![]() ![]() There are now two hills instead of one, the original having been divided in two by a series of enormous mine craters: industrial destruction on an unimaginable scale.īy 1916, the Butte de Vauquois had become an important strategic position, as from the top all traffic to Verdun through the Islettes pass could be monitored. Today, a visitor to Vauquois will see a small memorial, but no sign of the village. Mine warfare on an unprecedented scale had transformed the landscape as if by the hand of God. By the end of 1916, all this had changed. At its peak was the small village of Vauquois, a peaceful place where 170 or so inhabitants quietly went about their business. Before the war, it was a large hill some 290m high. The Butte de Vauquois is located about 15 miles from Verdun. But there is one place in particular that stands out in this vast area of murdered nature: the Butte de Vauquois. ![]() Everywhere, the brutal scars of war are visible. The ground is simply grey, and it is doubtful whether anything will grow there again. In parts, the earth was so shattered by high explosive, poisoned by toxic gas, and infected with thousands of rotting corpses that even today it will not bear life. ![]() Photograph by Matt Leonard (CC-BY-NC-SA). Signs exclaiming INTERDIT VERBOTEN FORBIDDEN are commonplace, and unlike elsewhere on the Western Front, visitors pay attention to the warnings.ĭamaged landscape of the Verdun battlefield. Millions of unexploded shells still litter the forest floors. Even today, much of the surrounding area is still off limits to the public. Landscape is transformed, and this transformation can be seen in its most extreme forms at Verdun. The modern, industrial nature of the weaponry used in the Great War meant that the landscape was changed forever modern warfare creates as well as destroys. It was a national struggle, a battle for the survival, the honour, and the sacred heart of France. The ordeal of Verdun is even more deeply ingrained in the French consciousness than the Somme is in the British. So began one of the most savage struggles of the First World War, one that claimed over a million casualties in under a year. His plan was not actually to capture the city, but simply to kill as many Frenchmen as possible. The German Commander-in-Chief knew that the French would never abandon Verdun and would hurl every soldier at France’s disposal into the furnace he was going to create. The rich history of Verdun endowed it with mythic status in the French psyche, a fact known to Von Falkenhayn when he launched his siege in February 1916. A French city since the Peace of Munich in 1648, it survived numerous attempts to capture it, not least during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-1871. Considering it is the key to understanding the huge loss of life on the Somme, this is a strange feature of modern battlefield tourism. A French and German battlefield, it is rarely visited by other nationalities. Above all we have helped the French immensely by relieving the pressure on Verdun’.The full horror of 20th century industrialised warfare was nowhere more intense than at Verdun in 1916. will smash him in his deep dug outs… Anyhow we have shown the Bosche that we can rush his line on a wide front and I think we shall penetrate the second line if the ammunition holds out. We are going to beat the Germans by heavy howitzers and trench mortars as they. ![]() I was promised 200 of these but have only received 25. We are not too well off for ammunition for our heavy howitzers and we require more heavy trench mortars, which have performed invaluable service to the French in this attack. It speaks well of the courage of the New Armies, but had they had more time to devote to training they would have been able to hold on to many points from which they were driven by a few enterprising German machine-gunners. 29 Brigades (about 100,000 men) were taking part in the first assault the percentage is not so high… I cannot speak too highly of the spirit and self-sacrifice of the rank and file. ‘The casualties have of course been heavy and the figures look large, but when one considers that. ![]()
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