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Books on Battle of Verdun - Recommendations?


PoiluRifleman

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Personally, I would much rather see an author make use of all the various sources to compile something new - that would most definitely sell.
Me too... could do with some modern analysis based on the JMOs (war diaries) in the French archives at Vincennes.

Meanwhile I am looking forward to Bill Philpott's work on the French Army on the Somme in 1916 appearing in print at some point.

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Hi Valmont and welcome to the Forum !!

I've just finished reading The Road to Verdun by Ian Ousby .... a very clear account of one of the longest bloodiest battles of the war !

Looks like I'm not the only one !! :) it was interesting to me because I had just been reading a book about Petain .... and wanted to refresh my memory ..... I had forgotton how awful it really was ..... ! and how political everything seemed to be .... and what an evocative response this book stirred in me !

Annie

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Triggered by this thread - and my own response to it - I have picked up ands started re-reading Georges Blond's 'Verdun'. No notes, refs or bibliography in my paperback edition but it is surprisingly good as both an overview of the battle and a 'read'. Apparently Blond was a journalist and highly prolific author. Despite some apparently invented dialogue it seems very clear that he had done his research. Put briefly - it stands up very well I think and is well worth picking up.

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As Halder mentioned it is nice to see this level of interest in the battle. It's a complex and not well understood episode of the war. My interest and research have focused mainly on the German side of things--not because I don't find the French side as fascinating, but that the subject is huge even examined from one perspective!

Paul

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have to echo Charles' comments about French Sources. Pericard has a fine reputation, but there are also a number of more recent French volumes which cover the battle. I don't have them to hand (I will start hunting) but I have to say that my recommendations are not as decisive as they might be - since my French does not allow a truly thorough reading.

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Another German account translated into English which I missed pointing out - "In the Hell of Verdun" (Hein, Alfred. London, Cassell & Co 1930 - cheap edition 1933). Fairly rare (but obtainable - try abebooks.com) Its some time since I read it, but rereading my notes I judged it "significant" and "somewhat ftawed but one of the outstanding German efforts to depict the texture and horror of war" - but that's just my opinion! The fictitious works is about a concocted 12th Coy 3Bn 313 Reserve Inf Reg - internal evidence suggests that it was based on 12th Coy 203rd Reserve Inf Reg (43Reserve Div). A sound piece of work - which contains rare positive depictions of Jews in the ranks - by an author who later embraced National Socialism

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I agree, nice to see an interest in this battle. A visit to Verdun leaves one so frustrated through lack of good books and guides!!! Price of glory has however set the scence and I have read it many times in my room at the now gone hotel at montfaucan. Alastair Horne made me speak with the ghosts. His account of the battle fields inthe 50s (only 30 years prior to my visit) are haunting. Without him the battle is poorly documented in English. Forget the IWM and avoid Masons account.

Any new stuff welcome. Come on Paul print your volume asap in English!!

Regards

TT

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Pericard was reprinted in paperback in 1997, (Nouvelle Librarie de France) seemingly without the maps - at 14 euros PB

Lefebvre's Verdun, la plus grand bataille de l@Histoire racontee par les survivantes (Edition du Memorial, Verdun) reached a 12th Edition in 1996 (PB 12 euros)

Both of these are extremely well illustrated

Published in 2002 there was Verdun 1916 Le point de vue francais by Allain Bernede (Editions cenomane, PB 25 euros which has some excellent maps.

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Christina Holstein's account of the battle (or rather Fort Douaumont) is definitive (she belongs to this forum), but I agree that there are not very many decent books. Alistair Horne is still much better than most.

In fact, Christina has taken some books to pieces in reviews.

As for guides, Christina is excellent, as is Ingrid Ferrand (google for her website).

I don't normally do the Verdun battlefield as such (they are a lifetime's study) but I do guide around the St. Mihiel Salient, Argonne, etc. quite frequently, and I can do various areas around Verdun itself depending on what depth of commentary you wan - don't ask me where the 4th platoon 2nd regiment, 3rd corp had a cup of tea on 22nd April 'cos I don't have clue and have no intention of finding out. See www.luxembourg-battles.lu

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Books that you've proably met. Verdun by Georges Blond and Die Tragodie von Verdun, 3 vols from the Reichsarchiv

Bonne chance!

Cordialement

Martin

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  • 9 months later...
Lefebvre's Verdun, la plus grand bataille de l@Histoire racontee par les survivantes (Edition du Memorial, Verdun) reached a 12th Edition in 1996 (PB 12 euros)

I'm reading this book now. At the moment I've read the first 150 pages and the book doesn't disappoint me since I was waiting for a more epic work. The book is a mixture of historical infos sensu stricto and fragments of testimonies of veterans. The most complete and extensive fragments, nevertheless, belong to like Pericard, Durassié, Pétain and Co.

I read on the Great War and especially on Verdun for years, and I think that Horne's book is a work that covered excellently a stage but that in some aspects is completely overcome. There is a spanish edition that offers a reduced version of Horne's book that explains very well 1916 battles, 1914-1916: del Marne a Verdún : la batalla de las trincheras.

I'm also agree with you on the great difficulty that supposes a complete review of the existing documentation to build a complete work of the magnitude that deserves Verdun's episode.

I know some french literature on Verdun and I would like to begin to work on the German documentation. In fact, I have somes doubts concern where beginning.

Do you recommend me Die Tragödie von Verdun? What do you think about Werth Verdun's book. Die Schlacht und der Mythos?

You have referred to Petáin's book. I liked very much, it offers a military vision without passions, le style Petáin.

Another question, but related, in two weeks I'm going to visit a friend in London and I wonder if you could recommend any second-hand bookshop where to find books on the Great War. I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Luc Pozières

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  • 3 weeks later...
I'm reading this book now. At the moment I've read the first 150 pages and the book doesn't disappoint me since I was waiting for a more epic work. The book is a mixture of historical infos sensu stricto and fragments of testimonies of veterans. The most complete and extensive fragments, nevertheless, belong to like Pericard, Durassié, Pétain and Co.

I read on the Great War and especially on Verdun for years, and I think that Horne's book is a work that covered excellently a stage but that in some aspects is completely overcome. There is a spanish edition that offers a reduced version of Horne's book that explains very well 1916 battles, 1914-1916: del Marne a Verdún : la batalla de las trincheras.

I'm also agree with you on the great difficulty that supposes a complete review of the existing documentation to build a complete work of the magnitude that deserves Verdun's episode.

I know some french literature on Verdun and I would like to begin to work on the German documentation. In fact, I have somes doubts concern where beginning.

Do you recommend me Die Tragödie von Verdun? What do you think about Werth Verdun's book. Die Schlacht und der Mythos?

You have referred to Petáin's book. I liked very much, it offers a military vision without passions, le style Petáin.

Another question, but related, in two weeks I'm going to visit a friend in London and I wonder if you could recommend any second-hand bookshop where to find books on the Great War. I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Luc Pozières

Luc,

Hello. In reference to your question on German sources I would ask what are you looking for in your reading? A good military history? Memoirs of participants? Verdun as an historical event?

You mention an epic work of Verdun. Unfortunately, that has yet to be written. It is not to be found in German.

Hermann Wendt's "Verdun 1916, Die Angriffe Falkenhayns im Maasgebiet mil Richtung auf Verdun als strategisches Problem," is probably the best overall analysis of the battle in German.

German Werth's book is good. He interviewed many veterans of the battle, and his account contains some real gold in personal detail.

The three volume "Die Tragödie von Verdun," is a good reference work, and can usually be found for a reasonable price.

Paul

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The three volume "Die Tragödie von Verdun," is a good reference work, and can usually be found for a reasonable price.

Hi Paul,

In fact, I've already ordered the first of the three, Die Tragödie von Verdun.

I would like to read the other part. Basically, the first I need is a good analysis. Maybe later I'll attack Werth's book.

Thanks,

L. Pozières

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I think Werth's book is excellent and I fully recommend it. I'd also recommend Radke's and Brandis's own accounts in addition to Der Tragödie von Verdun. You should also try to get hold of the frighteningly true to life 'Verdun-Souville' by Hermann Thimmermann and 'Berichte aus dem Fort Douaumont' by Kurt Fischer.

Pericard and Lefebvre are excellent in French. In modern works, look for Gerard Canini's 'Combattre à Verdun', which brilliantly gets the essence of the battle. Among reprints, I'd suggest looking for Paul Voivenel's 'A Verdun avec la 67e DR, also 'Là-bas avec ceux qui souffrent' by Guy Hallé, 'Ma dernière relève au bois des Caures' by Marc Stéphane and 'Dix mois à Verdun' by Abbé Charles Tellier de Poncheville. Not forgetting of course Raynal's own account of the siege of Fort Vaux.

Verdun is a problem for English readers. I was asked by Pen & Sword last year if I would write a full length history of the battle for a new series they were launching but at the time I said No, as it is a project that would require years of work. Just to absorb the material on both sides would require years, let alone producing something understandable and, above all, readable. Having said No to a full-length history of the Verdun I suggested opening up the battle to and English-speaking audience by putting it on the ground in a series of walks. In my new book, which is due out in March-April, I have split the battle up into a series of movements, explaining the events and taking walkers over the route followed by the troops (as near as I can make it). If you've ever wanted to visit the deep forests but haven't been sure where to go, what you are looking at or why any of it mattered, I hope this will be the book for you.

Having said that - and proud though I am of ny new book - I am humbled by the enormity of the task that writing a good full length history of the battle would be. In my view Horne did a wonderful job by producing a gripping account of an almost unknown event that includes both sides. I think his factual inaccuracies are minor and pale into insignificance alongside the fact that he understood the battle and what it meant. For me, it's the best book on the subject and I am not at all sure that future authors - me included if I ever decided that I could take on the task - would do it better.

Christina

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I can only second what Christina wrote. I was also contacted by Pen and Sword (thanks to Christina) about writing a Verdun history, but after much thought I decided against the project mainly as the time period given was much too short, especially for a neophyte writer. As Christina said, just digesting the materials necessary for a full-length history would take years. I can attest to that personally. After two years of research and gathering close to 1,000 pages of archival material I am only through the pre-battle and initial stage of the battle, and that only from the German perspective. I continue to work my way slowly through it all.

Verdun is an amazingly complicated and interesting topic. Making it all a bit more complicated from the German perspective was Falkenhayn's own reluctance to share his ideas with subordinates, the often times disengenuious post-war writings of some of the major players involved in the battle, and the less than objective treatment Falkenhayn and his time as the head of Germany's war effort were given by the Reicharchiv writers of the German official history. The extreme length of the battle also makes a full-length history a daunting project.

Because of the the factors above, and other complications (the destruction of most of the German archives being one) some real analysis on the part of anyone attempting to write a military treatment of Verdun is required. Some less-than-accurate accounts have been written about the battle, and much of this I think stems from older works' authors lack of access to materials only available since the 1990's and a lack of the analysis needed to sort out materials, often biased depending on the faction the author belonged to. What has been translated into English and used as sources in the English-speaking world in only a small fraction of what is available out there, and I'm only speaking of German sources.

In English I also think that Horne's work is the best to be found on the battle. I do think there is plenty fertile ground to cover in relation to Verdun, with many sources not available in Horne's time. The book was published almost 50 years ago, and a military hitstory of the battle in English is long overdue. Horne's book is fantastic narrative history, but not an in-depth look at the battle.

I would like to add Robert Foley's excellent "German Strategy and the Path to Verdun: Erich von Falkenhayn and the Development of Attrition, 1870-1916," to the list. This is by far the most insightful look into Verdun as part of a broader picture of the war available. This work goes a long way towards dispelling some of the myth and misconception surrounding the battle.

Werth's book in unique in that he interviewed veterans of the battle on tape. These tapes have unfortunately since dissapeared--a real loss.

Having read Christina's "Fort Douaumont," I look forward to her upcoming book. I had the pleasure of walking the old German front lines with her at Verdun on a rather stormy afternoon, and you can rest assured that you are in good and expert hands with any of her work.

Paul

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Thank you for your kind words, Paul.

I agree with what you say about the battle and particularly about Falkenhayn's part in it. Robert Foley's book is an excellent analysis of the topic. As regards Werth's tapes - is it possible that they were acquired by Kurt Fischer or one of the other 'old Verdun hands'? I can think of several who would surely have wanted to acquire them.

There is a ton of interesting material in print in French and German that has unfortunately never been translated into English. Whether there would be an English audience today for, say, Pericard's brilliant veterans' accounts of the battle I don't know. I suspect there wouldn't be and I can't imagine any publisher being prepared to pay a translator to produce it.

Christina

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  • 3 weeks later...
Thank you for your kind words, Paul.

I agree with what you say about the battle and particularly about Falkenhayn's part in it. Robert Foley's book is an excellent analysis of the topic. As regards Werth's tapes - is it possible that they were acquired by Kurt Fischer or one of the other 'old Verdun hands'? I can think of several who would surely have wanted to acquire them.

There is a ton of interesting material in print in French and German that has unfortunately never been translated into English. Whether there would be an English audience today for, say, Pericard's brilliant veterans' accounts of the battle I don't know. I suspect there wouldn't be and I can't imagine any publisher being prepared to pay a translator to produce it.

Christina

Hi, I've finished with Lefebvre's Verdun. In three words... Ex-cel-lent !!! Personal accounts are very, very interesting. On the other hand, I've begun to translate veteran's accounts to spanish and catalan. Unfortunately, this kind of military literature and history don't exist in Spain.

I've got Canini's Combattre à Verdun...

Thanks for all...

L. Pozières

PS.: What's about Denizot's Verdun??? Have you read it??

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Hi Luc,

I'm glad you enjoyed Verdun and very impressed by you translating Verdun stuff into Spanish and Catalan. I hope people are interested in it.

I've not read a book by Denizot on Verdun other than his book on Fort Douaumont. That isn't especially brilliant but then I've done a lot of research into the fort so I know where he went wrong. He has, however, an interesting section at the end on what happened to the Fort after WWI, plus a letter from Chenot, the gardien de batterie in charge of the fort when the Germans arrived, on the question of whether there were Germans dressed as Zouaves involved in the attack. As he says, there were none and if there had been, he would have seen them.

Christina

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As an overall taster intro to Verdun I would heartily recommend Malcolm Brown's IWM book ' Verdun 1916' ... I read it after Horne, which I also found well written and informative (for a 'casual reader' in military history). Like most with British army 'interest' ... I sometimes struggle to understand the French attitude towards the battle. Both of the above do set out 'fairly' clearly that France had no option (politically/total warically .. to invent a word) but to stand, fight and, yes, die (in huge numbers).

Des

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Hi Luc,

I'm glad you enjoyed Verdun and very impressed by you translating Verdun stuff into Spanish and Catalan. I hope people are interested in it.

I've not read a book by Denizot on Verdun other than his book on Fort Douaumont. That isn't especially brilliant but then I've done a lot of research into the fort so I know where he went wrong. He has, however, an interesting section at the end on what happened to the Fort after WWI, plus a letter from Chenot, the gardien de batterie in charge of the fort when the Germans arrived, on the question of whether there were Germans dressed as Zouaves involved in the attack. As he says, there were none and if there had been, he would have seen them.

Christina

Hi Christina,

The zouave's question in the Fort Douaumont seems to be apellant. Lefebvre in his book quotes Pericard's accounts in first person. Pericard's story with capitaine Delarue, Durassié, etc. seems to be so real ... These stories are so different. Why??

Lefebvre's book has one lack: there isn't bibliography or list of sources, and if you want to know about his sources you must to take Norton Cru's Temoins.

I'm going to read simultaneously Canini's Combattre à Verdun and Beumelburg's Combattants allemands à Verdun. What do you think about Beumelburg's Douaumont??

Thanks for all,

As an overall taster intro to Verdun I would heartily recommend Malcolm Brown's IWM book ' Verdun 1916' ... I read it after Horne, which I also found well written and informative (for a 'casual reader' in military history). Like most with British army 'interest' ... I sometimes struggle to understand the French attitude towards the battle. Both of the above do set out 'fairly' clearly that France had no option (politically/total warically .. to invent a word) but to stand, fight and, yes, die (in huge numbers).

Des

Hi Des,

I've just finished sunday night. Well, as you say, is well written and informative and specially indicated for general public, but I expected a little more ... I liked very much his Source's chapter.

I'm also agree when you say that French attitude towards the battle was so ilogical. But is not Verdun a paradigm of the irrational?

L. Pozières

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Hi Luc,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I've been away.

Re the Zouave story: Pericard and Durassié were in the French forward positions at Douaumont village on the afternoon of 25 February 1916. Through the darkening sky and driving snow they saw figures, bent low, hurrying up through the German bombardment on the glacis of the fort. The French in the forward positions did not suspect that they could be Germans and held their fire until ordered to continue firing by their officer. By that time, the Germans had reached the top of the glacis. Earlier in the day Zouaves had moved to the north of the fort and the French seem to have thought that the figures they saw were the same Zouaves retreating. Pericard and Durassié became leading veterans after the war, Pericard a writer and Durassié a publisher.

I have never found anything to corroborate the story of the 'false Zouaves'. The German regimental histories are adamant that no German was in a borrowed uniform and there is only Pericard's word for it. It was late in the afternoon and the weather and visibility were bad. Furthermore, the French forward positions were a couple of hundred yards from the nearest Germans. I think Chenot's word that there were no Germans dressed as Zouaves in Ft. Dt. can be taken as correct.

By 'Beumelburg's Douaumont' do you mean the first volume of Schlachten des Weltkrieges? That is devoted entirely to the fighting for Ft. Douaumont during 1916. It's one of the most moving books I have ever read. It's very detailed and often very poetic. I thought it must be the work of a mature writer in his 40s or so and was amazed to find that Beumelburg was about 24 when he produced it. He was just 18 when he arrived at Ft. Dt. with the 30th Pioneers and boy they were in the thick of it for the whole battle. If I ever compose a virtual dinner party list, he's up at the top.

Speaking of wonderfully moving writing, try the final chapter of the Schlachten volume dealing with Fort Vaux. It will stay with you for ever.

Christina

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Hi Luc,

Sorry for the delay in replying. I've been away.

Re the Zouave story: Pericard and Durassié were in the French forward positions at Douaumont village on the afternoon of 25 February 1916. Through the darkening sky and driving snow they saw figures, bent low, hurrying up through the German bombardment on the glacis of the fort. The French in the forward positions did not suspect that they could be Germans and held their fire until ordered to continue firing by their officer. By that time, the Germans had reached the top of the glacis. Earlier in the day Zouaves had moved to the north of the fort and the French seem to have thought that the figures they saw were the same Zouaves retreating. Pericard and Durassié became leading veterans after the war, Pericard a writer and Durassié a publisher.

I have never found anything to corroborate the story of the 'false Zouaves'. The German regimental histories are adamant that no German was in a borrowed uniform and there is only Pericard's word for it. It was late in the afternoon and the weather and visibility were bad. Furthermore, the French forward positions were a couple of hundred yards from the nearest Germans. I think Chenot's word that there were no Germans dressed as Zouaves in Ft. Dt. can be taken as correct.

By 'Beumelburg's Douaumont' do you mean the first volume of Schlachten des Weltkrieges? That is devoted entirely to the fighting for Ft. Douaumont during 1916. It's one of the most moving books I have ever read. It's very detailed and often very poetic. I thought it must be the work of a mature writer in his 40s or so and was amazed to find that Beumelburg was about 24 when he produced it. He was just 18 when he arrived at Ft. Dt. with the 30th Pioneers and boy they were in the thick of it for the whole battle. If I ever compose a virtual dinner party list, he's up at the top.

Speaking of wonderfully moving writing, try the final chapter of the Schlachten volume dealing with Fort Vaux. It will stay with you for ever.

Christina

The Fort Vaux's volume is the 2th of the Schlachten, isn't it? I bought yesterday.

About Beumelburg, I read years ago the spanish version of his Sperrfeuer ... translated as Barrera de fuego: breve historia de la Gran Guerra. I found it very interesting mainly because is so difficult to find books about GW from the german side in spanish.

Zouave's story. I'll take also Chenot version ;-).

Beumelburg's Douaumont, I've french version of the Collection de mémoires, études et documents pour servir à l'histoire de la guerre mondiale, 1931. When I finish Canini's Combattre, I'll read Beumelburg's Douaumont.

Thanks for all,

L. Pozières

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  • 1 year later...

Anybody has read the book: Letters from Verdun: Frontline Experiences of an American Volunteer in World War 1 France and want to share his/her opinion?

Description:

First hand account and analysis of day to day life on the front line Astonishing contemporary photographsThough the United States was late to enter the Great War, a number of idealistic young Americans wished to take part from the beginning. One of these was Avery Royce Wolf, a highly educated scion of a family in America's burgeoning industrial heartland.Volunteering as an ambulance driver with the French Army in the Verdun sector, Royce sent back a constant stream of highly detailed letters describing the experience of frontline combat, not excluding comments on strategy, the country he encountered, and the Allies' prospects for success. This treasure trove of brilliant letters, only recently discovered, is accompanied by several albums worth of rare, high-quality photos depicting aspects of the Great War in France never previously published. This book contains expert overviews to set the reader in Royce's time and place; however, the narrative is most gripping with his own day-to-day perceptions, analytical and emotional in turn. The reader can sympathize with Royce's dilemma when his original term of service expires and he wonders whether to return home. But then the American army begins to arrive and he decides to continue on. We hear firsthand how the U.S. troops are first kept out of battle, then take casualties no veteran unit would have sustained, because of their fresh-faced audacity. When the Ludendorff Offensive unfolds in spring 1918 there is nothing but disaster to report, as each day witnesses a new collapse before the seeming unstoppable Germans. Royce believes that the entire Allied war effort is doomed. But then somehow the Allies hold on and the war is nearly at an end.Full of exciting experiences as well as interesting firsthand analyses (such as comparing French and German trenchworks-the latter were far better), Letters from Verdun brings the reader amazingly close to the frontlines of the Great War, almost as if in person.

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I have endless admiration for the medical corps and stretcher bearers of all sides in the great war, while the civilian ambulance volunteers are beyond praise. Anyone who served voluntarily at Verdun, is a hero. I am quite sure he would have a very stirring tale to tell. Whether I would turn to his story for strategic views is another matter. I think I would seek elsewhere for that kind of information or comment.

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The all time favorite which has been in print for 40 years or so is Alistair Horne's The Price of Glory, terrific, can't do better for a starter.

Welcome to the forum!

No questions ... this is the place to start !!!!

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