THE MEUSE ARGONNE OFFENSIVE, CONTINUED

Hotel St. Paul

Verdun, France

August 21, 2015

One of the many emotional parts of the day was when we viewed the areas of Bois de Forges, Molleville Farm, and Brabant sur Meuse. John read one of his father's letters. His father was in the 29^th Division, 116^th Regiment, Co. B. This division experienced 6000 casualties in 23 days. [Note: There are approximately 28,000 men in a division].

The Germans, realizing the need to succeed, used heavy equipment and gas to defend their position—the fighting in this area was only about 30-40 miles from the German border. The eve before this engagement, John's father wrote that he was using a gas mask as a desk, there were big guns roaring and the air was full of battle planes. He also wrote that he was sore from hiking. We moved the bus to another position of the 29^th Division and John read again, “I've had my share of fighting.” John's father wrote of the dense forest and fighting like old time Indian fighting. He said he carried his best friend off the battlefield. John's father also said that he laid in a shell hole one whole day while being shot at. His friend did not survive. [Note: I am paraphrasing and may not have done the letter justice].

John has typed all of his father's letters and compiled a history for his family that he shared with us. It is interesting to see parallel stories of the same time period.

Leaving the area of Molleville Farm and Bois de la Grande Montagne, we could see the Woevre Plain and the Rhine River behind that.

There were many other stops:

Flabas—an interesting story of how putting a POW camp on the front line results in the enemy killing their own soldiers as they fired.

The story of Lt. Col Driant—the first hero of Verdun. His unit was closest to the Germans and could hear them working in the night. The unit warned Verdun. Finally they had to withdraw. Driant gave his groom his wedding ring to give to his wife if he was killed. A few days later their position was untenable and Driant was killed.  He was buried with unknowns from his unit. 

Lt. Col. Driant's Tomb

Battle of Verdun—fought for over 300 nights and days—February 21 to December 25, the longest battle of the war. There were 378,000 French Casualties and 333,000 German casualties (casualties=dead and wounded). The greatest, but most exhausting French victory of World War I. 

Fort Douaumont—the largest fort in the world, covers much land and is three stories high. It was truly a fortification. The construction was an aggregate of cement and stones, obviously very solid. The fort was captured early by the Germans, a perfect observation post for the Verdun battlefield.

Fort Douaumont

Fort Douaumont

Fort Douaumont

Site of Fleury—one of the nine totally destroyed villages, the most famous. It is designated as a "village that died for France."  It was in the hottest zone of Verdun and the area changed hands 14 times in war. Now the village is basically nothing but shell pits. Posts mark the school, the farmhouses, the town hall, the grocery, the baker, the carpenter, the shoemaker, and more. One sign indicated that the soil retained the memory of havoc wreaked by artillery from both sides. An interesting fact that I read on a sign on the small chapel built here: Bavarians fought at this site and some Bavarian villages named streets after Fleury.

Fleury

Memorial at Fleury-devant-Douaumont

Destroyed French villages:

Beaumont-en-Verdunois

Bezonvaux

Cumieres-le-Mort-Homme

Douaumont

Fleury-devant-Douaumont

Haumont-pres-Samogneux

Louvemont-Cote-du-Poivre

Ornes

Vaux-devant-Damloup

 L'Ossuaire de Douaumont / The Ossuary of Douaumont was one of the most spiritual and meaningful stops of our whole trip. This sacred memorial contains the remains of soldiers who died on the battlefield during the Battle of Verdun in World War I. From literature at the memorial, "Approximately 230,000 men died out of a total of 700,000 casualties (dead, wounded and missing). The battle became known in German as Die Hölle von Verdun (English: The Hell of Verdun), or in French as L'Enfer de Verdun, and was conducted on a battlefield covering less than 7.7 sq miles. Both French and Germans are buried here-the remains would be indistinguishable--and some Americans too.

The tower is shaped like an artillery shell, but is cathedral-like with Christian images. When we stepped inside the building, the silence was remarkable. It was cool inside on a hot day. Thousands of names are engraved on the walls. Inside the chapel the stained glass windows depicted stunning images of battlefields with crosses. One window depicts two angels holding a nurse (red cross on  her veil) who was wounded in the war when a hospital was bombarded. Another image is of Christ cradling a soldier. The Crucifix at the Altar is Mary holding Christ upright, both have arms outstretched to form a cross, an image I have never seen.

We walked along the exterior of the memorial and did not realize that the skeletal remains of at least 130,000 unidentified combatants of both nations could be seen through small outside windows at the lower edge of the building. The largest single French military cemetery of the First World War with 16,142 graves is nearby.

We were able to see a film in English and I tried to write in the dark as we viewed it--the film was so very expressive. These are the words that I captured: 

"Mud, gas, shells, death comes. 

It is our duty to survive and hold on. 

Burnt tree stumps, wire, blood, powder, gas, corpses, shells rain down. 

Death mixes with life. The bourgeois and the worker, the chaplain and the free thinker. 

Images, not words tell the stories. 

Nine villages gone, others ravaged. 

Whispers, carnage, man destroyed by machines.

Look! Look at us! 

We are 20, we are 30, we represented France. 

We represented Germany. 

We represented life."

This memorial, L'Ossuaire de Douaumont, truly expresses the carnage of war.

After the Ossuary and after Fleury, we headed back to our hotel in Verdun.

We saw huge farms, so many rocks in the plowed fields. Woods. Hills. 

Earlier this day we were talking about engineers--maybe I asked about the 37th Engineers, the unit my Great Uncle Earl was in.  Now I wished I knew what Division they were with.  I could not find out in a search. 

From Wikipedia I did find: "The 37th Engineer Battalion was first activated on 16 January 1918, as 1st Battalion, 37th Engineer Regiment, whose primary function was electrical and mechanical engineering. During World War I, the battalion participated in the Battle of St. Mihiel and the Meuse Argonne Offensive as a member of the American Expeditionary Force. Following the war, the 37th Engineer Regiment was inactivated in March 1919."  Mike did say that the 37th worked on electrical and mechanical duties. I have a few letters that Uncle Earl wrote so I will check them. Mike also said that engineers were absolutely essential. Many were killed building or rebuilding bridges. He continued that it was the engineers who slowed everything down for the breakthrough of the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

"My body to earth, my soul to God, my heart to France."

TK's Takes: He saw a hummingbird nest and reminded me about the nesting swallows just outside the 2nd floor window in our Verdun hotel. 

Bon Soir. I will add though that ferns are speaking to me everywhere--- one stood out in the bright sunlight today at the Colonel Driant memorial and a fern frond was left at a memorial in Fleury.

Near the Tomb of Lt. Col.Driant