On the front page of its Monday edition, Düsseldorf-based daily Rheinische Post ran a solemn picture of German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande standing side by side at a cemetery in northeastern France, to mark "100 years after" the World War I Battle of Verdun.

The Battle of Verdun was one of the longest battles of the The Great War. An estimated 800,000 soldiers died in northeastern France, during a carnage that lasted from February to December 1916.

During the weekend ceremonies marking the centenary, both leaders called for European unity by heeding lessons from the past, with Hollande saying that it would "take infinitely less time to destroy Europe than it did to build it," and Merkel warning that "War is possible ... We must remain vigilant to avoid it."