Concrete and Earth, Cold and Damp: A Visit to The Ww1 Fortifications of Verdun (Final Part: Sources)

Note: as with all my other First World War articles on Triond, the author’s share of the per-view revenue this page generates is being donated to St Dunstan’s – a UK charity which assists blind and partly-sighted ex-Services men and women. So just by reading this far you have helped ensure a better life for these veterans. See my article here  for details and for links to the other articles donating in this way.

This is the final part of a multi-part article. To begin at the first part, click here.

I hope that you have found this series of articles to be informative, and that they have given at least some idea of the complex nature of the forts and defences around Verdun, as well as the hellishness of the ten months of bitter fighting for them in 1916. It is right to remember the sacrifice of the thousands of men who died there, both for their sakes and also to remember the horrors of war thus making it a little less likely that we will resort to it lightly in the future. War is dreadful, and only to be taken up when the alternatives are even worse.

I thought that I should finish with a little note on the sources used in writing these articles and on my credentials. I do not claim to be a historian. All that I know of the First World War is gleaned from reading a good number of relatively popular books rather than diving into the primary sources. But I do like to understand the sites I visit properly and read up on them extensively before and after my visits as well as examining them thoroughly when I do visit, taking copious notes with lots of photographs. I would like to think of myself as a thoughtful and thorough history buff and history tourist, if not a proper historian, bringing my own thoughts to the places I visit and giving the reader some idea of the experience.

Information sources used in the creation of this series:

• Book ‘Walking Verdun’ by Christina Holstein – basically a series of walks across the battlefield taking in the main sites and defences, but including excellent explanations which make it a valuable reference in its own right, even for those not visiting the sites.
• Book ‘The Fortifications of Verdun 1874-1917’ by Clayton Donnell – a slim volume that gives a good introductory explanation of the forts and their components.
• Book ‘Major and Mrs Holt’s Battlefield Guide: the Western Front, South’ – the chapter on Verdun is an 88-mile driving tour which they optimistically claim might be squeezed into one long day. As with all Holt’s publications it is an excellent whistle-stop run through the main monuments and memorials (along with a selection of minor ones) at a battlefield, and makes a good starting point for planning what to see. Obviously since I was travelling by bicycle I could not use their tour route as written, but it was still a very useful resource and the more conventional car or bus tourist will undoubtedly find it invaluable.
• French IGN map 3112ET, 1:25000 (4cm to 1km) – a detailed modern map of the whole east bank area north of Verdun, showing paths, forts, monuments and the major bunkers. Invaluable if you intend to explore the area thoroughly.
• My own observations on visiting the sites personally in July 2011 and my photographs taken then.
• Explanatory panels at the main sites – most are in English as well as French but unfortunately many were hard to read due to damp and fungus getting in under the plastic covers and occasionally from vandalism (a sad indication of disrespect for those who fought and died there which I found very annoying).
• Fortiff Sere website, page on Froideterre (French language, but recommended for its photos of the interior of the fort and a clear map of the layout): http://www.fortiffsere.fr/verdun/index_fichiers/Page12509.htm.

The Osprey Fortifications series book on Fort Douaumont is probably worth a read, but unfortunately I cannot comment on it as my book fund has not yet stretched to buying a copy! There are also other books which go into considerable detail about the technicalities of the forts if the reader wants to concentrate on that (I only wanted to know enough to understand how they worked as defensive structures).

Thank you for following me on this journey around the forts of Verdun. I hope to write more articles based on my cycle tour of the Western Front, so look out for them!