mort-homme

The best of the west bank hills with good memorials. We'd suggest you don't need to see the others if you visit this one.

This statue clearly shows the madness of war and stands on top of the Mort Homme, where there was heavy fighting in the Battle of Verdun. Yet this part of the battlefield is much less visited than the area east of the Meuse. On the Mort Homme is much forest and there is not much to see at first glance. Hikers may still encounter a lot. Be sure to stay on the trails.

We visited here as part of a tour around Verdun and other associated sites concerning World War 1. This is worth a visit, and you can feel very moved by the ambiance of the area. The statue says it all. You maybe only need half an hour, or you can walk some of the routes which can take a lot longer. It's a very moving place.

I had a private guide and we did a lot of travelling by car to go to some very interesting point, everything is worth staying in Verdun for one week and tour extensively the region

This hill, Mort-Homme, along with it's sister Cote 304, saw incredible action. Hill 304 lost 11 meters in height from all the shelling. As with much of the battlefield, the scares of war still remain. In the '30s pine trees were planted to help mask the deviation. Hundreds of thousands of Austrian pine saplings were set – they were hardy enough to withstand the poisoned, acidic soil.Take some time and walk the ground. Moving and disturbing.

Hmmm... "like" here is not the best word to describe walking the Mort Homme. We wandered through trench lines, slowly collapsing into the soil but still very clear after nearly a century. We went up communication trenches and "jumped off" into no man's land, crossing into the trenches on the opposite side. It is still so clear what went on here and the darkness deep amongst the trees soaks the experience with a feeling not too far from desperation. A VERY moving place.

Il n'y a pas grand chose à voir, ne vaut pas le détour. C'est très "banal". Personnellement je n'ai pas aimé, c'était beaucoup de route pour rien.

Après les sites monumentaux, Mort-Homme permet, plus encore, de prendre conscience de la folie humaine et du courage des pauvres militaires.

Le Mort-Homme kann sehr gut mit der Höhe 304 und dem nördlich gelegenen amerikanischen Gedenkmonument (hoher Turm in zerstörtem Dorf) und dem amerikanischen Friedhof besucht werden, wenn man etwas mehr Zeit in Verdun hat. Der Ort ist eher einsam, es kommen nicht viele Leute hierher.

Una collina apparentemente immersa nella lussureggiante vegetazione e priva di qualsiasi eredità storica, cela invece le gravi e devastanti ferite di un continuo bombardamento che sottolineò tristemente gli ultimi assalti tedeschi, questa volta mirati a far crollare le linee francesi sul lato sinistro della Mosa. Per uno strano scherzo del destino, la collina si chiama «L’uomo morto» fin dai tempi medievali, e di caduti ne vide moltissimi anche nei secoli precedenti alla Grande Guerra. Al centro dell’altura si erge lo «Squelette» (lo scheletro), un monumento commemorativo alla 69esima divisione di fanteria francese che, con il suo sangue, contribuì principalmente a «non far passare i nemici», come recita l’iscrizione a caratteri cubitali sulla base della scultura.

Voilà un beau monument très stylé, un peu effrayant mais avec une belle faute de français sur le socle. Il doit certainement y avoir une explication à laquelle je suis bien évidemment preneur. Cette statue reste malgré tout fort intéressante et le site historique est très émouvant. Cette étape est pour moi indispensable s'il on souhaite effectuer une visite complète des divers sites et champs de batailles historiques de Verdun. Un seul petit regret, l'accès en voiture ou en bus est un peu compliqué. Je ne saurais donc trop vous conseiller de vous y rendre par beau temps !!