#VERDUN BATTLEFIELD FULL#

During the Second World War, the French Resistance used the buildings here as hideouts.Stamford Bridge & Hastings by Peter Marren Wars of the Roses - Wakefield/Towton by Philip A. Inside the commandant’s house and living quarters the traces of wall decorations can still be seen, with decorative borders towards the tops of some walls. There are the remains of living quarters, a shop and other buildings created for entertainment. Its purpose was to create somewhere for German troops to relax and try to forget the war when they were rotated out of the line. It is a German experimental concrete camp, almost a mini village. Today you can see the battered landscape and the white posts that are laid on the site of where houses once were.Ĭamp Marguerre: Is unlike anything you will have seen on the other First World War battlefields of Europe. By May 1916, the houses and shops were in ruins, and throughout the summer months the village changed hands 16 times. Must-See Sitesĭestroyed Village - Fleury: Before the war, the village of Fleury was home to around 400 people. You can stay in a room overlooking the River Meuse, and its location means you can easily stroll around town to explore and eat out. Sophie’s Great War Tours stays at Les Jardins du Mess, a lovely modern hotel with fantastic facilities.

#VERDUN BATTLEFIELD FULL#

Anyone that books a private tour with Sophie’s Great War Tours has the services of a full time chauffeur from pick up to drop off. You can either hire a car or book a local tour so that you can easily get around. Once you are in the region, you will need a car to get around. If you are starting from France, it is possible to take a train from Paris to Verdun.

If France could no longer fight, Britain too would be unable to continue the fighting and Germany would become victors. The Battle of Verdun, 21 February-15 December 1916, was the German Army’s plan to destroy the French Army, to “bleed her white”. It is what I call a very physical landscape. What people love about visiting Verdun is that there is so much still to see, and it doesn’t feel like too much has changed in the last 100 years.

In the Germans’ nine-hour opening bombardment on 21st February 1916, they sent across 2.5 million artillery shells! While nature tries hard with the help of time to reclaim the landscape, it is understandably irreversibly changed. The statistics that surround the First World War’s longest battle are almost too staggering to believe. They can perhaps be seen most clearly across the battlefields of Verdun. The scars of war are left upon the landscapes that we visit on a First or Second World War Tour.

Verdun battlefield