Battlefields and forts of Verdun

You know, we studied about WWI in school, and one of my grandfathers fought in France somewhere, but until hearing your reporting of stories, seeing your photographs, and visiting a few of the areas in person, I'm ashamed to say it was always such an abstract idea to me.

More soon...

At times, the fort was partially held by German troops, who tried to burn out the French with flame throwers. Protective barriers were quickly built, but the French were trapped on the lower levels without water. They had to drink their own urine before they finally surrendered. One or two levels up and they could have easily just licked the walls. One detail that we tend to forget is just just about everything was in pitch darkness. One oil lantern every hundred metres, rats running through the corridors, bayonet fights lit only by the flashes of the shooting rifles.

This is very upsetting to view, I imagine even more so to actually visit. How so many men came out of that experience and went on to lead normal, sane lives is hard to feature. In Sebastian Faulk's novel Birdsong, a veteran of the Great War is portrayed as mostly silent, with the comment that so many veterans were that way. Reading descriptions of trench warfare makes that silence completely understandable.

This is from the Wikipedia entry on the Battle of Verdun: ... Fort Vaux at the north-east extremity of the French line, ... had been bombarded by c. 8,000 shells a day since the beginning of the offensive. After a final assault on 1 June, by c. 10,000 German troops, the top of the fort was occupied on 2 June. Fighting went on underground until the garrison ran out of water and surrendered on 7 June. In five days the German attack had advanced 65 metres (71 yd) for a loss of 2,700 killed against 20 French casualties.

"Fighting went on underground" !! for five days! Pure horror.

Back to Paris...

I admit that I have a visceral passion for the area due my French family, which is sprinkled all through the region. Luckily for them, they were just displaced during the various wars rather than being caught in the crossfire but returning to partially destroyed villages and finding that one's home had been looted still left a mark on them. One thing that has been impressed on my all of my life is how little the borders have always mattered in this region because the people are all the same whether they are French, German, Walloon or from Luxembourg. They have the same lifestyle and the same aspirations. One of my great grandmothers was born in German Alsace, and things like that have always been normal. In my grandparents' village, several of the villagers had German wives (usually met during their military service in Germany), and on summer weekends you could see a half dozen German licence plates on visiting cars during family get togethers. Basically, none of these people have ever been at war with each other, because the wars were decided in Paris and Berlin, and Lorraine was chosen as one of their favourite battlefields. For centuries, the people didn't even know who was in charge of their area.



Things became much more precise starting with the war of 1870 when the German Empire annexed most of Alsace and Moselle. The Battle of Gravelotte was held a grand total of 11 kilometres from my grandparents' village, and their village became a border town. The village of Vernéville 5 km away became Verneheim. The borders were still completely porous in those days because I remember my grandmother complaining that when she was a young bride, the 'hooligans' from Verneheim would come and 'make trouble' and the annual village fair. By the time I finally arrived on the scene, there was absolutely no difference between the two villages, except for the fact that my grandparents' village had not been bombed while half of Vernéville had been destroyed. There were still ruins there when I was little, and in fact I don't think that the last empty shell of a house disappeared until after the year 2000.

One thing that is interesting is that the core area of the border regions has become so determined to be as unified as possible that they have gone far beyond the directives of the old Common Market or the current European Union. Just like the Common Market, the original common interest was the unification of the coal and steel industries that they shared. In 1980, the SaarLorLux area came into being and was sort of a precursor of the Schengen zone as it simplified cooperation at borders as well as unifying tourism commissions, educational exchange and economic deals. For decades tens of thousands of people have crossed the borders every day to work in a neighbouring country so medical and insurance coverage have also been very important.



One thing that has always amused me is that none of the cities of the area is 'huge' but the area itself has a huge population. So SaarLorLux has done things like ensuring that the top world pop stars will come to perform in the area. The cities of Metz, Luxembourg, Trier and Saarbrucken share the megaconcerts and organise transportation for fans from the other cities to attend.

Since the SaarLorLux agreements have worked so well, other areas have joined because there was no reason to exclude people with exactly the same needs and aspirations just because they lived 5 or 50 kilometres over another one of those borders that have caused so much trouble over the centuries. So over the years Rhineland Palatinate in German and Belgian Wallonia have joined the group. Since it is informal, there is no big membership process and each region just joins the commissions and associations that appeal the most. Bilateral and multilateral treaties are signed when necessary.

I would like to think that this sort of thing is the future of Europe rather than the countries pulling back behind their borders and fearing exchange (or 'contamination'). The fact that all of these areas are the ones that have suffered the most in the European wars of the 19th and 20th centuries is not an accident.

A wonderful report Kerouac. I have never heard of Verdun or the battle. Looking at the photos I couldn't help wondering what little treasures lie beneath the surface of the soil....and if anyone has ever had permission to use a metal detector to extricate such finds.

This is a good succinct explanation of what happened 100 years ago: www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36372478

I desperately want Angela Merkel to have some surgery to her puffy eyes, then while recovering seek out a French fashion house to design some well fitting garments to her figure.
She could look a million dollars. She could look a bit more spritely and not so tired.
It always annoys me that people with the money and in the public eye do nothing to improve themselves.
One such peeve was the old Queen mother ( Elizabeths mother) She had zillions but never had her teeth seen to. Black with cigarette tar she graciously gave her ghastly smile. Why? I do admire Americans for at least having beautiful white straight teeth. It is pleasant to look at.

I agree with Kerouac. I prefer to see Angela Merkel looking like a real woman who has a demanding job and looks her age rather than some botoxed bimbo. I would also like it if the Chinese men in power stopped dyeing their hair (so should Hollande).

I read that when Carrefour opened its first stores in China, it almost immediately discovered that the men's hair dye department had to be increased in size fivefold.