1916, the Battle of Verdun

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The Voie Sacrée, a 56 km long trail which played a vital role during the Battle of Verdun. Traffic never stopped.
90 000 men and 50,000t of ammunitions were supplied every week.

The Battle of Verdun: Feb-Dec 1916

Ten months of bloody fighting,all for nothing. No camp made any headway and casualties were terrible: 8000 soldiers dead or wounded everyday for 100 days. The longest and most costly battle in history. For France, Verdun, its heroes and its horrors, has become the iconic memory of World War I.

In September 2004, German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and French President François Mitterrand chose the site of Verdun to hold hands as a gesture of Franco-German reconciliation.

We offer a selection of images from French, German and British Archives..

A bloodbath

Millions of soldiers fought in the mud under a deluge of fire. Casualties on both side are appalling: between 700,000 and 900,000 men killed or maimed..

The first major artillery battle

Both camps bombarded constantly. 60 million shells fell on a few square miles. The area was totally devasted.

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