Verdun

The horrors of WWI - trench warfare with high caliber machine guns, grenades, flame throwers, and poison gas.

The Germans go "over the top" and leave their trenches for one of the many assaults during the Battle of Verdun - all of which led to nothing except massive casualties on both sides.

Verdun - the location of one of the most terrible battles in human history.  In WW I, Verdun in Eastern France was a heavily fortified border town.  When the Germans attacked in 1916, France put all of its efforts into defending its position here, and 300 days of non-stop warfare commenced.  In the end, nothing was gained by either side - but much was lost.  Of the nearly 800 000 casualties, 130 000 of them remained unidentified, strewn over the battlefields at the end of the war.  A huge ossuary was built to house the remains of all those young men, French and German alike, side-by-side in death.

The Douaumont Ossuary on the battlefields of Verdun.  The Ossuary tower is shaped like an artillery shell - millions of which rained down on the surrounding lands during the battle, completely devastating the landscape.

The ossuary has been undergoing cleaning and restoration in preparation for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Verdun.

While the ossuary holds the remains of unidentified French and German soldiers, the vast cemetery in front of it is reserved for identified French soldiers.