Verdun is a Human Slaughterhouse

[DetCord12B]

I've seen plenty of war doc's over the years. Many more about the wars (OIF/OEF) in which I served, some of which I can actually be seen in said docs. Hooray, I'm famous. That said however, nothing compares to this. Nothing. I thought because I didn't bathe in Afghanistan or Iraq for several weeks or a month it somehow equated being hard. It doesn't. Not after seeing this series. Dysentery, climbing over limbs and guts and what was people now rotting in the mud for months at a time is just unreal.

 

People love to discuss WWII and all of it's historical facets. But there is something just absolutely terrible about WWI.

 

 

[Cybermat47]

As if Verdun wasn't hellish enough, it was directly linked to several other infamous battles.

 

In order to relieve pressure on the Verdun defenders, the Russians launched the Brusilov Offensive in June 1916 until September 1916, causing over 2 million casualties among the Russians, Austro-Hungarians, Germans, and Ottomans. Perhaps the worst part is that General Brusilov actually came close to forcing Austria-Hungary out of the war, but his fellow generals refused to do their part.

 

The 1st Battle of the Somme, originally intended to be a war-ending offensive, became another effort to relieve Verdun. From July to November, the British, Australians, Canadians, Indians, New Zealanders, Rhodesians, South Africans, Bermudans, Newfoundlanders, French, and Germans suffered over 1 million casualties. British Empire and Commonwealth forces suffered about 20,000 men killed in the first day alone.

 

My Great Grandfather, too young for military service, was wounded while serving there (because the recruiters back then were scum). He managed to get picked up by medics, and wouldn't stop talking until he was behind the lines - if they thought he was too injured to speak, they'd have to leave him for dead. They simply didn't have time or resources to spend on soldiers who wouldn't be able to fight after recovering.

[CanadaOne]

The Price of Glory, by Alistair Horne, is an incredible book about Verdun. One of the best WWI books I've read.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Price-Glory-Verdun-1916/dp/0140170413/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1533121492&sr=8-5&keywords=alistair+horne

[MiloMorai]

Had 8 granduncles fight in WW1. Three didn't come home and they were brothers. Only one has a known grave because he DoW in a hospital. The battles: Vimy, Arras and Cambrai.

[CanadaOne]

33 minutes ago, MiloMorai said:

Had 8 granduncles fight in WW1. Three didn't come home and they were brothers. Only one has a known grave because he DoW in a hospital. The battles: Vimy, Arras and Cambrai.

 

That's a lot of history.

 

My grandfather was a tank gunner in France with the American Army in WWI. I have his war diary (he talks a lot about food) and his discharge papers signed by Col. George Patton.

[Bremspropeller]

My grandma once told me a story her grandpa (WW1 participant) told her:

 

He was on a patrol in some forrest (alone appearantly) and spotted a french soldier - also alone. They both stood there, in the forest, just a couple of yards from each other, facing the enemy. Neither of them - appearantly shaken by the idea that they don't know the other guy they were supposed to kill without even thinking about it - moved.

As it turned out, neither pulled their gun, so after a some time looking at the supposedly godless enemy, both decided to turn on their heels and go back to their lines.

 

I had to think about this story in 2014, when I was in flight-training in Florida where I got to meet a nice french dude. I thought "man, 100 years ago we would probably have been at each other's throats for nothing, but some old men disagreeing over some line on a map"*.

 

____

* Or whatever other pointles "unresolvave" BS reason to send the youth of your country to hell for...

[Chief_Mouser]

On ‎8‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 1:31 PM, CanadaOne said:

 

That's a lot of history.

 

My grandfather was a tank gunner in France with the American Army in WWI. I have his war diary (he talks a lot about food) and his discharge papers signed by Col. George Patton.

 

My mother had an American boyfriend in SE London in 1944. He arranged to pick her up in his jeep but when he arrived was looking rather sheepish -- General Patton was in the back. Apparently Patton was very polite and said nothing more than hello, but I wonder what he said to his driver later... she never found out!