A portly man with a white mustache (identified as French general, Noël Marie Joseph Édouard, Vicomte de Curières de Castelnau) in a simple, blue military uniform and cap holds a pair of binoculars. In the middle ground at the right side of the print, a French tricolor flag is set atop a small hill; beyond, the city of Verdun is visible below ominous black puffs of smoke. This print commemorates the beginning of the Battle of Verdun on 21 February1916, when Castelnau engineered the initial defenses against German bombardment.