The Battle of Verdun (February 21, 1916 – December 20, 1916) was one of the bloodiest battles in the history of World War I. Just in the first 2 days of the siege, German soldiers would fire no less than 2 million shells into the area. This battle claimed more than 700,000 victims on a battlefield barely larger than a few square kilometers. The attack could be heard up to 170 km away and even in Paris the windows trembled.
The battle left Verdun with a very distinctive undulating ‘shell landscape’. Every pit and hill resulted from an explosion. Some parts of the territory are still not safe to walk after more than 100 years. They’re still closed to the public and known as ‘the forbidden forests’. In the next blog post, we will take you past the many visible war memories on a day trip in Verdun. These trenches, underground forts, casemates, monuments and museums remain witnesses to one of the greatest battles of World War I.
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