VERDUN - Battle of 1916.

[Top-of-the-hill]

  "The French were at mutiny point, bad ill  judged treatment by high ranking officers added to the tension ( such as the execution of every tenth man) meant as. “ Stiffener” in fact added to the unrest."   (Viktoria)

   Is this the point in "Oh What a lovely War" when the French troops went into battle bleating like lambs to the slaughter?

[JEB01]

I don’t think the French Army ever executed one in ten men as a “stiffener”.
Verdun was 1916. The widespread mutinies in the French Army were in 1917 following General Nivelle’s disastrous major attack on the Germans, along the River Aisne.
Ironically Nivelle, who was quite a charismatic leader, had made his name at Verdun, driving back part of the German Army.
Verdun was entirely a French battle, initiated by the Germans who intended, in the words of their commander “to bleed the French Army white on the anvil of Verdun”.
A truly horrible battle which probably resulted in a million casualties in total.
The British attack on the Somme in July 1916 certainly relieved pressure on the French at Verdun, but the Somme offensive was planned originally by the joint French and British High Commands in 1915, and was intended originally  to be a major French attack with British support.
Verdun changed all that, and the British found themselves launching a major assault over ground not of their choosing, with French support on their Southern flank.
Another million casualties.
These two terrible battles in 1916, “the year of killing” (John Terraine), did at least serve to break the German Army on the Western Front.
Little wonder that people at home might name their new born children after these events, which were cataclysmic even by WW 1 standards.

[Viktoria]

I have to admit that I quoted from memory and whilst in the film that decimation happened you may have it better than my memory has it.
Just reading “Passchendaele” by Nick Lloyd which certainly gives the impression it was a “diverting “battle .Not looked at if for a while ,can’t read small print at the moment
Not quite as straightforward as that but but it played a great part in the grand scheme.
Whatever, dreadful times and appalling losses, unbelievable ,yet, true.,
P.S.
I think it was a much older film than Paths of Glory, B&W,can’tremember.
There were over 3,000 CourtsMarshall and about 600 death sentences but actually not many —— but too many —-were carried out.
Viktoria.

[JEB01]

Yes, I believe about 25 French soldiers were executed after the 1917 mutinies, although as you say, several hundred were sentenced to death at courts martial.
The French soldiers somehow reached a kind of compromise with their commanders, saying, in effect, that they would defend their lines, and France, but no more offensives.
Never seen Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory” (1957), but it clearly struck a chord, being banned in France (until 1975), and also banned in Switzerland, Germany, and from being shown on US military bases.

[Viktoria]

The more I think about it the more convinced Imam the film I mentioned was Paths of Glory, 1957.
I would see it first in about 1976 on TV..
I remember Adolph Menjou
George Marshall,a nasty piece of goods!
Kirk Douglas.
I remember the soldiers who were picked out ,some breaking down .
But  I obviously have not remembered  it all correctly.
I would like to see it again after I have finished the book I will re commence reading when I can cope with the small print.
Thanks for the correct info.
Viktoria.

[GrahamSimons]

The Douaumont Ossuary ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douaumont_Ossuary ) is a really sobering place to visit. Huge numbers of men's remains there. We visited a smaller ossuary which had a small plaque on it, clearly placed by a family: "Papa, es-tu là?"

We visited a German cemetery too. The Jewish graves had had their grave markers removed during the occupation of Alsace in WW2 and they were sunsequently replaced. I was told that a greater proportion of Jews volunteered for the German army than non-Jews.

Another officer who made his name there was of course Charles de Gaulle.

[Greensleeves]

I knew someone whose first names were John Jellicoe (plus surname), after Lord Jellicoe, Admiral of the Fleet at the Battle of Jutland 1916.  I don't think there was any other reason but a surge of patriotic pride.