Pétain Creates the Voie Sacrée

"They seemed, by the Sacred Way, to ascend, through an offering without example, to the most formidable altar that man had ever erected." Paul Valéry                      
(Painting by Georges Scott)

By Robert B. Bruce

Selected from "To the Last Limits of Their Strength: The French Army and the Logistics of Altrition at the Dattle of Verdun", Army History, Summer 1998

Present Day Marker at the Starting Point in Bar-le-Duc

Click on Map to Enlarge

Road in Red, Rail in Blue

Northern Loop, Where Returning Troops Were Loaded

Bas-Relief from Voie Sacrée Memorial
Note That Rail, Trucks of Different Types, Road Crews, and Loaders Are Commemorated