France: Verdun, August 10-11

War, what is it good for?

Even as we talked about this Europe trip before leaving the States, Thomas had asked us again and again if we couldn't drive around Europe and visit as many countries as possible. This was not exactly what we wanted to do, but France and Luxemburg would be an option. Since Thomas's big project for 7th grade is an interdisciplinary project on World War I, what would be more appropriate than visiting Verdun, France. His summer reading assignment was Erich Maria Remarque's All Quiet on the Western Front, which he finished while we were in Simmern. We had also watched the old black-and-white movie in Germany.

It was rather amazing to start in the morning in Brauneberg, Germany, drive through Luxemburg, and end up in Verdun, France, by lunchtime! Three countries in less than three hours. The EU has really changed Europe. The former border crossings were empty buildings, and so we could just ride right through.




The above picture shows downtown Verdun with the Victory Monument in the background. This section of town is a bit deceiving in that it appears that Verdun is a well maintained city with picturesque houses. Unfortunately, that is true for only a very small section of the downtown area. Most houses and streets were very run down. We were commenting that one could make a film about World War I destruction with these houses as the natural background. The pictures below will give you a sense of that.





After spending the first afternoon walking around in the city, we went out to the memorials, museums, monuments, and cemeteries in the area outside of town where the battle of Verdun took place during 1916. It is truly incomprehensible what happened there. The battle went on from February to November, and during that time 800,000 young men were killed -- 400,000 French soldiers and 400,000 German soldiers. (Somewhere around nine million soldiers were killed in WW I.) Most were killed by artillery shelling -- from the shrapnel or just buried alive in their trenches .

The Battle of Verdun has been called the most meaningless battle of all of the war. The insanity of it all is documented in the museums and especially in the Ossuary of Douaumont, pictured below. The Ossuary contains the bones of 130,000 unknown soldiers, French and German alike. In front of the Ossuary is a National Cemetery where 15, 000 French soldiers are buried.









Here Thomas and Kerstin are looking into the "windows" of the Ossuary, and what did they see?



This! In window after window after window after window after window.......



We also visited some of the trenches. Here is a communication trench, i.e., a trench which was used to send messengers between the different real trenches. It's now all green, with grass and trees. At the time of the battle the entire landscape was completely denuded of all life -- like the moon. The craters remain, but the vegetation has grown in to make it very beautiful.

It must be with very mixed emotions that the people of Verdun deal with what happened here. On the one hand, the city has been named the World Capital of Peace. This would mean that the insanity of the whole war, the meaninglessness of all the death and destruction, would be at the center. This message indeed is conveyed in many places. At the same time, though, there is ample information to show French heroism and the French victory, urging a false sense of French nationalism and patriotism. In addition, tourism to these grisly places is what the city seems to live from. There were a lot of German tourists here.

The Argonne Battlefields are not far from Verdun. This is where most of the American soldiers fought. In this area there is an American Memorial and the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery. With 14,246 crosses, this is the biggest American cemetery in Europe. We decided to drive over there. It was a pretty drive through the French country side, and the cemetery itself was beautiful -- if a cemetery can be beautiful.

As we were standing there, looking at the names of all the young men who had died here, Kerstin said, "I wonder if there was any Gaddy who died here." "I was wondering the same," Thomas said. "Look at that cross," Cliff said. And right there was the grave of James R. Gaddy.
How was that possible! More that 14,000 crosses and we should be standing right there? Kerstin is convinced that James talked to us from his grave....

We also stopped briefly at a cemetery for German soldiers. Maybe that is where the classmates of Paul (the main character in Remarque's book) and Paul himself ended up.

Verdun was one of France's most fortified cities before World War I. These forts had been built after the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 to stave off another German attack. Today, remnants of these forts can be seen in many places. And they can be used for something good, in this case soccer! This little field was the best for Thomas. It was like indoor soccer, because the ball would always bounce back!

Even though Verdun is laden with a sad history and with sad memories, we were glad to find out that the city also can be "normal." We did not experience that until the end of our trip when we were having dinner on the quay of the Meuse river in the city center. Suddenly, all the outdoor cafes and restaurants were full, and people were walking up and down, talking, laughing and having fun. An outdoor concert was about to start. Winston McAnuff was the big attraction, and he performed a blend of Jamaican reggae and French chansons. We all really enjoyed the concert and the atmosphere. We bought the CD, which we listened to all the way to Luxemburg.