French "Sacred Way", the name given after the
First World War to the road running south from
Verdun to
Bar-le-Duc, the only road which remained open for supplies to the front during the battles of 1916 in which the
German army attempted to bleed
France dry in a deliberate battle of attrition.
At the peak of the fighting in June 1916 the Voie Sacrée carried a vehicle every 14 seconds, night and day; a light railway was built alongside it. Due to the rotation system run deliberately by the French high command, something like two thirds of the French army travelled up this road during the year; rather fewer travelled back.