Nice holydays in Verdun, the ardennes etc.

[Soldat de Fer]

Are you really sure, that you know the "official" story of this monument? You can believe me, this story impossible.

Hello
The story is true , but a little different .
The trench was attacked with gas , killing everyone , were they stood , they tried to contact the trench to no avail ,so later on that day they send courier there to find out what was going on , and one courier during the night , got to that trench , believed everyone was sleeping , in fact they were all dead , some men were still standing at their post , still holding their rifles , the courier made his report to the company commender , that all were lost ( the report is official ). Later during the day the German shelled the place around further and most of it was buried and forgotten ( you have to remember that no one had time to bury the dead during the battle). In 1919 while they were trying to recover bodies all over the place ( still to this day) , in the middle of the overgrown vegetation , an officer noticed all these bayonets coming out of the ground ,after digging and realizing that the bodies were still there , It was decided in high spheres , to make it a monument ( 1920) , nothing was removed and the bayonets were left standing up with the men still holding them .
This is the official story from the army . I believe that Andre Maginot , was the one who decided on the monument building and for all the bodies to remain there , a true monument to the horrible tragedy that Verdun truly was .
Regards
P-Y

[DOC_KÜSTENART]

Hello
The story is true , but a little different .
The trench was attacked with gas , killing everyone , were they stood , they tried to contact the trench to no avail ,so later on that day they send courier there to find out what was going on , and one courier during the night , got to that trench , believed everyone was sleeping , in fact they were all dead , some men were still standing at their post , still holding their rifles , the courier made his report to the company commender , that all were lost ( the report is official ). Later during the day the German shelled the place around further and most of it was buried and forgotten ( you have to remember that no one had time to bury the dead during the battle). In 1919 while they were trying to recover bodies all over the place ( still to this day) , in the middle of the overgrown vegetation , an officer noticed all these bayonets coming out of the ground ,after digging and realizing that the bodies were still there , It was decided in high spheres , to make it a monument ( 1920) , nothing was removed and the bayonets were left standing up with the men still holding them .
This is the official story from the army . I believe that Andre Maginot , was the one who decided on the monument building and for all the bodies to remain there , a true monument to the horrible tragedy that Verdun truly was .
Regards
P-Y

Very interesting friend, thanks for posting. I also believed this story was true

[FestungSpanien]

Apparently someone decided to cut and steal the bayonets.
Does anybody have a picture of the bayos still visible and standing still?
Thanks
Ace

[Soldat de Fer]

Apparently someone decided to cut and steal the bayonets.
Does anybody have a picture of the bayos still visible and standing still?
Thanks
Ace

Hello
For a while the bayonets remained intact , but over the years , some tourist tried to get a " souvenir" and most of them started to vanish bits by bits.
The first time I went there in the 80's some of the bayo were still standing.
If they catch you trying to steal something , you will be in deep sh*t .
I have seen old pictures , from postcard souvenir books , were most of the bayo were intact , that was in the 20's or 30's , there is also some pictures of German soldiers standing by the monument in 1940 ( I can remember were I saw it) and most of the bayo were still intact.
the battlefield of Verdun is a no go areas outside the path ( the land belongs to the army , so be careful were you go) , since a lot of unexploded shell are still lying around . In 1920 something the French army decided to measure the cost of Verdun ( they already knew the dead count) but the cost ,of ammo supplies ,etc... . Estimation was that 23 millions shell fell on the soil of Verdun and that about 3 millions of them did not explode ( so think before kicking that little rock) and that it took 10000 bullets to kill a man which means that over 3 billions bullets were used , add to this the German count and you realize the horror of the battle on such a small area .
Regards
P-Y

[Jean-Loup]

Hi Pierre Yves.

I know the real story of how the men got into that trench. The guys were told so many "histoires à dormir debout" by the army that they really did fall asleep standing up in the trench, and were then buried by a particularly violent artillery barrage. (For non french speakers, "histoire a dormir debout"= a story that makes you fall asleep standing up, basicaly BS, propaganda, etc...)

More seriously, that is a very interesting and romantic story about the "tranché des baionettes", but I think it is also 100% fake and invented for several reasons (I note that you said it is the "official army story"). Men who die in a gas attack dont stand as if they are sleeping: they try to run away, probably caught, have spasms, vomit, and other horrible things. Anyhow, whatever a person dies of, it is almost impossible for him to stay standing up, let alone a whole group of men. Even if the gas attack thing was true, then I doubt that in 1919 on such a chaotic battlefield as Verdun they would have figured out without exhuming the bodies from what unit they were, and thus when and how they died.
I do believe the trench itself is 100% authentic, but just that story is something invented after the war to make all the widows feel nice. The real stroy is probably that these guns were sticking up by chance, or that somebody put them that way to mark the grave or something.

Here is what it says about it in those 14-18 magazines.



JL

[prussian.guard]

i agree with jl.if a soldier is gassed he does not stand still it causes violent reactions within the human body.i heard that after the war had finnished there were so many dead lying about they put them into the trenches and buried them there.indeed i have been on the somme digging former trench lines if you find the bottom of the trench you can find all manner of things which were thrown in and buried.the reason for this was it would cost too much to transport it back to the uk.and if you don't have a war what are you going to use it all for.

[Soldat de Fer]

Hi Pierre Yves.

I know the real story of how the men got into that trench. The guys were told so many "histoires à dormir debout" by the army that they really did fall asleep standing up in the trench, and were then buried by a particularly violent artillery barrage. (For non french speakers, "histoire a dormir debout"= a story that makes you fall asleep standing up, basicaly BS, propaganda, etc...)

More seriously, that is a very interesting and romantic story about the "tranché des baionettes", but I think it is also 100% fake and invented for several reasons (I note that you said it is the "official army story"). Men who die in a gas attack dont stand as if they are sleeping: they try to run away, probably caught, have spasms, vomit, and other horrible things. Anyhow, whatever a person dies of, it is almost impossible for him to stay standing up, let alone a whole group of men. Even if the gas attack thing was true, then I doubt that in 1919 on such a chaotic battlefield as Verdun they would have figured out without exhuming the bodies from what unit they were, and thus when and how they died.
I do believe the trench itself is 100% authentic, but just that story is something invented after the war to make all the widows feel nice. The real stroy is probably that these guns were sticking up by chance, or that somebody put them that way to mark the grave or something.

Here is what it says about it in those 14-18 magazines.



JL

Hello
Same story as mine , which by the way was published ( official) in "La Chartre " the official French veteran " Andre Maginot" association sometimes in the 80'S . It was detailed with the report and names of unit .
The courier account was , like I mentioned ," some were still standing" which it is what lead to the belief . Like I mentioned , they did dig in 1919 , but it was decided in high spheres to let it be and to built a monument on top of it .
It was Andre Maginot was decided it , He was then Minister " des anciens combatant " which was a really powerful position ,he also created the Lottery national"
Regards
P-Y