Published articles
Discover Verdun
Originally published in Destination France, Issue 11, July 2006
No history book will replace a visit to Verdun
Douaumont Ossuary in Verdun
A visit to Verdun, in Lorraine, may sound depressing to you at first. However, it will be an experience of a lifetime if you are found of war memorials, it should not be missed.
Verdun was a very deadly period of the First World War for the French and German troops. Ginette Jutel, a 83 year-old French woman still remembers today the horrifying look on her father’s face as he told her about Verdun when she was a teenage girl. “Father had awful nightmares and migraines for years. He did not like talking about this period, he lost so many friends in the trenches there.”
There are many sites, which can be visited in Verdun itself and in the outside fields, where the fighting occurred. To be able to see everything without rushing, you will need about one and a half to two days. The best is to rent a car if you don’t come with yours. By nice weather, walking along the Meuse river downtown is enjoyable. Then, take the old bridge leading to the Porte Chaussée and head to the WWI Memorial. The most interesting sites are: the destroyed village of Fleury and its Memorial, the Ossuary of Douaumont and cemetery, the Forts of Vaux and Douaumont and the Bayonet’s trench. Whatever you choose to do, don’t miss Douaumont Ossuary.
The Ossuary was inaugurated in 1932 by the French President Albert Lebrun. There is a cloister on the first floor where 130,000 unknown French and German soldiers are laid to rest. Each tomb explains where the body was found and when. You can also climb some steps to go to a tower, nicknamed the “Death Tower”. From there, you have a panoramic view of about 15,000 French soldiers’ graves.
If you make it to the Ossuary, the 20 minute-audio film about the life of the French soldiers, nicknamed the Poilus (hairy men), is a plus. It will give you a vivid picture of the soldiers who lived and fought during World War I. You will come out with goosebumps.
FIND OUT MORE
TOURIST OFFICE OF VERDUN
Place de la Nation,
B.P. 232
55106 Verdun.
T: (0033) (0)3 29 86 14 18
F: (0033) (0)3 29 84 22 42
ROAD
From Paris take A4, Exit 30, D163 to N35, then N3.
TRAIN
There are no direct trains. From Paris, take a train from Gare de l’Est and change in Chalons-en-Champagne.
www.sncf.com & www.raileurope.co.uk
AIR
Nearest airports are Reims from Luton served by Air Turquoise and Strasbourg served by AirFrance from Gatwick.
