Argonne & Verdun

Had a good long sleep last night and didn't have to load onto the bus until 9:30. Unfortunately, I didn't get up early enough to go see the cathedral in Reims, nor did I stay up late enough last night to go. Ah well, I guess I'll have to do it next time or see it virtually on the web or just pretend the next cathedral I'm in is that one. For those of you who are interested this is where most of the French kings were crowned from Philippe Augustus in 1180 to Charles X in 1830. It is also where Joan of Arc helped get Charles VII crowned.

We continued in WWI today and our first stop was the Pennsylvania Memorial in Varennes. It's a memorial to the 28th division which Earle's father served in as an engineer. There was in poignant quote here on the monument that read, "The right is more precious than peace". I think this is attributed to Woodrow Wilson. I wonder if he would have said that after seeing what we're going to tour later today. An interesting sideline regarding Varennes: this is as far as Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette got when they were trying to escape Paris in 1791. Though in disguise, they were recognized here and taken back to Paris under much tighter security than before. They had only been a day's ride (~30 miles) from the safety of the Austrian empire. Getting caught and going back to Paris meant the end for them. They were beheaded in 1793 - most unchivalrous: first him then her.

Next stop was the 200' monument at Montfaucon. The site commemorates the victory of the 37th and 79th divisions of the First U.S. Army on September 27th, 1918. I was surprised to learn that George Patton fought here. He lead the 7th tank brigade as a Lt. Colonel. The tanks were too light and got wiped out by the heavy guns on the hill. Patton rallied his troops and charged the hill with his pearl-handled colts blazing in each hand - how Patton-esque or is that John Wayne-esque.

We continued on to the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery which is the final resting place of 14,246 soldiers. It is the largest American military cemetery in Europe. In addition to the headstones, there are 954 names engraved on the monument listing those who are missing. It's a staggering sight, especially as you walk amongst the headstones and see dates between September and November 1918 over and over again ... or see marker after marker for an unknown soldier. The Americans entered the war in April 1917, but didn't participate in large scale until June of 1918 in the Aisne-Marne campaign (see yesterday's post). In the span of less than half a year, the Americans lost so many lives and most of the 14,246 buried here fell in the campaigns of the First U.S. Army from September 26 to November 11, 1918. The photo is of me an' Earle. Those of you who knew me many years ago may make a wry comment.

We stopped for lunch in the small village of Bras-sur-Meuse. I had made a small sandwich this morning comprised of french bread, salami and cheese. That an apple tided me over nicely; although, I did mooch some fries from those who ordered lunch.

We were soon back on the road and headed for Verdun. The two sites we toured here were enough to turn anyone from war equals glory to war equals hell. In fact, the first floor of the Verdun Memorial is entitled "The Hell of Verdun". The battle started on February 21, 1916 and lasted for ten months. In the end, 378,777 French and 333,000 German soldiers were killed, wounded or missing. No strategic advantage was gained. Next to the memorial is the town of Fleury or I should say was the town of Fleury. We were told the town, like eight others in the area, was never rebuilt after the war and we could tour its ruins. All we saw were shell craters, small bits of masonry and markers. The photo is of the school - there's nothing left. They decided not to rebuild the towns as they had been ground to dust and any previous habitants who were still alive had long since relocated. Many said nothing would ever grow here again; although, as you can see in the picture, life is indomitable.

Our last stop was the most disturbing: the Ossuary at Douamont. It is the final resting place of 130,000 remains of unidentified German and French soldiers. The bones were collected out of the chaos of a battlefield that was torn up for over four years with lines moving back and forth over the same ground and artillery jumbling and thrashing the corpses beyond recognition. There are eighteen alcoves in the monument, each with two granite tombs that correspond to a sector of the battlefield where the remains were found. There were so many remains found that they had to open up extra 12,360 ft3 burial vaults at each end of the monument. The Ossuary sits on Thiaumont and overlooks Douamont military cemetery where there are another 15,000 French soldiers are buried. Hard to believe that only two years after dedicating this site, the world would be at it again.