France to Mark Start of Battle of Verdun, Symbol of French Suffering
France marks the centenary of the start of the Battle of Verdun -- the longest battle of World War I which became a symbol of the country's suffering -- on Sunday, focusing on educating the young rather than honoring veterans.
With all the combatants now dead, the military element of previous commemorations will be replaced by a visit to the battle site by thousands of French and German children for a memorial ceremony.
"Time has done its work. Today, Verdun is no longer a memory, it is history," said Thierry Hubscher, director of the Verdun Memorial, which has been renovated for the centenary.
A strong point on the long frontline dividing the French and German armies, Verdun in northeastern France was the target of a German offensive whose aim -- according to commander-in-chief Erich von Falkenhayn -- was to "bleed France dry".
Initial German successes following the start of hostilities on February 21, 1916 were stemmed as the French army funneled in reserves down a road which came to be known as the "Voie Sacree" (Sacred Way) and by early November France had retaken its lost ground.
Around 300,000 French and German soldiers died in the 10-month battle in which some 30 million shells are estimated to have been fired.
With some three-quarters of France's soldiers having experienced the "hell of Verdun", the battle quickly embedded itself in the country's traumatized psyche, viewed by the French in much the same way as the British saw the Battle of Somme.
- 'They shall not pass' -
French General Robert Nivelle's stirring phrase, "On ne passe pas" ("They shall not pass") came to symbolize the essence of national resistance and was appropriated by military leaders across the world in later years.
But behind that mythologizing about courage and sacrifice lay one of history's longest and most brutal battles.
For Germans, the soldier of Verdun, striving forward under heavy mortar fire became a mythical hero, praised in Nazi propaganda as the forerunner to the regime's own SS soldiers, said German historian Gerd Krumeich, who has co-written a new book about the battle with a French colleague, Antoine Prost.
Such was the trauma of the battle, however, that it took decades before the governments of France and Germany could contemplate joint commemorations.
In 1966, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer hoped to commemorate the battle of Verdun alongside France's President Charles De Gaulle, but it was deemed too soon, said Prost.
Germany had to wait until 1984 for an official invite, leading to the image of Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterrand standing hand-in-hand at a memorial ceremony that came to symbolize the new era of peace in the heart of Europe.
Such a moment did not come easily. It was just a few months since Germany had been left out of the 40th anniversary ceremony of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, said Prost.
In all, the First World War killed some 10 million military men and left 20 million injured, many of them disfigured by explosives or poison gas, or reduced to human wrecks by what became known as "shell shock."
Between 1914 and 1918, among the major belligerents, Germany lost 1.9 million troops, Russia 1.7 million, France 1.4 million, the Austro-Hungarian empire a million and Britain 760,000.
