FRANCE. ATM issue 1916 - 2016, the starting of the Batlle of Verdun

February 1916. In the midst of World War I and two months before the Easter Rising in Dublin (see article and VARIABLE 40), the German army launched an attack on Verdun, France.

The front line, running through the Bois de Caures, (the forest northeast of the city), was defended by two battalions commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Émile Driant. In front of them, the 21st German division, consisting of three regiments and nine battalions. Around 1,500 French soldiers against 60,000 German soldiers !! The offensive began on February 21st with a massive artillery bombardment. During the first two days of fighting more than 90% of the French soldiers died.
It was the beginning of one of the longest and bloodiest battles of World War I, with more than 300,000 dead on both sides. That was the Battle of Verdun.

One hundred years later, La Poste, in collaboration with the Mission Histoire du Conseil départemental de la Meuse, issued a vignette LISA commemorating the centenary of the start of the Battle of Verdun.

The design of the new issue is by Pierre-André Cousin. On the left side, the command post of Lieutenant Colonel Driant in February 1916, in the Bois des Caures (see maximum cards). On the right, the Mémorial de Verdun, the museum and place of remembrance of the Battle of Verdun.

Opened in 1967, the Mémorial de Verdun was completely renovated and expanded between 2013 and 2016. The picture on the right shows the new glass roofing, the enlargement on top of the original stone building. The museum reopened on February 21st 2016, and will be inaugurated on May 29th.

The special issue could be obtained at the Verdun post office (images), from Wednesday February 17th 2016 for just three days.

Phil@poste produced 15,000 labels with this design, printed on thermal self-adhesive paper, with phosphorescent vertical stripes at the edges of the design.

	Coinciding with the issue and the centennial events, the post office displayed an interesting exhibition 'Les Postes durant la Grande Guerre', a collection of 10 large panels created by the Comité pour l’Histoire & L'Adresse Musée de La Poste, to commemorate the centenary of the First World War.

Inside the post office, the staff arranged a temporary space for the special printing of the LISA, with an IER LISA 2 XP distributor that used thermal printing. The impression made by this machine was of poor quality. Fortunately, one part of a previous order was issued by the post office staff for another IER machine, resulting in a much better print quality.

During the three days of the issue in Verdun post office, visitors could postmark the postal and philatelic items with the office's permanent philatelic postmark (below, left).
On Sunday February 21st, as part of the commemoration of the centenary of the Battle of Verdun, the Mission Histoire installed a philatelic counter in the Salle des Fêtes of Vacherauville, with a special postmark dedicated to the battalions of Driant in the Bois des Caures (right). The small village of Vacherauville, north of Verdun, was in the front line, and used by the battalions of Driant as an encampment. It was completely destroyed.

After the change of postal rates on January 1st 2016, and in line with the postage rate program installed in the IER LISA 2 postal kiosks, it was possible to obtain ATMs of this design with up to 32 different texts or indicators (16 shipment types + 16 franking complements), as well as stamps with just the face value.

The minimum face value allowed by the machine used by collectors in the Verdun post office was 0.68 euros, the current postage rate for domestic economic mail.

Inland economic mail - EC ECOPLI	Inland priority mail (J+2) - LV LETTRE VERTE

Inland priority mail (J+1) LP LETTRE PRIORITAIRE	International priority mail IP LETTRE PRIORITAIRE INTERNATIONALE

This issue was released in a post office, with the equipment connected to the postal network. So collectors were able to buy ATMs of this design, with the 'LETTRE SUIVIE' indicators, for national and international mail, along with its corresponding bar code labels.



Inland / Domestic tracked mail LV LETTRE SUIVIE	International tracked mail IP LETTRE SUIVIE INTERNATIONALE

The centenary of the Battle of Verdun - the recapture of the forts

Following the vignette LISA commemorating the centenary of the start of the Battle of Verdun (see article, also published in VARIABLE 40), La Poste, in collaboration with the Mission Histoire du Conseil départemental de la Meuse, decided to issue a second design commemorating the recapture of the region's two main forts, a prelude to the end of the battle.

The design of this new label is also by Pierre-André Cousin and shows the images and the plans of the Douaumont and Vaux forts, on the left and right side respectively. In the centre of the design, a group of French soldiers advancing.

The construction of the fort Douaumont started in 1885, after the Franco-Prussian War. It was the largest and highest fort of those protecting the region of Verdun. The French General staff concluded it would not resist the German bombardments, so the fort was abandoned and occupied by the German troops only four days after the start of the battle, on February 25th 1916.
After various attempts, the fort was finally recaptured by French troops on October 24th 1916.

Fort Vaux, also built at the end of the 19th century, was the second to fall during the battle. After a siege of 100 days and a week of fierce combat, the French garrison, totally isolated, surrendered on June 7th 1916.
The fort was recaptured on November 2nd 1916, during the offensive of the French troops, that allowed the end of the battle of Verdun, in the middle of December.

Like the previous issue, Phil@poste produced 15,000 labels of this new design, which could be obtained only at the Verdun post office, from Monday October 24th 2016. One hundred years after the recapture of the fort Douaumont.
The issue of the vignette and the associated postmark (right image) were part of the program of activities organized by the Mission Histoire du Département de la Meuse.

A second special postmark (see upper maximum card) was available on November 2nd 2016 at a temporary philatelic point installed at Fort Vaux, dedicated to commemorate the centenary of the recovery of this fort.


	Pierre-André Cousin, author of the designs of the two vignettes LISA dedicated to the centenary of the Battle of Verdun, in a signing session during the Salon Philatélique d'Automne 2016

The issue was released in a post office, with the kiosks connected to La Poste network. So the visitors could obtain ATMs of this design with up to 32 different texts or indicators (16 shipment types + 16 franking complements), as well as stamps with just the face value, starting from 0.68 EUR.

Inland economic mail - EC ECOPLI	Inland priority mail - LV LETTRE VERTE

Inland priority mail (J+1) LP LETTRE PRIORITAIRE	International priority mail IP LETTRE PRIORITAIRE INTERNATIONALE


Inland / Domestic tracked mail - LV LETTRE SUIVIE	Bar code label associated to the left stamp