Verdun 1917: The French Hit Back

The French Army continued offensive operations after the Nivelle Offensive and mutinies in 1917, planning a two-army operation to break out of the Verdun salient and recapture the Briey coal basin. The campaign's success in rebuilding morale and preparing for 1918, with industrial preparations and the first appearance of Americans, presaged the final Allied victory. This book is an essential guide to the largely unknown battle of 1917.

\n Format: Paperback / softback
\n \n Publication date: 30 November 2020
\n Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Ltd
\n

After the disastrous Nivelle Offensive of spring 1917 and the subsequent mutinies, the French army did not cease its offensive operations. Similarly, the fighting at Verdun did not end in 1916. The successful French counter-offensives at the end of that year led to preliminary planning for a two-army operation in 1917 to break out of the Verdun salient and recapture the strategically significant Briey coal basin. However, due to the French Army mutinies of May and June 1917, a more limited version of the plan was implemented with the aim of establishing new lines for a break-out in 1918. The need to rebuild morale in the French army meant that nothing was left to chance. The immense logistical effort of this late summer 1917 campaign, along with the detailed planning and careful training at all levels, brought success to an army weary of war but determined to win. The industrial nature of the preparations, the spectacular numbers of guns, and the first appearance of the Americans at Verdun presage the campaigns of 1918 and the final Allied victory.

Once again, Christina Holstein, the premier expert in Britain on the battlefields around Verdun, leads the reader around the various vital points of this largely unknown battle of 1917, which was vital for the rebuilding of a French army that played such a notable part in the victorious allied campaign of 1918. As for all the books in the Battleground Europe series, it is profusely illustrated and mapped using contemporary and modern material, supported by clear maps to support each of the tours.

\n Weight: 518g\n
Dimension: 215 x 137 x 24 (mm)\n
ISBN-13: 9781526717085\n \n