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Remembered Today:

British troops at Verdun


Skipman

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...i believe my great grandfather apart from fighting in the Boer war... ... also fought in the battle of Verdun...

Not as part of the British Army, he didn't!

(Though units such as SSA 10 (Section Sanitaire Anglaise No.10)... basically civilian ambulance units serving under the French... were at Verdun (and served with some distinction too!) in 1916)

Dave.

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  • 2 years later...
On ‎10‎/‎10‎/‎2014 at 13:39, paulgranger said:

...there were Russian troops in France. Following the Russian Revolution, they were 'surrounded' by French units, and made to give up their arms...

 

 

 

Not quite... there were two brigades in France (the 1st and the 3rd) who both served with some distinction during the battle of the Aisne in 1917 (after the 'February' Revolution). The event you may be referring to actually took place before the (main) 'October' Revolution when the 1st Brigade mutinied at La Courtine. French troops did, indeed, surround this camp and suppressed the mutiny using artillery in a far from bloodless event. The (mainly anti-Bolshevik) 3rd Brigade assisted the French in this but, as you say, sat semi-idle for a couple of months afterwards engaged in non-combatant duties and the brigades were disbanded. However, they soon formed the 'Russian Honourary Legion' that fought with distinction in several engagements in 1918 as part of the 1er division marocaine alongside many of their compatriots who, fed up of waiting, had transferred to the RMLE earlier on.

 

Dave

 

 

On ‎10‎/‎10‎/‎2014 at 13:39, paulgranger said:

 

 

 

 

Edited by CROONAERT
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I'd completely forgotten my post. I think I based it on a hazy memory of the Russians being mentioned in 'Dare Call It Treason', an account of the French mutinies. Thanks for expanding on the matter.

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  • 10 months later...

The Newfoundland Regiment was at Verdun. Newfoundland was a British Dominion, until 1949, when it joined the confederation and became a part of Canada. Still Canadian, but technically British. That answers the question of whether or not British were at Verdun. Was Churchill at Verdun? It is possible for he was on the western front in early 1916 after being demoted as a result from the failed Gallipoli campaign, although it is unlikely.

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  • 1 year later...
On 14/10/2018 at 12:23, Lars said:

The Newfoundland Regiment was at Verdun. Newfoundland was a British Dominion, until 1949, when it joined the confederation and became a part of Canada. Still Canadian, but technically British. That answers the question of whether or not British were at Verdun. Was Churchill at Verdun? It is possible for he was on the western front in early 1916 after being demoted as a result from the failed Gallipoli campaign, although it is unlikely.

What did they do at Verdun? The only British connection I know of is a very bedraggled (been there about 20 years), poppy wreath with a regimental insert, at Fort Souville.

And before anyone says, the wreath is quite high up on a ledge, and would need a ladder to reach it.

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On 14/10/2018 at 11:23, Lars said:

Was Churchill at Verdun? It is possible for he was on the western front in early 1916 after being demoted as a result from the failed Gallipoli campaign, although it is unlikely.

 

He was far away from Verdun and was commanding his battalion in the British zone, on the French-Belgian border, close to Ploegsteert and the nursery sector.

I have yet to see any documentary evidence in support of the assertion that 'the Newfoundland Regiment was at Verdun' either.

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