The Aftermath of Nivelle
John Terraine describes how the Allied offensive of spring 1917 promised victory but ended in failure and mutiny.
The ten-month battle of Verdun ended in a blaze of glory for France. On December 15th, 1916, the ‘Groupement Mangin’, which had retaken Fort de Douaumont and Fort de Vaux in October, attacked again on a ten-kilometre front and in four days took 11,000 prisoners and 115 guns. This was a splendid salute to France’s new Commander-in-Chief, General Robert Nivelle, appointed only three days earlier.
It was Nivelle who had conducted the October counter-stroke, and this latest coup had also been planned under his direction and authorized by him. His enthusiastic subordinate, General Charles Mangin, addressed his troops in an Order of the Day on December 18th:
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