![]() Climb onto their earthen roofs to get an expansive view of the entire battleground, and to see the points from which the Germans launched their opening attacks across the Meuse River. A Profound Place of Reflectionįorts Vaux and Douaumont provide center points to the present battlefield, just as they were focal points of the fight in 1916. Although most of the bayonets have been stolen by souvenir hunters, this is still a place seeped in horror and memory. Lying underneath a massive memorial are the rifles and bayonets of two battalions of the French 137th Infantry Regiment, buried alive on Jduring an artillery bombardment. The Tranchée des baionettes, or Bayonet Trench, is equally moving and disturbing. Outside, in white well-kept rows, lie an additional 15,000 French soldiers. Many of these bones are visible through viewing windows cut into the building. Somber and dreadfully magnificent, this beautiful art deco building holds the remains of 130,000 French and German soldiers who lost their lives among the surrounding hills, fields, and forests. Graves mark the entire area, but the most impressive one on the battlefield-indeed one of the most impressive graveyards in all Europe-is the giant Ossuary, located near the ruins of Fort Douaumont. Dominating the center of the museum is a chillingly realistic reproduction of a section of the battlefield, including superb reproductions of a German Fokker E.III and a French Nieuport 11 flying overhead. Located at the site of Fleury, one of the nine villages that were wiped off the face of the earth during the battle, this is a grim and excellent exhibition of the weapons, machines, and uniforms used during the titanic struggle. You may want to start your tour with the Mémorial de Verdun museum. The battlefield itself is huge and you could easily spend a week exploring it indeed,a car is necessary to reach its fascinating and far-flung sites. And you are entering one of the most sacred areas of France-the Verdun battlefield. ![]() The ground is warped and rippled by innumerable shell holes. But as you drive upwards and peer through the leafy undergrowth, you began to perceive that there is something wrong, even sinister, about this place. The cloister is 137 meters (449 ft) long and contains 42 interior alcoves.From a distance, the bush- and tree- covered hills seem innocuous, even welcoming. At the top of the tower is a rotating red and white "lantern of the dead", which shines on the battlefields at night. It was offered by an American benefactor, Anne Thornburn Van Buren, in 1927. The tower contains a bronze death-bell, weighing over 2 tonnes (2.0 long tons 2.2 short tons), called Bourdon de la Victoire, which is sounded at official ceremonies. ![]() The tower is 46 meters (151 ft) high and has a panoramic view of the battlefields. George Desvallières designed the stained glass windows. The architects of the ossuary were Léon Azéma, Max Edrei, and Jacques Hardy. The ossuary was officially inaugurated on 7 August 1932 by French President Albert Lebrun. It was inaugurated in 1923 by Verdun veteran André Maginot, who would later approve work on the Maginot Line. In front of the monument, and sloping downhill, lies the largest single French military cemetery of the First World War with 16,142 graves. ![]() The families of the soldiers that are recognized here by name contributed for those individual plaques. A few of the names are from fighting that took place in the area during World War II, as well as for veterans of the Indochina and Algerian Wars. On the inside of the ossuary building, the ceiling and walls are partly covered by plaques bearing names of French soldiers who died during the Battle of Verdun. Through small outside windows, the skeletal remains of at least 130,000 unidentified combatants of both nations can be seen filling up alcoves at the lower edge of the building. The ossuary is a memorial containing the remains of both French and German soldiers who died on the Verdun battlefield. ( December 2021) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources.
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