As Mr Hollande put it, Verdun was where Europe lost itself 100 years ago and where it has now enabled Europe to come together for peace and friendship.īy the time Britain marks the Somme centenary, the result of the EU referendum will be known. On Sunday, in the same cemeteries at Verdun, François Hollande and Angela Merkel stood where François Mitterrand and Helmut Kohl stood more than 30 years previously, and with the same message. Verdun’s importance dictated that it was there, in 1984, that France’s president and Germany’s chancellor held hands in a symbolic gesture that embodied the two nation’s reconciliation.
The military and psychological significance for France of Verdun cannot be overstated, and had much to do with its victor Marshal Pétain’s reemergence in 1940. When it was over, there were so many unidentifiable human remains that the bones of 130,000 unknown dead of both armies were entombed together in the vast ossuary at Douaumont that commemorates Verdun.
On both sides, killing as many enemy as possible was central. Shelled night and day, mined from below and continually rocked by artillery attack, Verdun’s attritional intensity and importance were unequalled. Even in a war that set new standards for slaughter, it was a battle beyond compare. Verdun is to the first world war as Stalingrad was to the second. If the Somme is always the focus of British memory in this centenary, for France – and to some extent also for Germany – that role is occupied by Verdun. All these immense battles, however, were subordinate to the supreme strategic aim of breaking the German military pressure that had been building up against the French army around the town of Verdun since the German advance early in 1916. That coordinated strategy included the British and French attack on the Somme and the Brusilov offensive by Russia against the central powers in what is now western Ukraine. Militarily, the battle was part of an allied European campaign to launch simultaneous attacks upon Germany and Austria-Hungary in summer 1916.
For Britain, the Somme is the natural emotional and memorial focus of the current first world war centenary remembrance.īefore that centenary is reached, however, it is worth remembering the wider European context of the sacrifice on the Somme. The Somme witnessed a million casualties in four months, with almost 20,000 British soldiers dead on day one, 1 July 1916. Britain will be awash with commemorative reflections and remembrance events. Although there was a large amount of casualties, the objective of the battle was not achieved as the war continued on for almost two years afterwards.A month from now, the centenary of the battle of the Somme will be upon us. The Battle of the Somme was the most significant battle in all of World War 1. The Battle of the Somme is the worst battle recorded in history in terms of the number of casualties, especially considering there were 60,000 deaths in one day. The French lost 200,000 men and the Germans nearly 500,000. By the end of the battle, the British Army had suffered 420,000 causalities including 60,000 on the first day alone. The British commanders have received a lot of criticism for the way the battle was fought. The British were mowed down from machine gun fire and more than 20,000 soldiers lost their lives. These objectives were not achieved, mainly for the fact that the British army made a slow, massive advance onto the German lines, however this was no match for the new weapons of the war. The aim of this was to cut the Germans off from behind and make them so demoralized that they would have to surrender. After this, a wave of 1.2 million soldiers would advance in wave formations along a 40km front. The assault would begin with an intense artillery bombardment of German defenses. The main battle objectives, which were to launch a major attack on German lines in the Somme River valley.
0 kommentar(er)
