Verdun a century later

[Navy Moose]

A friend of mine just posted this and I want to share it here. Frenchman, I hope you see this. This is an article on Verdun and how dangerous it still is, and how bad it will get as time passes.

 

[GhostArcher]

I find things like this very fascinating. It just amazes me, how devastated the land still is and how mother nature is still reeling from the effects of man. I can't even begin to imagine what it must have been like fighting there.

 

[whacko]

If you are interested in ww1 history and the truest sense of what ww1 was like there is a podcast available called "Blueprint for Armageddon". It is amazing.

Dan Carlin is the author

http://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-blueprint-for-armageddon-i/

 

[loneranger]

The French need to remove these toxic materials as it will only do more damage as ordinance containers corrode and release chemicals.

 

[Wadcutter]

The French need to remove these toxic materials as it will only do more damage as ordinance containers corrode and release chemicals.

The French and Belgiums remove tons of UXO every year. It's getting better every year. Not worse as the article claims.

Some parts of the article are quite inaccurate/speculative such as "Soil analysis in some parts of the Red Zone found arsenic levels of up to 17%. That’s several thousand times higher than in previous decades, meaning those chemicals are acting up, not down." Actually, in 2004 they found places where the arsenic levels were higher than previous samples. The arsenic isn't "acting up" like a virus and getting more aggressive. Much of the arsenic contamination is the result of detonating and burning ordnance dug up in the past. After the war the methods of ordnance disposal were pretty crude.

 

[loneranger]

The stated groundwater contamination levels and the impact on food supply concern would concern me the most.

 

[lowbuckbob]

Kind of a dupe but still good stuff.

http://www.northeastshooters.com/vb...Zone-in-France?highlight=no+go+zone+in+france

 

[me109g4]

A guy I know who lives in Latvia is a "digger" as a hobby, he hunts for WW2 memorabilia abandoned on the battlefield. amazing the stuff he finds, but a few weeks ago he was hunting with his metal detector and was getting hits in a fairly consistent pattern, turns out he wandered into an uncleared minefield! He decided to dig some up and fortunately they were all corroded solid.

 

[HiCap]

I would love to visit. I really wonder how many people have been killed by live mines/mortars in recent years.

 

[DrNVP]

I would love to visit. I really wonder how many people have been killed by live mines/mortars in recent years.

I just went a couple months ago. It really is one of the best historical battlefields I have ever visited. Fort Douaumont is still preserved and you can take a tour inside as well. Much of the landscape is still permanently cratered from the millions of artillery shells that each side fired. Probably a shitload of UXO as well.

It's an easy trip from Paris. Driving in the French countryside is beautiful as well.

 

[dustoff22]

Thanks for posting this Navy Moose. My father was a WW1 'doughboy' and was shot in the dimple by a sniper in Verdun. He spent a year in a British hospital and had multiple surgeries in years to follow but ended up living a fulfilling life. He died age 81 in 1977. I'm headed to Normandy with a side trip to Verdun in November of this year. It'll be my first visit to either place. He very very seldom ever mentioned his war time experiences although I vividly remember him speaking of "going over the top", living in trenches with dead bloated bodies about, and eating "bully beef" and hardtack. It had to be pure hell. For those interested in WW1 stuff, I recommend reading "All Quiet on the Western Front".

 

[DrNVP]

I'm headed to Normandy with a side trip to Verdun in November of this year.

Nice. Definitely rent a car. It'll be more expensive (especially gas and tolls), but I wouldn't do it any other way. Other option is a tour bus but your flexibility in visiting the various sites will be hampered. All the sites were no more than a quick car ride apart.

 

[fencer]

..... I vividly remember him speaking of "going over the top", living in trenches with dead bloated bodies about, and eating "bully beef" and hardtack. It had to be pure hell.

I have often thought that those who fought in the trenches of WW1 had to endure some of the worst conditions ever suffered in battle. The sheer volume of ordinance and the condition of life of the trenches must have been unimaginable. An absolute meat grinder.

 

[SpaceCritter]

I have often thought that those who fought in the trenches of WW1 had to endure some of the worst conditions ever suffered in battle. The sheer volume of ordinance and the condition of life of the trenches must have been unimaginable. An absolute meat grinder.

Indeed. And all but forgotten today. In fact, many WWI monuments are in horrid states of disrepair.