Stay: Dun sur Meuse-Aire €7 incl. all services N49°23.296' E5°10.712' / 49.38804, 5.17904
Headed out to the Verdun Battlefields and stopped to look at The Maginot Monument, in memory of Andre Maginot, a deputy of the Meuse who was wounded here.
We then visited the Douaumont Ossuary, which contains 130,000 un-identified soldiers and 15,000 French war graves out the front. We watched a very moving video and climbed the bell tower.
Fort Douaumont was our next destination. This was the strongest of the 39 forts and bastions built along the 45 km front to protect Verdun. We did another IPod audiovisual tour which described the battles fought here.
After lunch we the Bayonet Trench memorial in honour of the 137th Infantry Regiment, who were waiting in the trenches with their bayonets, for the ferocious artillery bombardment to end. Unfortunately the incoming shells covered them in mud and debris, burying them alive with only the tips of their bayonets sticking out of the ground. It took 3 years to find them and they have been left where they died.
Although there are many more sites to visit, including the destroyed towns and trenches, we decide to find our Aire for tonight. A little while later we are in Dun sur Meuse in a tranquil spot along side of the canal.
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