Sports Calendar

"May they never be forgotten. I can’t describe what they mean to me."

In France, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall this morning joined Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, and his wife, Carla Bruni, at the French National Cemetery to mark the Battle of Verdun.

Verdun was the site of the longest-lasting battle between France and Germany in 1916, lasting eight months and leaving at least 300,000 dead. No veterans were present at the Verdun event, however, as everyone who fought in the battle has since died.

Behind the location where the Verdun service took place is the ossuary, which contains the bones of 130,000 of those who died.

The great battle

Day by day our bombardment has grown in intensity, until under the dreadful hurricane whole reaches of enemy trenches have been battered out of existence

Related Links

• Douglas Haig 'would have let Germany win war'

• Queen leads nation in remembrance of war heroes

• Widows honour their lost loves

Multimedia

• Pictures: Remembrance

The remains of many of the others who fought in that battle, and others during the First World War, have never been found - with many buried in a sea of mud which accompanied the carnage of trench warfare.

In his speech on the steps of the ossuary, after re-lighting the Eternal Flame in memory of the dead, President Sarkozy made a point of recognising the sacrifices made by Germany as well as France and Britain.

"If we are reunited here, where once a President of the French Republic stood hand in hand with a German Chancellor (a reference to Helmut Kohl), it is not to celebrate the war, it is not even to celebrate the victory of one side over the other," he said.

"If we are reunited, it is first to pay homage to all those who fought until the bitter end with patriotism in their hearts and in the belief they were defending a just cause."

Mr Sarkozy added that the First World War did not just touch the lives of millions of men, women and children - it had been the first to threaten the very idea of humanity.

The First World War led to the disappearance of four empires – the German, Ottoman, Russian and Austro-Hungarian – and caused the creation of the Soviet Union.

Europe's longest global conflict, it is often referred to as the Great War, or the War to End All Wars, in recognition of the enormous death toll it claimed in seemingly never-ending and senseless trench battles which took place in often atrocious conditions.

In his book, The Last Fighting Tommy, Mr Patch described war as "organised murder". At the launch of the Poppy Appeal on board HMS Somerset last month, he added: "It was not worth it, it was not worth one let alone all the millions.

"It’s important that we remember the war dead on both sides of the line - the Germans suffered the same as we did."

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• The Times celebrates its 225th birthday
• Heath discussed IMF loan during 1974 crisis
• Britain’s loneliest café opens for business