"You have a mission of sacrifice. On the day the German choose, they will massacre you to the last man... and it is your duty to die." .
These were the words of a French Unit commander to his men prior to the Battle of Verdun.
Based on the strategy of complete annihilation, within a span of 10 months, Verdun would claim over 700,000 casualties, the surrounding land would be pounded by over 40 to 60 million artillery shells, and the psychological toll of the men who survived would be unbearable.
The following photo depicts the human total at Verdun measured in bones and partial skeletons. #reality #ww1