Battle of Verdun

We visited the Verdun memorial today, located about an hour away from our hotel in Metz. Verdun was the site of one of the worst battles in World War I, with over 300,000 French and German soldiers dying over the course of the ten-month long battle in 1916.

Driving into the vast area where the battle took place, it was hard to tell that this was once a barren battleground; the trees and flora of the forest have covered the battleground completely, having had almost one hundred years to erase the visual reminders of the effects of the war. However, if you looked close enough, you could see where the ground looked unnaturally uneven--the craters in the earth remain where the shells exploded. It was so eerie to see the battleground as it is today, especially because it was such a gorgeous sunny day--it made it hard to remember that thousands of men died in the same place.

We first visited the museum at the memorial, where we explored the exhibition about the battle; it helped us to visualize Verdun as it was in 1916 and to put into perspective the amount of damage and suffering that this area endured during the battle. Nine villages in the surrounded area were completely razed to the ground due to the battle; we ended up driving through two of them, and there was nothing left but markers to remember those who lived there, as well as a reconstructed chapel.

After the museum, our last stop in Verdun was the cemetery and ossuary; approximately 130,000 soldiers could not be identified, and so their remains were interred in the Douaumont ossuary. It was overwhelming to see the rows and rows of white crosses; the sections of the cemetery went further than I could see, and I thought the rows would never stop. For those were identified, they were buried with a cross marker, or a star of david, or facing Mecca for Muslim soldiers. On the markers, each read their name, and underneath read "Mort pour la France"--meaning that they died for France. It made me question: they died for France, yes, but for what? For a battle that ended with no significant strategic improvement in the war? For a war that was fought because of alliances? For a war that--despite its name--did not actually end all wars?

In the ossuary, the names of the unidentified soldiers were inscribed on the walls--names that, just like the crosses, seemed to go on and on. The ossuary made me think of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Washington, DC; but here, it's the tomb of 130,000 unknowns. I read as many names as I could when I walked through the huge building, reading each name as a remembrance of a real life. Karen (Dr. Lorenz's daughter) and I light two candles in the ossuary as a small gesture of remembrance.

Verdun raised so many questions about war and peace. Could we have avoided the number of casualties that Verdun saw? For what end is 300,000 lives worth? It just seemed so nonsensical to me.

-Ashley Yuill