The main memorial at the battlefield sits above the large French military cemetery, overlooking the entire region. Just in the area of Verdun, over 800,000 people were killed in World War I, including over 130,000 unknown soldiers. All together, 16 million people died in the war, but Verdun saw some of the worst of the fighting and destruction. To bring home the point of the brutality and fruitlessness of that war, the bones of the unknowns are visible through windows along one side of the memorial. It's shocking to see those human bones (especially the skulls), but the point is well taken: World War I was utterly pointless and happened for no good reason.

A sign there says, "Respect the silence." It's hard not to.