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In Flander's Fields...
May. 27th, 2003 12:55 pmThis Memorial Day weekend we drove into France to visit the site of the First World War battle of Verdun. It's only about 2.5 hours away, despite us getting lost (again) in France. (That country has the worst signposting!). Our first stop when we reached the battlefield area (just north of the town) was the Memorial/Museum. Inside was the usual display of the uniforms and equipment used by both the French and the Germans. But what was more compelling was seeing the personal belongings found on the battlefield afterwards. Several helmets with a single bullet hole through them, coins that had been hit by bullets, to mention just some.
After the Museum, we went up to the Ossaury (sp?). Inside this huge building, shaped as a cannon shell, but with crosses carved into each side, are the remains of all the unknown soldiers found on the battlefield. In each casket there are thousands of bones, ranging from skulls to small rib-bones. It really does hit you at the devastation this battle wreaked. 340,000 killed in 300 days of the "main" battle. The walls and ceiling of the Ossaury are covered with the names of the dead. Then there's the hillside in front. Thousands of more graves of soldiers whose identities were known. Just line upon line of crosses...plus a separate cemetery next to it for Jewish soldiers.
A short distance away is the remains of a trench, called Trenchée des Baionnettes...or in English, Trench of the Bayonets. A groups of French soldiers were about to "go over the top", stacking their rifles with bayonets pointed upwards, when a shell hit and caused the trench to collapse in on itself, burying all inside. All that remained visible were the bayonets sticking out of the ground.
The landscape of the battlefield has been left, and instead of the gently rolling hills that characterize that area, the ground is rough, uneven, and pockmarked from all the trenches and shells that scarred it for 4 years. The opening volley alone dropped 2 million shells in one day. These are now small hills grown over. About all the trees were cut down, but now the forest is growing back, and in more cleared areas, you can still see the stumps of those original trees.
I'll have some pictures once I get them loaded.
After the Museum, we went up to the Ossaury (sp?). Inside this huge building, shaped as a cannon shell, but with crosses carved into each side, are the remains of all the unknown soldiers found on the battlefield. In each casket there are thousands of bones, ranging from skulls to small rib-bones. It really does hit you at the devastation this battle wreaked. 340,000 killed in 300 days of the "main" battle. The walls and ceiling of the Ossaury are covered with the names of the dead. Then there's the hillside in front. Thousands of more graves of soldiers whose identities were known. Just line upon line of crosses...plus a separate cemetery next to it for Jewish soldiers.
A short distance away is the remains of a trench, called Trenchée des Baionnettes...or in English, Trench of the Bayonets. A groups of French soldiers were about to "go over the top", stacking their rifles with bayonets pointed upwards, when a shell hit and caused the trench to collapse in on itself, burying all inside. All that remained visible were the bayonets sticking out of the ground.
The landscape of the battlefield has been left, and instead of the gently rolling hills that characterize that area, the ground is rough, uneven, and pockmarked from all the trenches and shells that scarred it for 4 years. The opening volley alone dropped 2 million shells in one day. These are now small hills grown over. About all the trees were cut down, but now the forest is growing back, and in more cleared areas, you can still see the stumps of those original trees.
I'll have some pictures once I get them loaded.
