At the aid post of the fort or Tavannes, two wounded men and a runner leaving the "furnace".
Their privations and sufferings are written on their wan faces.
"Where was that? At Mort-Homme or Froideterre? At Haudromont farm or Chapelle Sainte-Fine? It makes no difference! It was "in front of Verdun, one day" any day you like in this battle, in which so many days were alike, and these innumerable stories, so magnificent that no poet could have had the genius to invent one of them, these stories—each one so immortal—are all as alike in their essentials as were the countless actions in this "battle of annihilation" (Joseph Bédier: L'Effort français).
In the wood of Les Fosses. A runner on a track.
THE IMPORTANT PHASES OF THE BATTLE OF VERDUN
February 21st-25th 1916.—The central attack.