The Meatgrinder of World War I [Verdun]

Daily Beast ^ | March 19, 2016 | Robert Bateman

[C19fan]

There is no quick route by which one may approach Verdun. No superhighway passes through this sleepy town, nor do any of France’s fabled “Trains de Grande Vitesse” stop here. There is only the local line, and even that humbled creaking route terminates in Verdun. In the end, one can only come to this hallowed ground slowly, by a small four-car train or by narrow two-lane road. This is as it should be. Some 250,000 men died in these few square miles of turf, and one should not rush into a graveyard.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Agreed. I want to read his book on the Franco Prussian War.

[WhirlwindAttack]

I’m close to Shilo too. Eerie place in the fog.

[Twinkie]

There are ghosts at Shiloh. The blood, both North & South,
cries out to the Lord from the ground at the futility,
stupidity & tragedy of war. - Daddy used to say, “It’s the
old man’s “war”, but it’s the young man’s “fight”. He knew
was a shell-shocked veteran of WWII & endured a lot of
ridicule from some of the shavetail “young smart alecks”
after we moved to the mid-state. The jackasses weren’t
smart enough to figure out that MEN like him had saved
their butts in WWII. - Husband insists on us being buried
in that town; if not, I’d just dig myself a plot in the
river bottom here where my dogs from the last 30 yrs. are
buried. The Lord will know where to find me when he returns
to this sod-ball.

[Nailbiter]

interesting article and comments