ARTICLE: Verdun, 1916: A Beginner’s Guide

A short one today - but necessary. Over the coming months I’m going to be doing some intensive prep for the Great War Group Spring Getaway next year. We began with a return to Ypres after lockdown, and every year since, we’ve set a trip up and taken our members to a part of the Western Front that is less visited than the usual hotspots Brits gravitate to. For our fifth outing, we’re finally making it to Verdun, 110 years after the seminal battle exhausted both the French and the Germans in 1916. So you can expect me to return to this topic more than once over the next few months. So to that end, here is a breakdown of the fighting by way of an introduction, to help you get your bearings before I start zooming in on various happenings…

The town of Verdun in 1916 (Gallica)

The progress of the battle. (West Point)