The 9 French towns where nobody has lived for 100 years

During World War One 9 villages were wiped out during the Battle of Verdun and thousands of French and German soldiers perished.

The Battle of Verdun was one of the fiercest artillery battles of the war and raged for around 300 days 1916. Troops used giant guns to rain a barrage of shells over the area.

View this post on Instagram

✳️💠 11 novembre 💠✳️ Le mémorial de Verdun (Meuse) est un parcours de plus d'une heure au cœur du champ de bataille. Une vision à la hauteur d'un regard d'homme. L'intimité des combattants terrés dans les tranchées en 1ère ligne. C'est aussi un vaste cimetière pour des milliers de soldats disparus. Une visite qui ne laisse pas indifférent, qui remue les tripes.... Un bel hommage à tous ces sacrifiés de 14-18. 11 €/adulte et 7€/enfant à partir de 8 ans #memorialdeverdun #verdun #meuse #cimetiere #11novembre #devoirdememoire #lagrandeguerre #1ereguerremondiale #travelfrance #ilovetravel

A post shared by chrisetles1001decouvertes(@chrisetles1001decouvertes) on Nov 11, 2018 at 11:39am PST

The shells contaminated the earth so badly with lead, arsenic and lethal poison gas, that after the war France did not rebuild the villages.

Over the last 100 years, only one of the destroyed villages has been reconstructed and two have been partially rebuilt, but the remaining 6, including Fleury-devant-Douaumont, are uninhabited. Until today, nothing remains of Fleury-devant-Douaumont except for ruins of the foundations of a few buildings. After the war ended in 1918, the French government deemed 1,200 sq km of non-contiguous land near Verdun too dangerous to inhabit.

Besides the villages, a few museums and memorials have been erected to memorialise the soldiers who lost their lives.

View this post on Instagram

- Magnifiques témoignages de la bataille de Verdun 🕊 . . #verdun #vaux #douaumont #fortdevaux #fortdedouaumont #meusetourisme #11novembre2018 #centenaire #armistice #grandeguerre #histoire #memoire #temoignage #1418 #champdebataille #obus #ossuaire #cimetiere #tranchee #memorialdeverdun #automn #france

A post shared by ⛰🌲🌴🏡🦄 🍇🍷🐱📷🌊❄(@marie_frld) on Nov 12, 2018 at 9:56am PST

A small private museum, Romagne ‘14-‘18, tells the personal stories behind a large collection of war memorabilia. South of Fleury-devant-Douaumont, the Mémorial de Verdun offers exhibits that give visitors an overview of the war.

View this post on Instagram

He @romane_prspr c’est notre petit pote ça 😉

A post shared by △⃒⃘Ｓｌｙｔｈｅｒｉｎ ͛⚯(@charlene_dbn) on Sep 27, 2018 at 10:56am PDT

The Douaumont National Necropolis and Ossuary contains the remains of about 130,000 French and German soldiers. A cemetery contains more than 15,000 white headstones.

View this post on Instagram

It’s time to put things into perspective. • Iloisen Pariisin ja riehakkaan Disneylandin jälkeen oli hyvä laskeutua Ranskan maaseudulle ja käydä katsomassa oikeita nähtävyyksiä. Verdunissa käytiin ensimmäisen maailmansodan aikana yksi sotahistorian suurimmista taisteluista, ja siinä kaatui 700 000 sotilasta. Taistelun muistomerkki on vaikuttava paikka, joka muistuttaa rauhan tärkeydestä joka ikinen päivä. • • 🎈 #verdun #memorialdeverdun #verdunmemorial #firstworldwar #cemetary #warmemorial #france🇫🇷 #matkabloggaaja #matkablogi #travelblogger #travelblog

A post shared by Katja Jankeri(@lahtoselvitetty) on Oct 21, 2018 at 6:50am