Word: douaumont
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...killed. Day after he tells Berlin his story a shell gets him. At his funeral Berlin meets Kroysing's brother, a hard-bitten sapper lieutenant, tells him the story. Lieutenant Kroysing swears vengeance. He manages lo gel his brother's company transferred to the dreaded Fort of Douaumont, intends to keep them there until he gets a signed confession from the captain that he knowingly sent young Kroysing to his death...
...Verdun front, soon understands the reason behind the company's transfer; when he realizes how ruthless Lieutenant Kroysing is, he is terrified. Just as he is about ready to sign the damning confession, the French attack. After a terrific bombardment the order is given to evacuate Douaumont, and in the chaos of the battle Captain Niggl gets back to safety. Lieutenant Kroysing is reported missing. Meantime Berlin, whose company is in charge of an ammunition dump, is the only one to keep his head and stick to his post during a bombardment. A well-meaning artillery officer recommends...
...setting overlooms the human figures struggling in brief silhouet before its curtain. Fortress-girt Verdun, innermost circle of the Western Front's hell; where in 1916 the French and Germans each lost 350,000 men; where, between February and July, 23 million shells punctuated the deadlocked argument; Douaumont, captured and recaptured but each time by an accident, the death trap where an explosion wiped out a whole battalion and the corpses were bricked in where they lay. The Crown Prince, dressed in tennis flannels, a racket under his arm, cheering on the troops marching up to the front line...
Auguste Champetier de Ribes, French Minister of Pensions, spent an exciting hour at Verdun last week. Charges had been made that although millions of francs are being spent on the new monument at Fort Douaumont heroic Verdun dead are not yet properly buried. Pausing only to invite reporters to accompany him, M. Champetier de Ribes took train from Paris to quash this rumor. At Verdun he discovered that not only are thousands "improperly buried," but at least 12,500 are not buried...