Verdun: German satirical medal
Satirical medal commemorating the Battle of Verdun,1916.
Many historians now argue that the main purpose of the German assault on the French fortress of Verdun (February-December 1916) was - in the words of the German general Falkenhayn - to 'bleed the enemy white'. Walter Eberbach captures the horrific losses during the battle, in which each side lost more than 300,000 men, in this macabre medal. Entitled 'Verdun: die Weltblutpumpe' (literally 'Verdun: the world blood pump'), it depicts a skeleton pumping blood into the earth amid a bleak landscape.
IWM MED 733 (1916)
