Voie Sacrée
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Voie Sacrée ("Sacred Way") is the name given to the road between Bar-le-Duc and Verdun, because of the vital role that it played in the battle.
Along its 72km (45 miles), day and night, there were normally 3,500 trucks on the move, ferrying men,ammunition and supplies to the beleaguered city. During the initial crisis of February 21 to 6 March it delivered 23,000 tons of ammunition, 2,500 tons of other material and 190,000 men. One truck passed every 14 seconds, submitting the road to considerable wear and tear. Over the course of ten months, 8,500 men from 16 labour battalions worked to keep the road in good shape and order
The special unit responsible for controlling traffic and servicing the vehicles numbered 300 officers and 8,500 men. There were 30 breakdown trucks always on the road and repair crews stationed beside it. A broken down vehicle was immediately moved to the roadside so as not to interrupt the flow of supplies. Automobile repair shops at Bar-le-Duc and Troyes worked ceaselessly as did hydraulic presses turning out solid rubber tyres. Alongside the road ran a narrow-gauge single track railway, Le Meusin. This was able to move about 1,800 tons of supplies a day. it carried the bulk of the food for the army at Verdun - some 16,600 officers and 420,000 men, not to mention 136,000 horses - and brought back many wounded from the front.
It still exists today.
