The Price Of Glory: Verdun 1916

“The Price of Glory: Verdun 1916” is based on the true events of the Battle of Verdun, during WW1. From the French or German viewpoint, Verdun could have been the crucible in which the French army perished. The battle’s origin goes back to the war of 1870 when a German victory humiliated the French army to the point where they couldn’t bare a single memory of it. With this in mind the French had made the strategy of Grandmaison; imposing its will upon the enemy with catastrophic consequences. French casualties were enormous, but it seemed that little had been learned by the French HQ when Falkenhayn was made Chief of the German General Staff having surpassed many senior generals. However he had the ear of the Kaiser, and that was enough for Falkenhayn to convince him that he could bleed the French forces to death by attacking certain places that the French would be compelled to defend. Verdun, however, was the place the French would not give up whatever the cost and so it proved. The Kaiser agreed with Falkenhayn's plans and the scene was set for the great tragedy of Verdun. Based on the thought of heavy guns blasting a gap in French defences, 1200 guns were massed for the attack

Whole battalions disappeared under the bombardment. And one by one, vital positions were taken by the Germans. One section consisted of a rectangle 500 by 1000 yards, and was estimated that 80,000 heavy shells had fallen. The woods disappeared and the landscape became unrecognizable, flattened by the massive bombardment. French troops were paralyzed by its intensity. This was to follow in the days ahead with bombardments and attacks by German infantry against isolated groups of French soldiers. Finally, came the ultimate humiliation for the French when Fort Douaumont fell to the Germans in strange circumstances. Eventually, General Petain was called to save