05/05/2026 – We’ve been to WWII battlefields, now it’s time for WWI battlefields
We breakfasted at our favorite little bakery, then headed out of Strasbourg for our drive back to Paris. We made a very important stop in Verdun, site of a huge battle during World War I – The Great War. Verdun was a 10-month long stalemate which cost the lives of 300,000 soldiers from both France and Germany, plus another 400,000 wounded. The stalemate was not solved until the US arrived with its troops, tanks, and planes in September 1917. Within 4 days, the Franco-Anglo-American alliance pushed the Germans back across the mountains and headed toward Germany. By November 1918, the German people had had enough and threw their government out. The new people in charge signed an armistice on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.
The memorial in Verdun was done very well and truly showed the extreme hardships of the war – on the soldiers who died, the soldiers who were wounded, the families they left behind, the children who were orphaned, and the local residents who lost everything they had. Such a sad and tragic event that one has to wonder what the real goals were of all this fighting. Dave surmised that the tragedy was caused by new, modern, and very lethal weapons which had outstripped the old, stale, and useless defensive tactics which had not kept pace with the offense. The war put a large dent in the population of Europe, especially the males.
We drove somberly to our hotel near the Charles de Gaulle Airport and waited for our flight the next afternoon.