Roads II.

This is coolbert:

C’est Magnifique??

La Voie Sacree. The Sacred Road.

During the nine-month long siege of Verdun [World War One - - 1916], the French main supply route [MSR] consisted of a single gravel road with parallel narrow-gauge railway. Resupply for an army of HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF FRENCH TROOPS depended upon this one link remaining open and in repair.

OPEN AND IN REPAIR - - AND AT ALL COSTS!!

Each week during the nine-month siege passed along the Sacred Road:

* 90,000 troops [marching not on the road, but along side the road!!]

* 50,000 tons of ammunition in 12,000 trucks.

The most extraordinary effort was made to keep the Sacred Road open. ALL THE WHILE UNDER BOMBARDMENT BY GERMAN AIRCRAFT AND LONG-RANGE ARTILLERY!!

"The French were ultimately successful in defending and maintaining the road - adding some 700,000 tons of additional crushed stone by the end of the battle"

Maintenance and guarding of the Sacred Road primarily the responsibility of French Territorial "(a reserve force)" and Colonial troops. In the latter case, black Africans totally out of place in the cold and mud of Verdun. But doing yeoman work, valiantly, at great cost to themselves!!

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