapture of the village by a regiment of the Foreign Legion on the 20th of August 1917 is noted.

The site of Forges, the village from which the Germans attacked Cumieres in the early days of the War can be found a little further to the north. Here, several wooden crosses were erected after the War to mark the site of the village. One of the wooden crosses is still visible just on the D160 road at the rear of a turning area.

Places you shouldnt go

Close by are a number of huge underground bunkers and smaller fort. Most are closed off and all have signs telling people (read Steve and Lance) not to enter. Steve and Lance do and some of the pictures below show the amazing sights. Trying to be a serious website, yes you should steer clear and not go in places where you shouldn’t - BUT you will miss some amazing places – as long as you are prepared – A torch is a must and TELL someone you are in there and BE CAREFUL you can see inside.

If you don’t want to, that’s fine there are still lots of “Safer” places. If you feel the need to see the underground war, then go to the Kaiser Bunker. When Steve, Gerry and Lance last visited the Bunker had recently been found and started to be made safe – now it is a tourist attraction (this really should have been in Part 1 as its in the Argonne – but it ties up with being safe and doing authorised tours of underground areas).

On the site of La Haute-Chevauchee in Argonne (a small forest road D38c will lead you to the place) by the ravine of the Meurissons (a network of French and German trenches and tunnels), borders the numerous giant funnels of the mines war, crosses the Kaiser Tunnel and leads to the military cemetery of La Forestiere where each tomb has its own hydrangea. After the Bataille de la Marne, the 5th German army retreats and sets its frontline in the forest of Argonne, digging trenches to counter the attacks of General Sarrail's 3rd army. The German soldiers begin to build the Kaiser Tunnel in November 1915 to secure the communications with the front under the Kronprinz (Frederic-Guillaume) Cote. The soldiers dug kilometres of an underground city with its various quarters: barracks, sanitary blocks, and a temporary hospital in the Northern end a power station at the southern end, storage depots headquarters and communication points. Soldiers live, run to shelter, eat and try to take some rest between two attacks, die in the dark, cold, muddy, damp tunnel. Nowadays, guided tours help - a little - to approach the definite horror of this situation.

Close to the Kaiser Tunnel can be seen the ruins of the Abri du Kronprinz, headquarters dugout of German Crown Prince Wilhelm, located in Bois de la Gruerie, Argonne, protected at that time by trenches and barbed wire.

Back to Verdun now.

As one might expect, there are plenty of Great War related sites to see within the town of Verdun itself. Most visitors from the UK will approach Verdun from the A4 motorway, and on leaving it one then travels along the N3 road, also known as the Voie Sacrée. There is a tall memorial (the Voie Sacrée memorial) located about three miles from the town, and lining the road itself as you travel towards Verdun are marker stones surmounted by a green helmet with the words 'Voie Sacrée on them. This road became known as the Voie Sacrée after the novelist and political commentator Maurice Barres originally used the name Route Sacrée. It was the route by which the French troops approached the grinding mill that was Verdun, and the road was heavy with traffic through which the infantry had to march.

In the town centre are several more sights. The town itself is a pleasant place, with plenty of restaurants and bars to pass the time or to eat at in the evening. The town is split by the River Meuse which runs through it.

The quay area by the bank of the river, where there are bars and restaurants with tables outside, has a stone tablet on the wall recording that this is the Quai de Londrés. The name comes from the 'adoption' of Verdun by the City of London after the wall, and the plaque, dated the 13th of December 1920, records that the Committee based in London, 'the heart and centre of the British Empire' chose Verdun 'the heart and centre of the French fight' to bring together the two countries.

Leading away from the river here are several roads, and one of these gives an outstanding view up to the Victory Monument. This imposing monument is set into the town walls, and small fountains play in the street leading up to it, and in the middle of the steps which lead up to it.

The monument was inaugurated on the 23rd of June 1929. At the top of the steps is a 90 foot tall column on which stands the figure of a knight, and a pair of Russian field guns flank the column. There are annual commemorations here in June each year.Back near the river is the impressive Chaussée Gate which dates from the fifteenth century, and which leads to a bridge across the Meuse.

Across the road from here is the town's memorial, in the form of five soldiers standing firm, and the names of those who fell listed beneath them. The famous words "Ils ne passeront pas" are inscribed here as well.

On the eastern side of the town is the Faubourg Pavée French Cemetery, which is located on the N3. In addition to the French graves, there are also seven CWGC graves; three British and four Canadian airmen are buried here.

In the centre of the cemetery is a cross and a tricolour, around which were buried the remains of eight unknown French soldiers from different areas of the battlefields around Verdun. However, only seven lie here today, as in 1920, the body of the eighth soldier was transported to Paris, and interred under the Arc de Triomphe as France's Unknown Soldier. The body was taken by train, and there is a plaque at the railway station in Verdun commemorating this.

At the entrance to the cemetery are a number of field guns, of various different designs and calibres. Past the guns is a monument on the right to victims of the barbarity of the Nazis, with two graves in front of it.

At Verdun railway station towards the north of the town, a plaque records that the station was used during the war as a hospital and as an evacuation point for the wounded. It also records that the body of the Unknown Soldier, taken from the Faubourg Pavée Cemetery (see above) was taken from here to Paris by train on the 10th of November 1920.

Verdun, is a beautiful French town and although the Horrors of WWI are remembered everywhere – The Cathedral still bears scars of Two World Wars, Verdun has become quite modern in places – but still retains the charm that most French Cities and towns have by not being all glass skyscrapers and Concrete Carbuncles like Manchester and London have become.

The Citadel in Verdun is an amazing place – Although the usual french toilets outside let it down. The Citadel is constituted of 7 km of galleries where more than 10 000 men lived. As mentioned, The French Unknown Soldier that rests currently under the triumph Arch to Paris is the one of the 500 000 victims of the Battle of Verdun. His life and his death up to the time he was picked are restored in 15 very realistic scenes (with special effects and in 3D – get you Sky TV – The Citadel beat you) You sit in what can only be described as a gondolas from a fairground waltzer on rail, and you move around completely automated.

The underground galleries of the Citadel were constructed between 1887 and 1897. The latter were organized to be able to shelter 2,000 men and are similar to the other forts in the area. In 1914, the total length of the galleries was of about 4 km. At the end of the war, 7 km of gallery. A structure in all and defiantly well worth a visit – although check opening hours. After the Citadel a beer was required and we sat down in the Coq Hardi (no sniggering at the back) area of Verdun for a pint and a Croque.

Verdun is an amazing place and a place no doubt the NMBS will visit again, but soon the time was over and we headed back to blighty. Looking forward to where we would be next year, although after Kevin’s drunken views on WWI – it seemed a WWII was on the cards. Luckily for Lamp stands everywhere, we after much deliberations and an X-Factor vote, chose to return to Normandy and the D-Day beaches.

Please France - get rid !