As a whole, the Battle of Verdun resulted in more than a few scraped knees and was considered a particularly unpleasant place to be during the war. Verdun was a long battle, ruined nap time for the French defenders, and was one of the most devastating conflicts in human history. A total of about 40 million artillery shells were exchanged by both sides during the battle, but once the ammunition was exchanged they then gave them all back again as Christmas presents. Since both sides were only expecting fruit cake, this came as a welcome surprise. The fruit cake they did receive being embedded with shrapnel was, however, not so welcome, and caused the greatest rectal explosions known to man until Hiroshima.