"Give Peace A Chance"
(Plastic Ono Band)
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On my supposed rest day I left Verdun on bicycle and ascended 150 metres to the WW1 battlefields of Verdun. The Germans had excellent communications and access to this border with France but the French had poor communication links and at the start of the 20th Century had built forts to repel any such attack. Needless to say not all the forts were up to withstanding shelling and some of the forts had been stripped of armaments as the French military concentrated defending the Northern France battlefields. So in 1916 the Germans truly attacked and two years of devastating destruction saw 300,000 dead between the French and the Germans. In late 1918 the French supported by the Americans were starting to overcome and push back the Germans when the Northern France campaign took a decisive turn for the Allies and hostilities ended. For the French then Verdun is a defining moment in their history where they held out despite poor preparation and initially superior resources in this salient and in effect won. The Museum at Douaumont for Verdun (http://www.memorial-de-verdun.fr/) is fabulous. On this promontory then terrain, despite being wooded, was a series of bleak craters and you can see that today the whole landscape is pock marked. The museum shows many exhibits and one is of a French soldier who went to the front carrying between 25 to 30 kilograms of equipment and clothes. When you see much of the equipment and items you are struck by how heavy and hand made it all is. Today we would use lighter and more synthetic materials weighing a fraction of what these did. The trench coat was made of wool and became a liability when wet due to its weight. Imagine trying to move in all that knee deep mud with all this kit and a full length drenched coat. Needless to say Verdun plays a role of a memorial and WW1 tourism is flourishing. The French are very proud and it is something so terrible with such sacrifice that they will not forget. Dropped into Verdun for a sandwich and a very joli place it is to.
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| Verdun - centre ville |
On my supposed rest day I left Verdun on bicycle and ascended 150 metres to the WW1 battlefields of Verdun. The Germans had excellent communications and access to this border with France but the French had poor communication links and at the start of the 20th Century had built forts to repel any such attack. Needless to say not all the forts were up to withstanding shelling and some of the forts had been stripped of armaments as the French military concentrated defending the Northern France battlefields. So in 1916 the Germans truly attacked and two years of devastating destruction saw 300,000 dead between the French and the Germans. In late 1918 the French supported by the Americans were starting to overcome and push back the Germans when the Northern France campaign took a decisive turn for the Allies and hostilities ended. For the French then Verdun is a defining moment in their history where they held out despite poor preparation and initially superior resources in this salient and in effect won. The Museum at Douaumont for Verdun (http://www.memorial-de-verdun.fr/) is fabulous. On this promontory then terrain, despite being wooded, was a series of bleak craters and you can see that today the whole landscape is pock marked. The museum shows many exhibits and one is of a French soldier who went to the front carrying between 25 to 30 kilograms of equipment and clothes. When you see much of the equipment and items you are struck by how heavy and hand made it all is. Today we would use lighter and more synthetic materials weighing a fraction of what these did. The trench coat was made of wool and became a liability when wet due to its weight. Imagine trying to move in all that knee deep mud with all this kit and a full length drenched coat. Needless to say Verdun plays a role of a memorial and WW1 tourism is flourishing. The French are very proud and it is something so terrible with such sacrifice that they will not forget. Dropped into Verdun for a sandwich and a very joli place it is to.
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