Word: verdun
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...spirit of the first half of the volume is beautifully suggested by its French title, Cette Grande Lueur a L'Est (which the translator insipidly renders into Promise of Dawn). The young politician Jerphanion compares the magnetism of the Soviets with that of Verdun six years before: "There is something in it of that same sense of a distant melting pot, of a light shining through the darkness-a great blaze of light. ... It may be the dawn; it may be a conflagration. But whether we believe it to be one or the other, we are all agog...
...been taking flying lessons for three weeks. Vichy announced that the centennial of World War I Premier Georges Clemenceau's birth (Sept. 28, 1841) would be ignored. Same day the burial place chosen by Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain was announced: the tomb at Douaumont where Verdun's unknown war dead...
...even reflected the French egalitarian spirit. Even as an officer in World War I he was a professed Royalist, often expressing dislike for liberalism and democratic institutions. In 1934 when the Fascist Croix de Feu attempted a coup d'etat, its demand was for the Hero of Verdun as head of Government. Again, in 1937 when the Cagoulards (Hooded Ones) were caught in what seemed a foolish revolutionary plot, their aim was to make Pétain dictator...
...Darlan career has been chiefly a triumph of political luck and wangling. During World War I he obtained the command of 25 mobile naval guns ashore, fighting at the Somme and Verdun. He later explained that he had wanted the job because as a Navy officer under Army officers he would get more attention, attract more patronage...
Mysterious chief of the Beggars is "Colonel Verdun," said to be a 43-year-old Army officer. He is supposed to direct the less spectacular activities, signaling British planes, guiding, sheltering and giving information to British agents...