The HELL of Verdun or how they earned them; Part 5

[JensF.]

I'll continue this series after my last visit to Verdun last week. Here are more pics of the german cemetaries around Verdun.

In Consenvoye are the graves of 11148 german soldiers. In 1984 the german chancellor Helmut Kohl and the french president Francois Mitterand put down a wreath together. It was the first official visit of a french president to a german cemetary.

[JensF.]

2

[JensF.]

This are these little things I really love to see:
This smaller mass-grave was visited maybe by the relatives of one of the fallen soldiers just some days ago. They placed a picture of the soldier with a little feather at the side there. The candle was still burning. It was a soldier from bavaria who died in 1918 just before the end of the war...

[JensF.]

This is inside the Ossuaire with the 130000 unidentified soldiers below. Their bones can be seen through windows at the wall outside.

[Paul V]

verdun!

Thanks!

It reminds us these pics of what happened!


Paul V.

PVON

[Blitz]

Great pics, Jens.. Makes you wonder why after all that we were still stupid enough to go to war 20 years later.

[JensF.]

Antti, I think the humans have a very bad memory

[Blitz]

Yep, I have noticed that... Even in myself!

[JensF.]

Here are more pics!

One of the over 15000 french crosses in front of the Ossuaire:

[JensF.]

This is the view through the small windows around the Ossuaire at the bones of the over 130000 unidentified soldiers.

[JensF.]

Another view. The only question I get when I see this is: "WHY?" If you visit Verdun many times you'll get a pacifist...

[JensF.]

Here are some grenades in the museum of the Ossuaire.

From left to right:

-German 15 cm shrapnell with Doppelzünder 92
-French 75 mm shrapnell with double-fuse fusee fusante 22/31
-French 65 mm (maybe a mountain gun)
-British 57 mm for tanks
-German 77 mm (Feldkanone) with Kanonenzünder 14
-German 77 mm shrapnell with Doppelzünder
-French 75 mm HE
-German 77 mm GAS (bluecross) with Empfindlicher Kanonenzünder 16
-Case for German 15 cm field howitzer

[Blitz]

Ignorent politicians, stupid generals(on both sides, but mainly with the Brits and the French), new weapons used without realising that your opponents might use them as well.. A certain Serb ultra-nationalist, a stupid Astro-Hungarian Arch-Duke Oh my, there are enough reasons...

[JensF.]

...and none of them makes sense or justifies so many fallen. The most of these soldiers their bones you see here were in our age or even much younger.

[Blitz]

Nope, nothing can justify that.