As I've mentioned in another post, for some reason this year I've kind of gotten stuck in reading about "The Great War." For one thing,
I've been exchanging books with a friend of mine at the gun range and he has a keen interest in WW1. I've been learning quite a bit about the conflict
that I hadn't previously known.
WW1 was fraught with all kinds of screw-ups, as most wars usually are. I don't think there's such a thing as a smooth-running war, despite the endless planning of generals and their staffs. The main difference is that back then, the value placed on human life wasn't as high as it has been elevated to since then. Consequently, the politicians and the generals allowed the casualty figures to get higher and higher with little outside restraint.
The book I have just finished reading is entitled, The Price of Glory - Verdun 1916, by Alistair Horne. It's an older book now, having been written in 1963. It is factually presented, but the author didn't neglect to serve up a hefty serving of the horrors of combat in WW1. I want to share with you a few passages from this book that give a glimpse into the pain and suffering of soldiers of that era.
The battle at Verdun began in late February, 1916. It started as a German offensive, the aim of which was to "bleed the French Army white" and in the end, both sides were badly bled. The battle continued until December, but the real climax of the battle took place in June-July. French casualties were approximately 288,000 and German were around 250,000. The core of the original German offensive plan was to use artillery heavily, and they did. Approximately 22,000,000 artillery rounds were fired by the Germans at Verdun and the French fired back approximately 15,000,000. At Verdun, the Germans set up 13 "Big Bertha" or "Gamma Gun" Krupp 420mm mortars which is approximately 17 inches, making these the largest bore artillery used in WW1. By June, 1916, the author writes, "...they had all fired far more shots than the maximum allowed for by Krupp. Barrels were badly worn so that the shells had a habit of 'key-holing', sometimes turning end over end in flight, which seriously reduced penetrating power. More than one gun had actually blown up, with nasty consequences for the crew."
Medical treatment for sick and wounded soldiers of that time wasn't good, and was particularly poorly organized and supplied by the French Army. Here is a description of one medical clearing station during the height of the battle at Verdun:
"The station was overflowing with badly wounded who had already been waiting for treatment for several days. In tears they beseeched to be evacuated; their one terror to be labelled 'untransportable'. These, nor merely the hopelessly wounded, but those whose wounds were just too complicated for the frantic surgeons to waste time probing, or who looked as if they would be little use to the army again, were laid outside in the bitter cold. It was not long before German shells landed among this helpless pile, but at least this reduced the doctors' work. Inside, the surgeons, surrounded by dustbins filled with lopped-off limbs, did the best they could to patch up the ghastly wounds caused by the huge shell splinters."
I found it particularly callous that if a wounded soldier looked like he wouldn't be able to serve again after threatment, he basically was abandoned.
At the peak of the battle in June-July, 1916, the battlefield was completely churned-up from constant artillery explosions, and the bodies of dead soldiers were putrefying everywhere in the heat. A French officer described this scene at his dugout on the battlefield: "On my arrival, the corpse of an infrantryman in a blue cap partially emerges from this compound of earth, stones and unidentifable debris. But a few hours later, it is no longer the same; he has disappeared and has been replaced by a [north African soldier] in khaki. And successivly there appear other corpses in other uniforms. The shell that buries one disinters another. One gets acclimatized, however, to this spectacle; one can bear the horrible odor of this charnel-house in which one lives, but one's joy of life, after the war, will be eternally poisoned by."
All sorts of strange events take place on a battlefield parallel with actual combat. Subseqent to taking Fort Douamont, a major fortification near Verdun, approximately 600 German soldiers were killed by an accidental explosion inside the structure. Not long after this accident, a similar fate befell more than 500 French soldiers when an accidental explosion took place in the Tavannes railroad tunnel where they were sheltering.
Aside from the scope, ferocity, cruelty, and duration, there wasn't much "great" about "The Great War."
WW1 was fraught with all kinds of screw-ups, as most wars usually are. I don't think there's such a thing as a smooth-running war, despite the endless planning of generals and their staffs. The main difference is that back then, the value placed on human life wasn't as high as it has been elevated to since then. Consequently, the politicians and the generals allowed the casualty figures to get higher and higher with little outside restraint.
The book I have just finished reading is entitled, The Price of Glory - Verdun 1916, by Alistair Horne. It's an older book now, having been written in 1963. It is factually presented, but the author didn't neglect to serve up a hefty serving of the horrors of combat in WW1. I want to share with you a few passages from this book that give a glimpse into the pain and suffering of soldiers of that era.
The battle at Verdun began in late February, 1916. It started as a German offensive, the aim of which was to "bleed the French Army white" and in the end, both sides were badly bled. The battle continued until December, but the real climax of the battle took place in June-July. French casualties were approximately 288,000 and German were around 250,000. The core of the original German offensive plan was to use artillery heavily, and they did. Approximately 22,000,000 artillery rounds were fired by the Germans at Verdun and the French fired back approximately 15,000,000. At Verdun, the Germans set up 13 "Big Bertha" or "Gamma Gun" Krupp 420mm mortars which is approximately 17 inches, making these the largest bore artillery used in WW1. By June, 1916, the author writes, "...they had all fired far more shots than the maximum allowed for by Krupp. Barrels were badly worn so that the shells had a habit of 'key-holing', sometimes turning end over end in flight, which seriously reduced penetrating power. More than one gun had actually blown up, with nasty consequences for the crew."
Medical treatment for sick and wounded soldiers of that time wasn't good, and was particularly poorly organized and supplied by the French Army. Here is a description of one medical clearing station during the height of the battle at Verdun:
"The station was overflowing with badly wounded who had already been waiting for treatment for several days. In tears they beseeched to be evacuated; their one terror to be labelled 'untransportable'. These, nor merely the hopelessly wounded, but those whose wounds were just too complicated for the frantic surgeons to waste time probing, or who looked as if they would be little use to the army again, were laid outside in the bitter cold. It was not long before German shells landed among this helpless pile, but at least this reduced the doctors' work. Inside, the surgeons, surrounded by dustbins filled with lopped-off limbs, did the best they could to patch up the ghastly wounds caused by the huge shell splinters."
I found it particularly callous that if a wounded soldier looked like he wouldn't be able to serve again after threatment, he basically was abandoned.
At the peak of the battle in June-July, 1916, the battlefield was completely churned-up from constant artillery explosions, and the bodies of dead soldiers were putrefying everywhere in the heat. A French officer described this scene at his dugout on the battlefield: "On my arrival, the corpse of an infrantryman in a blue cap partially emerges from this compound of earth, stones and unidentifable debris. But a few hours later, it is no longer the same; he has disappeared and has been replaced by a [north African soldier] in khaki. And successivly there appear other corpses in other uniforms. The shell that buries one disinters another. One gets acclimatized, however, to this spectacle; one can bear the horrible odor of this charnel-house in which one lives, but one's joy of life, after the war, will be eternally poisoned by."
All sorts of strange events take place on a battlefield parallel with actual combat. Subseqent to taking Fort Douamont, a major fortification near Verdun, approximately 600 German soldiers were killed by an accidental explosion inside the structure. Not long after this accident, a similar fate befell more than 500 French soldiers when an accidental explosion took place in the Tavannes railroad tunnel where they were sheltering.
Aside from the scope, ferocity, cruelty, and duration, there wasn't much "great" about "The Great War."
