The Battlefields Of Verdun

VERDUN, FRANCE - AUGUST 27: A visitor walks past soldiers' beds inside the mostly intact remains of Fort Douamont on August 27, 2014 near Verdun, France. Fort Douamont was one of a string of French forts built along the Cotes de Meuse hilltop range that became a focal point of bitter fighting between the German and French armies during the World War I Battle of Verdun in 1916. The 10-month battle, among the most horrific on the entire Western Front, resulted in a combined French and German casualty count of between 714,231 and 976,000 for both sides. The two armies fired an estimated 65 million artillery shells at one another, of which millions never exploded and are still strewn througout the region. France will commemorate the centenary of the battle in 2016 with events including the inauguration of a redesigned national memorial. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)