Few people today have any recollection of the slaughter which defined the most crucial event of the twentieth century. To most Americans, World War II stands as the critical moment where the world was established to our current view, but the truth is, WWII was an addition to an earlier and more significant event, World War 1. That war, The Great War, as it became known, was a war of unprecedented carnage. It is that war which created our modern world.

I first visited a battlefield in France in 1960 when I worked there only by chance. I never had heard of this battle as all my "war" knowledge was geared to the great battles of World War II.

The battlefield I visited was Verdun. This name, known in history as the place which divided French and German speaking regions in the 9th century, became, in 1916, the most bloodied and longest battle in recorded history. This blood soaked stretch of land saw over 700,000 French and Germans killed between February 2, to-15 December, 1916.

The land around it is still scarred by the thousands of shell holes which pock the countryside. Trenches slice through woods and fields, huge mine craters gape up at the sky and barbed wire remnants are everywhere. A huge ossuary dominates the hill where mixed remains of French and German soldiers are mingled. A sad presence dominates the air.

The battle was originally devised by the German High Command which sought to break the deadlock of the trench warfare and prohibited movement either east or west on the Western Front during the first two years of the war. Verdun was chosen as a logical point as it was considered a symbol of French pride and independence. A victory there, it was believed, would shatter French morale and lead to their ultimate defeat. Surrounded by archaic forts, no longer well fortified, the attack began with a massive artillery barrage, skillfully planned and in secret-over 1200 artillery pieces were engaged and 140,000 men poised for the attack. Completely surprised, the French fought with a frenzied ferocity. They were not about to let their symbol be a record of defeat! Every inch of ground was bitterly contested. Each German advance was met with an immediate and brutal French counter-attack. This battle became the image of what WWI was all about.

Almost surrealistic in its horrors, the Verdun battle zone became a scene of fantastic sights of color with orange, yellow, red and icy white from the 40 million shells bursting in an area not more than 9 miles square! The unending rain of shells made graves impossible spewing limbs and body parts to the open air. The stench was unbearable and the miserable soldiers on both sides ate, slept and fought among the dead. Viewing the battle from the air, one pilot observed, " Nature had been ruthlessly murdered and every sign of humanity swept away-roads, trees, villages had been obliterated. Few of
the great forts could even be identified." Nothing in the war ever equaled the intense slaughter and gothic, nightmarish qualities of this battle.

It has been noted that France never recovered from this battle. In spite of her heroic and magnificent fighting the bloodletting proved fatal to her future. But the German suffered too and proof came when their leader, Erich von Falkenhayn, chief of staff, was removed because of his failure there. World War 1 still had two more years of fighting to go. When American entered the war the following year, we bolstered the sagging fortunes of the Allies to ultimate victory.

Years after the battle, General Petain, the French hero of the battle, commented on the men he commanded there, "The men seemed frozen by a vision of terror; their gait and their postures betrayed a total dejection; they sagged beneath the weight of horrifying memories." What both sides endured there was a fiery ordeal, and neither they nor Europe they had once known was ever the same after it.

Today visits to the Verdun area is a sober reminder of the terrific costs war prevails on a nation. The silence there is awesome. Only about 75 miles from Paris, a tour there is a must for those interested in the price a battle can have on a great nation. One cannot help but be moved by the sight. The city Verdun, completely rebuilt, straddles the river Muese, and has an air of pathos runs through it.

There are tours of the battlefields of both World War 1 & II in Western Europe as so many of them are close to each other, it is hard to miss one without coming across one or the other. Whether visiting WWI or II sights, a careful reading and understanding of the their significance can lead to a better insight into twentieth century. There is no real glory in war and yet we cannot help but be drawn to the dynamics and personal involvement in the conflict.