Verdun wasnt strategically important to the Germans, but had a historic sentiment for the French.
Supported by 1,200 artillery guns, they blasted hundreds of thousands of shells at the Verdun region.
So many shells were fired that the top of one particular hill vanished.
Many troops at the battle never saw an enemy soldier, experiencing nothing but artillery fire.
Forests were reduced to tangled piles of wood.
Only the most toughest plants managed to survive.
Millions of unexploded shells still litter the region.
Everywhere you look the brutal scars of war are visible in the many over lapping craters.
By July, the increased counter attack from the French army forced the Germans to go into defensive.
The German defenses collapsed in December and those surviving were taken prisoners.
