20. The destruction at Verdun was nearly total
During the period between late February and late December, 1916, the German and French armies facing each other at Verdun fired approximately 10,000,000 shells at each other from their mortars and guns. The total weight of the artillery battle alone was over 1.3 million tons. In the relatively small area of the RFV, where the fighting had occurred, desolation followed the battle. The artillery barrage over ten months literally changed the lay of the land. Where forested areas had stood before the battle, there was treeless expanse. The grassy hills which stood on both banks of the Meuse, and in which the French artillery had been entrenched, were devoid of vegetation.
It should be no surprise that of the combined casualties of over 800,000 (to use an average of several estimates) more than 70% were the result of the artillery bombardments. That total does not include the number of men who were victims of shell shock, many of whom never recovered their mental health following the war. A French officer who arrived with 175 men in his unit reported 34 survivors following an artillery barrage, “several half mad”. Hills which had been gently sloped and rounded at the top were altered to resemble barren volcanoes.