The Verdun forest. At first glance, difficult to imagine that one of the deadliest battles of the First World War took place here. But very quickly, at the height of a man, the stigmata appear, the indelible traces of a fierce struggle waged here by two and a half million combatants. The soldiers of Verdun didn't know this forest. Their battlefield was this lunar landscape, plowed by bombardments. No more trees, no more vegetation, no more landmarks. Today, the scars are still there. Up to six shells fell per square meter. To hide these gaping wounds, over time, a huge forest has grown. We traveled it with Nicolas Czubak, a specialist in the Battle of Verdun. - Where does this forest come from?
- This forest was planted after the First World War. At first, it was wasteland left by the battle. Gradually, we replanted to hide all the scars on the ground. - What was there before the First World War ?
- Before the war, there were forests, but that did not cover all the land. Forests were also managed for the needs of the army. We were on a fortified place. But next to these woods, you had cultivated land, orchards, and vineyards. - Could we now reclaim our land to do something with it? - It would be impossible. During the battle, 60 million shells were fired. Much of it has not exploded. The ground is totally polluted by projectiles. At the bend of the paths, the past resurfaces. A ravine, a particularly contested hill, a strategic position... This half-filled trench, for example, is called the "tunnel of London". It was a vital artery, used every night by the soldiers to go up or down from Fort Douaumont. Thanks to this path dug in the ground, they could escape enemy fire, bring supplies, ammunition. Get messages across. The zigzag layout was intended
to avoid the ravages of an enfilade fire. On this photo from the time, taken in exactly the same place,
the landscape is totally devastated. A little further on, the remains of a fortified position. The fortification of Froideterre was a key point of the French defense. One of the last to hold when the Germans
launched all their forces to break through the front and open the road to Verdun. On June 21, 1916, the Germans attack. They bombarded for three days, without interruption, this position. The 150 french stationed in garrison resist. Even today, we see it, the ground is shaped by shell craters and we have to imagine the fierce fighting, in the midst of asphyxiating gases, in mud and water holes. The french are on the verge of breaking up. In this desperate resistance, another stronghold will play a capital role. Today, the forest hides almost everything which remains of Fort de Souville. In March 1916, the front was a few kilometers from here. But the fightings gradually approached and the bombardments are daily. In just two months, the Germans would send nearly 38,000 shells to this position. You have to imagine, in the embrasure
of this door which leads to an underground shelter, the worry of the men of the garrison
who await the shock to come. A shock that will be of incredible violence. Even though they had spent the first months
of the battle strengthening their defenses, nothing prepared these soldiers for such a deluge of fire. In July 1916, the survivors of the shelling had to repel the assaults of the Germans, who resorted to gas and flame throwers. The fights are carried out hand-to-hand, with bayonets, but the fort does not fall. On this photo taken a few days after the assault,
the ground rose several meters, almost blocking one of the entrances.
The soldiers must weave their way between the mountains of rubble. Around Verdun there were also several villages.
Of the nine within the combat zone, none escaped destruction. Ornes is one of those martyred villages, declared "Dead for France". Who remembers its 700 inhabitants, the children who lived there, and who had to leave everything. Among the disappeared villages, Ornes was the most populated. Along the main street, the large Saint-Michel church
was the pride of the inhabitants of the village. Today, there are only a few pillars, a few sections of the wall. In the very first days of the battle, the church still stands,
as shown in this photo. But when the Germans take the village, it is the French cannons
that are unleashed. Ornes is devastated. Here, there are ruins, a trace. Sometimes there is nothing left. However, all around Verdun, each field, each road, carries an invisible piece of memory. Who today could suspect that it is precisely here, a hundred years ago, that immense columns of trucks unloaded, along the famous sacred way, hundreds of thousands of men. Who were, in the process, to rise to the front. In this field, under the distant noise of the cannonade, those who were going to die met those who were coming back.
