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191621 February–18 December 1916 · Verdun, Meuse

Battle of Verdun

The Douaumont Ossuary on the Verdun battlefield, with its long cloister and tower
Photo: Unknown photographer (Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie, via Limedia galeries). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

The German army attacked the fortress city of Verdun to wear down the French army. For ten months both sides fed troops into a few square miles of hills, woods and forts, and about 300,000 men died. France's defence of Verdun, supplied along the Voie Sacrée road, made it the central French memory of the war and later a symbol of Franco-German reconciliation.

Sites

  1. Site 1: Douaumont OssuaryOssuary holding the bones of about 130,000 unidentified soldiers.Map ↗
  2. Site 2: Fort DouaumontTunnels and casemates of the fort taken by German troops in February 1916.Map ↗
  3. Site 3: Verdun Memorial, FleuryMuseum of the battle beside the destroyed village of Fleury.Map ↗

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More from the First World War

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