Bar the ivy that coats their walls, they seem untouched since the war. Just a stone's throw away, almost touching, the concrete-walled German lines are a stark contrast. Softly shallowed out by a century of rain, these French lines are distinguished from the undergrowth only by their unbroken path between the trees. With an autumn carpet of leaves on the ground, the crooked spine of French trenches in Saint-Mihiel wood, south of Verdun, is easy to miss.
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The bodies of between 80,000 and 100,000 men remain lost in the forest. So savage was the fighting that no one knows for sure how many soldiers were laid to rest in the imposing white ossuary at Douaumont. One of them, Fleury, changed hands 16 times during the battle. The stony ruins of the area's nine villages, devastated during the war, lie dotted around the forest. Bunkers and trenches hide among the trees, jutting out of the undergrowth, paying silent witness to the 300,000 French and German men who died here. The objective was more to give a sense of production to this landscape destroyed by war." "That wasn't really the objective right after the war. "It's allowed us to conserve all that's around you, the holes, the trenches - we're in one of the rare zones in France where you can walk like it was in 1918," Rouard said. Planted with German pine from the Black Forest as part of war reparations, the forest of Verdun was, from its inception, a symbol of healing and commemoration. Much of the rest was eventually forested. "From the North Sea to the Franche-Comté (Swiss border) we estimate that there were 150,000 hectares that were declared red zone and a large part was given back to agriculture," he added. "All the battlefield sites where the French government thought it would be too expensive to clean the soil to have it restored back to farming land were declared zone rouge," said Guillaume Rouard, a ranger with France's National Forests Office (ONF). The French government's response was to declare vast tracts of northern France off limits, creating a "zone rouge" or red zone. A postwar report on these battlefields described the land as: "Completely devastated. "The pessimistic way would be to say one in four did not explode." That means that we probably have between seven and eight million shells that did not explode on the battlefield of Verdun," said Guillaume Moizan, 34, a local historian and guide. You can look out on the landscape of the battlefield, or perhaps peruse supplementary materials at the digital kiosks."The optimistic rate is that one in eight did not explode. The last level is a tranquil place, bathed in soft light, ideal for reflection and contemplation. You will then learn about 'La Voie Lactée' (French for 'The Milky Way'), nickname of the route running from Bar-le-Duc to Verdun, which provided passage to arms, amunition, and troops to the battlefield. Here, you will discover both the French and German home fronts, the role of aviation in the first aerial battle in history, and the story of the staff and heroic war medics. The first is entirely dedicated to the battlefield and the lives of the soliders, whereas the second level focuses more on the battle itself and its larger contest within the war. Your experience will take place on three different levels.
#Verdun memorial archive#
The audiovisual display, measuring more than 1,000 ft², utilizes archive images and artistic interpretations to provide a realistic demonstration of not only the soldiers' combative experiences, but also the violence of the battle.
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Moreover, your heart will swell at the more than 2,000 objects and photos-a testament to the French and German people tormented by this conflict. The new stage design will give you goosebumps, as it transports you to back in time to these tragic events. The site's reopening date was purposefully chosen, as it is the anniversary of the beginning of the famous battle.Ī memorial site since 1967 and deeply rooted in battle-scarred soil, the memorial offers an hour and a half long visit honoring the important figures and heroes in this site's history. Starting on Februrthe Verdun Memorial will offer a newly curated experience. Walk in the footsteps of a solider and experience the Battle of Verdun, one of the most important events of World War I.