As part of our visits of historically significant sights we headed 300 miles north so that we could experience the region where the bloodiest battles of World War 1 took place.
Our first stop was Fort Douaumont which was a fortified underground base built by the French to protect their borders from Germany. It was an impressive bunker but not robust enough for the newer military technology (bigger bombs delivered over longer distances) that was introduced during the war. Thus it was heavily damaged and of limited use during the trench warfare waged in the Verdun area.
The Verdun area has been left largely the way it was after the war, except for the trees that have grown in the area. The landscape is completely uneven from all the shell craters, and the partially filled trenches are still in place. There were also some towns in the area completely destroyed by the shelling and left that way except for the markers that show the original locations of the buildings.
We also visited the Ossuary de Douaumont. It's the location of the French military cemetery from WWI and at the memorial on site contains the unknown remains of over 120k soldiers, their skeletal remains can be seen through windows in the Ossuary.
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