Verdun, Our granddaughter comes to France for a visit.

Our granddaughter came to France for a visit.

We had so much to share with her in a short period of time.  Our first stop was Verdun and the Ossuaire de Douamont.  This memorial contains the skeletal remains of soldiers who died on the battlefield during the Battle of Verdun in World War 1.

One whole wing of this Ossuaire contains windows where you can view bones of soldiers that were poured into the building.

In each little window just above the ground you can view the many bones buried here.

Another angle of the Ossuaire de Douaumont

The National Cemetery of Fleury-devant-Douamontr contains the remains of French soldiers killed in the fighting that took place in the Verdun area from 1914-1918, and in particular the battle of Verdun.  The cemetery contains over 16,000 bodies in individual graves as well as multiple bodies buried together.  In the distance you can see the Muslim memorial commemorating the 529 Muslim graves. 

After visiting the Ossuaire it was time to see the battlegrounds and Fort of Douaumont.  It is estimated that 400,000 French lost their lives and 350,000 Germans.  Estimates range as high as one million men perished in the battle that lasted 10 months.

The fort had cannons such as this one which could pop up and down with the cannon swiveling around.  The gunner was guided by a soldier in another covered area.

We toured the inside of the Fort.

This is the mechanism inside the fort controlling the cannons.

Inside the fort is this memorial to a group of Germans who died inside when the fort was attacked.  This is considered German soil.