Verdun

thumb_horsa_verdun0910 The Battle of Verdun lasted from 21 February to 18 December 1916, and resulted in more than a quarter of a million battlefield deaths and at least half a million wounded. It was the longest battle, and one of the most devastating, in World War I.

Cpl Horsa accompanied a group on a Battlefield Tour to see the history of The Battle of Verdun

Leaving the north of Germany at 0800 in the morning on Friday 9 October, we had to cover quite a distance to Verdun. But "YIM" and her little monster looked after Cpl Horsa during the 9 hours on the road (and on slides in playgrounds and even in service stations eating Bratwurst and ice-cream).

In the early evening we took position in the Gite at Génicourt-sur-Meuse, where we were equipped with our ‘Verdun Tour Polo Shirts'. The first night we all enjoyed a German meal: Bratwurst with currysauce, onions and bread to go along with German beer of course. A nice start for the weekend, and Horsa had a rest in one of the crates, leading to the first massive hangover.

Saturday morning we had to get up early, because time wasn't on our side and we had to hurry to the Verdun woods. Here we followed the footsteps of Lt Col Émile Driant, who became a hero fighting with two battalions in the Bois des Caures to the north-east of Verdun. We visited his monuments in the woods, and his Command Post.

After that we went to the Douaumont Ossuary, the massive memorial containing the remains of soldiers who died on the battlefield during the Battle of Verdun in WW1. Cpl Horsa had a look through small windows where you can see the remains of 130,000 unidentified French and German soldiers. And even more impressive was the cemetery in front of the monument, which is the largest of France outside Paris with 25,000 graves. There is nothing but crosses as far as your eyes can see.

We had a short break for lunch and we were lucky that day, because it always rained when we were driving around or inside some building, but never when we were outside.

After lunch we went to Ouvrage de Thiaumont. This was an observation post and all that remains is a shattered observation cupola with 25cms thick steel and weighing over 7 tonnes. The next stop was at the Memorial at the Trench of the Bayonets, where according to legend a unit of French troops was buried alive by shellbursts, leaving only their rifles protruding above the ground - with bayonets fixed.

Next stop was up at the Butte De Vauquois about 30 kms north of Verdun. On this hill there had been a village dating back to Roman times. During WW1 French and German soldiers literally perforated that hill to mine each other off it. And the biggest single mine fired in WW1 was blown up here, a German mine of 120,000 lbs. Today there are about 17 kilometres of tunnels that can be visited. We only did about 200 metres and it was a breath-taking experience. Cpl Horsa managed to lose his helmet once and torch twice, but everything was recovered in the end.

The day ended with a fantastic curry (or more precisely it was three different versions of curry, and one better than the other).

After dinner several items were auctioned (most of them ended up with Ord_Sgt, who won't remember though) and a nice amount of money was raised for Holidays4Heroes. We all had some vodka as a nightcap . Since there were only 6 ltrs of vodka everyone had to be economical with it, while Horsa simply rested underneath the pump to go for the next hangover. J

The next morning everyone was delighted to have a chance to buy some ‘Original ARRSE Verdun Tour Beer'. Though I don't think beside Horsa anyone was starting to drink again. Well, good soldier's drills !!

Off we went to visit Fort Douaumont. This was said to be the strongest fortress, but it was captured by 3 Germans in a Marx Brothers-like story without a single shot fired. During the French recapture half a year later thousands of men lost their lives. We went all over and through the Fort, Cpl Horsa took a breather on the 155 mm rotating/retractable gun and inspected the kitchen, bathroom, bakery, bedrooms. He even dared to sit down on a 90 feet vertical shaft.

The next stop was at Fort Vaux, which became the second Fort to fall in the Battle of Verdun. We listened to the story of Major Raynal, who held the Fort for a long time against numerous German assaults, until the garrison ran completely out of water and ammunition. Raynal used homing pigeons to send messages to his commanding officers and in his last communications he used the phrase ‘This is my last pigeon'.

You can see Cpl Horsa underneath the commemorative plaque, to remember this story. And of course in the Fort Cpl Horsa conducted another scrutiny of all rooms. Then he same outside, all around the Fort. No embrasure or gun turret escaped his attention.

Then we went to the city of Verdun where we visited the Faubourg Pavée French Cemetery. In addition to the French graves, there are also seven CWGC graves: three British and four Canadian Airmen are buried here. In the centre of the cemetery is a cross and a tricolour, around which the remains of seven unknown French soldiers from different areas of the battlefields around Verdun are buried. The body of an eighth soldier was transported to Paris, and interred under the Arc de Triomphe as France's Unknown Soldier.

At the entrance to the cemetery are a number of field guns, of various different designs and calibres and Cpl Horsa had a short rest on one of them. Past the guns is a monument on the right to the victims of the barbarity of the Nazis, with two graves in front of it. After this we went to see the town's memorial in the form of five soldiers standing firm and the names of those who fell are listed beneath them. You can find the famous words ‘Ils ne passeront pas' (they shall not pass) inscribed here as well. From here we walked through the impressive Chaussée Gate over to the Victory Monument of Verdun. This imposing monument is set into the town walls, and small fountains play in the street leading up to it. At the top of the steps is a 90 foot tall column on which stands the figure of a knight, and a pair of Russian field guns flank the column.

We had a short lunch break in town and then went off to Fort Sauville. To get to that farthest point the Germans reached in a last attempt to capture the city of Verdun, you have to walk through deep mud in the woods and so the little bearer wasn't able to come along. The Fort is almost completely overgrown by trees and you will hardly find it if you don't know where to search. Though some ceilings have collapsed, you can still enter the buildings and walk around. But you better don't do it on your own and make sure you've got a good torch with you.
In front of the main entrance there is still a trench but the drawbridge has gone. Some rooms are filled with sand where the ceilings broke down. Some of the posterns are still in good condition and you can wander around between the casemates and out to the two MG bunkers.

And when you look around you can still see the forest floor ploughed all over by thousands of shells.This place, Fort Souville, in the morning of July 12 1916, became the historic high mark of the unsuccessful German offensive against Verdun. And it is one of the most horrifying and also one of the most hazardous sites of the old Verdun battlefield.

After this last tour we went back to the Gite and had a superb chili con carne, before everyone did their best to help Cpl Horsa to nuke the rest of beer and vodka.

Monday morning it was time to say goodbye then - to friends and bears, the Gite and France, and another bad hangover for Horsa.

So, another brilliant WW1 ARRSE Tour we all enjoyed was over and, though Cpl Horsa won't remember a lot, his polo will remind him of his personal beer and vodka ‘Battle of Verdun'.