Verdun

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Wildalaska

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I just finished readin two more books on the battle of Verdun, and I am working on getting a Mauser battle relic from that battle (fighting with customs over it).

Has anybody been there and got some photos they can share? I want to go do a WW1 tour next year....

WildfalkenheynAlaska
 
Spent a week in Verdun. Stayed at Le Coq Hardi. Readily available to all the great French-German battlefields as well as American battlefields.

The Trench of Bayonets brought me to tears. The Ossuary contains over 100,000 unknown soldiers from the battles. Explored the various forts.

Watch out for the unexploded ordnance the farmers set along the roadside for collection by the 'deminers'. Three people were killed by UXO's during the week I was there. And those big white UPS like vans parked along the fields? - they are the guys dealing with the poison gas shells from World War I.

Don't have any readily available electronic photos. Sorry.
 
I knew a man who was a 17 year old German soldier at Verdun during WWI. The way he told it, it was horrible. He also told of German and US troops allowing each other to get water at night from the same well and how they sang Christmas caroles together across no man's land.

I has PCS orders to Verdun back in 1963, but at the last minute they were changed to Paris. Fortunes of war.
 
Been there but don't have any means to scan in and download photos. It's a very sombering place and it made me want to cry to see the Ossuary. To think so many people died in such a short space of time. :(
 
My wife's grandfather fought in Verdun. Pretty hairy battle from the letters he wrote afterwords.

I have some photos of the dead from Verdun he brought back, but they're large and too fragile to scan, unfortunately.
 
I am a little confused by what seem to be references to Americans at the Battle of Verdun. This battle was in 1916, before the United States entered the war. This nitpick aside, the two world wars have always held a fascination for me. Watching film clips from WWI, with the funny-looking people (the filming techniques of the era made their movements look stiff and jerky), strange-looking flying machines, primitive tanks, etc., it is hard to believe that this war killed some 10 million men. :what: :eek:
 
Now that we are on the subject, I just finished John Mosiers "The Myth of the Great War" yesterday, its very controversial as I understand it in GB and France and deserves a read.....

WildmorthommeAlaska

PS swing set with repsect to those contemporary photos from a family memeber in your posession, you really should take them to a professional to have them copied and scanned..thats real history and should be preserved....
 
i've said this before,,,

but for those who haven't heard it,,,

"the desert column" by Ion L Idriess (former WWI Aussie Cavalryman)

is a compilation from his 20,000+ pages of diary kept during his 4 years service in places such as Gallipoli, Palestine, and "Turcoland"

it is the only known written record of those campaigns produced by an enlisted man

the original pages are now on display at the war museaum in sydney

want to know what it was really like in the trenches? read this one

he served as a sniper and scout and it is said that the keen senses of observation he developed as a sniper led to his being an outstanding source of info on the subject of war and tactics used by the average soldier of the day

he has 50+ published works of which a few others deal with wartime stories but also things like prospecting and extensive works on the native tribes of the south pacific islands, the australian aborigine and the history of development of Australia

"horrie the wog dog" and "the silent service" are 2 others about wartime

"the guerilla series" was a six book collection written by him under contract to the aussie gov't and was a "how to" collection of books to aid the population of australia repel a quite possible japanese invasion by the use of guerilla tactics

all out of print but a determined bookie type should be able to locate servicable copies,,,try ebay first

the original guerilla series collection in prime shape will bring upwards of $5000, but there is a reprint that was available for a time at http://www.ozbook.com (search under idriess)

for about $175US well worth the money and the read as well

nice box set too!

i now this has nothing much to do with verdun but if youre interested in this type of info, you shouldn't miss this author

happy bookworming...

:D
 
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To anybody who wants to go; I live an hour and a half away from Verdun. I speak French as well, if you want reservations made for a hotel or something else. If you want to visit, there is an open invitation for all THR members to stay a while at my place while you're in Europe. I live in Kashofen (Rhineland-Pfalz), Germany. If you don't know where it is you can go to Mappoint to check. Send me a PM if interested.
 
a "day" from the "desert column"

i can't find the one i was looking for, but this one caught my eye,,,

"May 25th - Strangely there is a leak somewhere. Occasionally we know a week beforehand when a big move is contemplated. ... The Turk's rifles are superior to ours! In a patrol fight yesterday, as has happened often before, we had to lie on a ridge and take their bullets. It was useless firing back because our rifles would not carry the distance. A spent bullet smacked Byrnes on the back of the hand, embedding gravel into the bruise. He swore like blazes. Their rifle bolts are made of some type of steel that defies sand and grit whereas our bolts must be continually oiled, they heat quickly and clog up easily.
Majors Cameron and Bolingbrook have both got the D.S.O. The regiment is quite pleased."


and you think things have changed since WWI?

I've always hoped the D.S.O. was some commendation and not some trot type of disease:D
 
James B - true the French-German Battle for Verdun took place in 1916 but in 1918 the sector was essentially turned over to the Americans. Verdun was on the left end of the First US Army during the St. Mihiel Offensive and was on the right end of the First US Army during the Meuse Argonne Offensive. There are several US Military Cemeteries within a short drive of Verdun.

As an aside, I could not bring myself to take a picture of the Trench of Bayonets.
 
Oh, maybe I should mention that I'm in Iraq right now. I 'should' be back by the end of February. I don't know why anybody would choose to go to a battlefield in the winter here, because it's usually pretty wet and cold, but you never know.
 
Nick-

It was wet and cold in the trenches in 1914-18, too. Gives you a sense of what it was like.
I was stationed at Smith Barracks in Baumholder from 97-00. We did a staff ride studying the AEF's Meuse-Argonne offensive of 1918 (my unit, the 6th Infantry, was first across the Meuse River) and made a stop at the Verdun Museum. Truly unimaginable. There are places on the battlefield where the UXO is still too dangerous for the local farmers to reclaim the land. There areas are generally now wooded, but if you venture into the treeline, you notice that the ground is still crenalated from being churned by repeated massive artillery barrages. Amazing.
 
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