War memorials

France: Monument aux enfants de Verdun morts pour la France

Architect: Mathieu Forest
Location: Verdun, France

On the east bank of the Meuse, built into the remains of the city’s ramparts near the Port Chaussée, is the Monument aux enfants de Verdun morts pour la France inaugurated in 1928. The monument stands for the famous motto of Verdun 1916 “They shall not pass”. In the centre five soldiers of stone, representing the different corps of the French army, stand side by side. On the base of both sides of a cross of war are engraved the names of the fallen at Verdun in France in both world wars. The sculptor was Claude Grange, the architect Forest. Forts, villages, roads, railways in the terrain north of Verdun were completely pulverised in the fighting. It is here that the principal memorials are to be found – including the astonishing structure which is, arguably, France’s most significant monument generated by the Great War.

Gavin Stamp