Some great poets came out of World War I,
But in terms of movies, not much has been done.
They should have done loads of them on Verdun,
A battle the French apparently tactically won!

This assault started in February 1916,
With many a skirmish in between,
Before ending in December with losses obscene,
By which time the whole thing was a well-oiled machine.

Falkenheyn believed that Verdun’s sixty forts,
Were essential to French morale – that’s what he thought,
And the French would fight till the last resort,
And without any visible English support.

Falkenhayn wanted to “bleed France white”,
And 2.5 million gun shells proved he had might,
But he was mistaken, he did not get it right,
For Petain and the French were up for the fight.

In July the English began the war on the Somme,
So the French would get some respite since the war had begun,
And then rally and retrench and get the war won,
There were 700,000 dead by the time this battle was done