Voie Sacrée

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 of Verdun during World War I in France. It was named the Voie Sacrée after World War One.

Along its 72 km (45 miles), day and night, there were normally 3,500 trucks on the move, ferrying men, ammunition and supplies to the beleaguered city. When it was extensively used as one of the last supply routes to Verdun, it had just been widened to 23 feet, enough to allow two trucks to pass side by side. 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. All soldiers who were also marching on the same road were forced to stay to the sides due to lack of space. 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 Chemin de Fer Meusien. 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.

The "Voie Sacrée" still exists but has been paved over and is now an active secondary road. In 2006 the road was renumbered "RD1916", being a reference to the route's militarily most critical year. The city hall in the village of Souilly , on the way down to Bar-le-Duc on the "Voie Sacrée", served as a headquarter to Generals Petain and Nivelle during the Battle of Verdun.
* Battle of Verdun