On February 21, 1916, at dawn, a deluge of fire and iron spewed by a thousand German guns descended on Verdun (Meuse) and its surroundings.
This was the beginning of a 300-day hell that resulted in more than 300,000 dead and missing, almost as many on each side. For the French, Verdun would become the symbol of the Great War.
A battle with limited strategic interest because, on the right bank of the Meuse, each side would recover its February positions by December 1916.
Verdun reminds us of its past of suffering but also its message of hope: to unite for peace and Franco-German friendship. This is what we should call the “spirit of Verdun.”
In Nice, the civil and military authorities, as well as veterans’ associations, commemorated this day with a laying of wreaths at the War Memorials.
