The Myths of Verdun - Dr. Paul Jankowski

Verdun, he's the writer

Good lecture. But lip smacking, uh, lip smacking, uh. But otherwise thumbs up.

Makes you wish another hour.

It makes me laugh out loud when modern historians try to re write history.

those reflections though

Good talk with some interesting insight.

Thank you for this. I crossed Verdun and had cassoulet there on an Army bus tour at 22. I felt the ghosts laughing at us and probably having lunch too. That's the contradiction...war is hell, bug the soldiers are in Heaven where nobody hates anybody.
I love the Monty Python sketch when a tweedy historian at a battlefield is making a video. His comfy wife holds the camera as he describes the place. Then an actual knight comes out of time and with a sword stops it. Thanks for not holding the soldiers at arms length. And for clearing up the Charlemagne story.

The first myth that ought to be dispelled here is that Verdun was only one battle in 1916. Fighting went on throughout the entire war.

Were the French really the spearhead of the allied offensive ?

On the Western Front, the 1 November 1918 :

French Army :

- 102 infantry divisions, 6 cavalry divisions
- 2,659,084 men , 630,440 horses and 80,000 trucks.
- 5,578 heavy guns and 1,626 trench guns
- 50,700 chauchats and 30,664 heavy MG's
- 1,272 tanks
- 3,609 planes

British Army :

- 60 infantry divisions and 3 cavalry divisions
- 1,721,890 men, 388,00 horses and 19,000 trucks.
- 2,197 heavy guns and 2,570 trench guns
- 20,000 lewis and 4,632 heavy MG's
- 611 tanks
- 1,678 planes (!!!)

American Army :

- 31 infantry divisions and no cavalry division
- 1,821,449 men and 151,250 horses
- 746 trench guns and 406 heavy guns
- 18,465 light MG's (most of them being chauchat CSRG 1918 and the rest being BAR's) and 6,239 heavy MG's
- 91 tanks (lol)
- 2,032 planes

Was always curious if more lenient and reconstruction based conditions on the loses of ww1 would change anything..

Or if economic problems in Germany would be inevitable?

How do you know when an American "Historian" is Lying ?
.....His Lips are moving ! 🤥

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Can we put to rest the myth that Falkenhayn was interested in Hill 304 to prevent enfilading artillery fire from the French?

I'm going to postulate that he was more interested in the number specifically. But when the Germans arrived, it was a huge disappointment. So Falkenhayn rage quit and told the Kaiser, "Ich wurde ausgetrickst. Falsche Werbung. Ich bin so verärgert, dass du dieses Chaos allein bewältigen musst. Schicken Sie mich einfach nach Rumänien. Auf Wiedersehen."

Book it. Lol. 🍻👍🏻