Verdun is about halfway between Champagne and Alsace, so when we came back from Reims we stopped there. I had been to Verdun before when I was in school in Luxembourg, but we did not have the chance to see everything.The Battle of Verdun is still has the regrettable distinction of having the highest mortality of any battle in recorded history - more than 1 million soldiers (mostly french, english, and german) were killed. More importantly the youth of the three most powerful countries of the time essentially lost their youth at Verdun.
On the particular day that we visited, Jacques Chirac had decided to visit Verdun (no idea why, since it didn't coincide with any holiday or anniversary), so that meant that no one else could. Fortunately Verdun is a huge area, and only part of it (granted, the most important part) was closed. We spent most of our time on the west side of the river, where we saw various key strategic areas that were fought over (they're basically hills with still unexploded bombs now).
In this particular image the inscription reads. 'Ils n'ont pas passe' - which means 'They didn't pass'. This is a reference to Petain's infamous saying during the start of the battle, when he said that the Germans would be stopped here.
Honestly...the place reminded me to the cost of stubborness.
