In two hour’s time, exactly one hundred years ago, the German lightning bombardment opened up on the right bank of Meuse opposite Verdun. Right now, thousands of German soldiers were waiting, freezing cold, crammed into huge underground rooms, specially constructed for the attack, which had already been delayed for a week. The battle lasted until December. Nearly 800,000 men were killed, wounded or missing by the end. 75% of French troops on the Western Front were rotated through the battle.
After visiting for my college dissertation in the early 80s, I spent several months helping the anciens combattants association, Ceux Du Verdun, maintain private memorials on the battlefield. I’ve been back many times since. I’ve stepped on shells by accident, fallen through floors in forgotten forts at night, with string tied around my ankle, nearly been killed by a train in a tunnel and walked and walked and walked. Much of the battlefield has been tidied up and made more tourist accessible since then. Places like Fort Souville are now signposted and have marked paths leading to them. But if you ever visit I really recommend just walking away from the main tourist paths and feeling the silence of the place.
I’m not attempting to glorify what happened. Of all people, I understand the essential, tragic pointlessness of the whole battle (although, in a war that could only be won by grinding, industrial attrition, this was where a very significant part of the attrition happened). But the sheer size of the event, and the suffering of ordinary men on both sides should never be forgotten.
It’s an old book, from the early 60’s, but Alastair Horne’s The Price Of Glory is a very readable introduction to the battle.
Cameron really picked a tactful date to suggest that European Union is a purely economic project.
And now that the “debate” will begin to rage in the next few days, some dickhead near you will probably mutter the phrase “cheese - eating surrender monkeys.”
After visiting for my college dissertation in the early 80s, I spent several months helping the anciens combattants association, Ceux Du Verdun, maintain private memorials on the battlefield. I’ve been back many times since. I’ve stepped on shells by accident, fallen through floors in forgotten forts at night, with string tied around my ankle, nearly been killed by a train in a tunnel and walked and walked and walked. Much of the battlefield has been tidied up and made more tourist accessible since then. Places like Fort Souville are now signposted and have marked paths leading to them. But if you ever visit I really recommend just walking away from the main tourist paths and feeling the silence of the place.
I’m not attempting to glorify what happened. Of all people, I understand the essential, tragic pointlessness of the whole battle (although, in a war that could only be won by grinding, industrial attrition, this was where a very significant part of the attrition happened). But the sheer size of the event, and the suffering of ordinary men on both sides should never be forgotten.
It’s an old book, from the early 60’s, but Alastair Horne’s The Price Of Glory is a very readable introduction to the battle.
Cameron really picked a tactful date to suggest that European Union is a purely economic project.
And now that the “debate” will begin to rage in the next few days, some dickhead near you will probably mutter the phrase “cheese - eating surrender monkeys.”
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