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Bayonet Trench (French: Tranchée des Baïonettes) is a First World War memorial near Verdun, France. The 1920 concrete structure encloses the graves of French soldiers who died on the site, which was a trench, in June 1916 during the Battle of Verdun. The soldiers were buried by German troops within the trench, a common practice at the time. After the war the graves were discovered with rifles protruding from the ground. This led to the myth that the French soldier had been buried alive when their trench collapsed during bombardment and died standing with their rifles in their hands. After the war 14 of the dead were identified and buried in war cemeteries; the remaining 7 dead remain buried in the memorial. The memorial was commissioned by American banker George T. Rand and designed by French architect A. Ventre; it was inaugurated in 1920.