Belly

White tiles. Every time when I enter a small place with white tiles and dimmed light I'm in the belly of fort Douaumont again. For me it's a fact ... I've no idea how associations are formed.

A couple of years ago I went to Verdun, France. To smell and feel this place where so many French and German soldiers died in World War I.

Patton (1885-1945) calls this place in his book 'War As I Knew It' the "folly of defensive warfare". A place where a couple of 100,000 brave men died to maintain something,  "they could have saved much more easily by attacking".

Aerial view of fort Douaumont before and after the battle of Verdun in 1916:

It was strange to stand on the top of the fort and realize that between 1914 and 1918 it was impossible to enjoy the sun and views like I did. It was a killing zone.