Tranchée des Baionnettes and L'ossuaire de Douaumont

Bayonet trenches

After the battle this site was discovered with only the bayonets and rifles sticking out of the earth.  When they excavated the rifles, a body was found beneath the each rifle.  What happened here will never be known.  An American benefactor Mr. Rand had the monument built over the trench...






...with a small cross marking the location of each of the unknown soldiers found in the trench.

The Ossuary 

Inside this building is housed a cinema like no other in the world. Located behind the walls of the cinema are the bones of the unknown combatants of the battle of Verdun in WW1.

T

I got my workout for the day... 
The kids started climbing to the top of this tower instead of looking at the museum exhibits. I had to climb the stairs two at a time to catch them, since they were having a bit too much fun...there were signs saying to respect the silence...they weren't.

Though mostly crosses, there are also gravestones for the muslims that fought in the war as well.

The destroyed Village of Douaumont

This small chapelle was built where an entire village used to stand.  Duoaumont was completely destroyed along with 12 other villages in the Verdun region.

They have placed markers all along the roads to indicate where each building had been located.  

The German Cemetery

We finished our day following signs to the American Cemetery that for some reason didn't appear on our maps.

It also didn't appear in our windshield, when we finally drove past a cemetery, but it was a German one.

 

The first thing I noticed were the Jewish headstones.  Normal for a WW1 cemetery, but seemed a little strange now knowing about WW2.

There were over 10,000 soldiers buried in this small patch of ground.  It was hard to believe.  Upon further examination, we found that often there were two names on the cross, then also two more on the opposite side, so four in total. There were also headstones on both sides of the each row of crosses with probably 50 names on each.  

At the top of the cemetary I suspect they had a mass grave.

 Some of it was overgrown.

 A beautiful view for a final resting place