"Ils ne passeront pas." They shall not pass. It was the rallying cry at Verdun, a soul-crushing meat grinder of a battle that defined the French experience in the Great War. When DICE announced Battlefield 1 They Shall Not Pass back in 2017, the pressure was actually pretty high. Fans were rightfully annoyed that the French Republic—a country that lost nearly 1.4 million soldiers during the conflict—wasn't in the base game at launch. It felt like a massive historical oversight. But honestly? Once the DLC actually dropped, most of that salt turned into pure adrenaline.
The expansion didn't just add some new skins. It changed the entire vibe of the game. It introduced a level of verticality and "infantry-focused chaos" that the vanilla maps sometimes lacked. If you've ever sprinted through the burning heights of Verdun Heights while the "Devil’s Anvil" operations music kicks in, you know exactly what I’m talking about. It’s stressful. It’s loud. It’s masterpiece-level game design.
The Verdun Meat Grinder and Map Design
Verdun Heights is arguably the standout map of the pack. It captures the aftermath of the massive forest fires caused by initial German artillery barrages. You’re fighting uphill, through literal embers and ash, while the sky glows a sickly, apocalyptic orange. It feels claustrophobic. DICE leaned hard into the "Hell on Earth" aesthetic here. Unlike the wide-open desert maps of the base game, Verdun forces you into frantic, close-quarters bayonet charges. It's messy.
Then you have Fort de Vaux. If Verdun Heights is about the external horror, Fort de Vaux is the internal nightmare. It's the first truly "indoor" map in Battlefield 1. No vehicles. No planes. Just grenades, shotguns, and the terrifying sound of the new Trench Raider elite class breathing through a gas mask. It was inspired by the real-life Siege of Fort Vaux, where French defenders, out of water and dying of thirst, fought room-to-room against German flamethrowers. The game captures that desperation perfectly. You'll find yourself stuck in a hallway for ten minutes, throwing everything you have just to move five feet forward.
Soisson and Rupture offer the opposite experience. These are the "tank maps." They feature the rolling hills of the French countryside, littered with the wreckage of the Char 2C behemoth. Rupture is particularly haunting because of the poppies. Bright red flowers bloom everywhere, a direct nod to the famous poem "In Flanders Fields." It’s a weirdly beautiful contrast to the heavy metal carnage of the Saint-Chamond tanks rolling through the mud.
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New Toys: The Saint-Chamond and the Char 2C
We have to talk about the French armor because it fundamentally shifted the meta. The Saint-Chamond (the "Assault Tank") became an instant favorite for aggressive players. It's low to the ground and has a unique "field gun" feel. But the real star is the Pigeon Carrier capability. It sounds ridiculous, but calling in an artillery strike on your own position via a carrier pigeon when you're surrounded is one of the most "Battlefield" moments possible. It's high-risk, high-reward gameplay that rewards players who aren't afraid to get stuck in the middle of a capture point.
On the other end of the scale is the Char 2C. This is the Behemoth for Battlefield 1 They Shall Not Pass. In real life, these things were monsters—the largest tanks ever built during the era. In the game, they are moving fortresses. If your team is losing badly, the Char 2C spawns in and suddenly the enemy has a massive problem. It has multiple gunner seats, meaning a coordinated squad can basically lock down an entire sector of the map. However, it's slow. Like, painfully slow. If you don't have infantry support, a couple of dedicated Assault players with AT mines will turn your multi-ton pride of France into a smoking hunk of scrap metal in minutes.
Frontlines: The Best Game Mode Nobody Plays Anymore?
The expansion introduced a mode called Frontlines. Think of it as a tug-of-war. You fight over one flag at a time. If you capture it, the "front line" moves toward the enemy base. If they push you back, it moves toward yours. It combines Conquest and Rush into this frantic, back-and-forth struggle that could—in the early days—last for over an hour.
- Tug-of-War Mechanics: One objective at a time means everyone is concentrated in one spot.
- The Final Push: Once you reach the enemy base, you have to destroy two telegraph stations.
- Infinite Matches: Before they added a timer, some matches went on so long that players were literally running out of ammo and falling asleep at their desks. It was glorious.
There was something uniquely exhausting about a two-hour Frontlines match on Soissons. You’d fight over the same bridge four or five times. You’d start to recognize the gamertag of the guy who kept sniping you from the farmhouse. It created a weird sense of camaraderie and rivalry that you just don't get in a standard 15-minute match.
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The Lebel Model 1886 and the Ribeyrolles 1918
You can't have a French DLC without the Lebel. This rifle is an icon. It has an 8-round tubular magazine, which gives it a huge advantage in capacity, but a massive disadvantage in reload speed. You have to load every... single... bullet... individually. It’s a rhythmic, mechanical process that feels incredibly tactile. For Scout players, it became a go-to for its sweet spot and that satisfying "clack-clack" sound of the bolt.
Then there's the Ribeyrolles 1918. Technically an automatic carbine, it gave the Assault class some much-needed range. Before this, Assaults were mostly limited to shotguns or the MP18. The Ribeyrolles changed that. It has a bipod! An SMG with a bipod sounds like a joke until you're prone in a trench mowing down an entire squad from 50 meters away. It bridged the gap between the Assault and Support classes in a way that felt balanced but powerful.
The Trench Raider: A True Terror
If you hear a rhythmic, heavy breathing and a metallic clink in the tunnels of Fort de Vaux, run. Just run. The Trench Raider is arguably the most fun elite class in the game. He doesn't have a machine gun or a flamethrower. He has a spiked mace and a Med Pen.
Playing as the Trench Raider is basically playing a horror game from the monster's perspective. You move faster, you can heal yourself instantly, and your melee attacks are one-hit kills with a brutal animation. It perfectly encapsulates the "trench fever" and the brutal, primal nature of the fighting in 1916. It's not about grand strategy; it's about a guy with a stick in a dark room.
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Historical Context: Why It Matters
DICE gets a lot of flack, but their attention to detail in Battlefield 1 They Shall Not Pass was top-tier. They worked with historians to ensure the uniforms—that specific "Horizon Blue"—were accurate. They captured the transition from the early-war aesthetic to the late-war "steel and mud" look.
The French army in 1914 went to war in bright red trousers. By the time of the events in this DLC, they were hardened, cynical, and wearing muted blues and Adrian helmets. The voice acting is also superb. The French soldiers sound genuinely panicked or furious, yelling "Granate!" or screaming for a medic in a way that feels raw. It respects the history without becoming a dry documentary.
Why You Should Still Play It in 2026
You might think a game from 2016 is dead. You'd be wrong. Battlefield 1 still has a dedicated player base, especially on PC and PlayStation. The "They Shall Not Pass" maps often pop up in the weekly rotations or on "Mixed" servers.
- Atmosphere: No modern shooter has matched the "grimness" of Verdun Heights.
- Sound Design: The whistles, the screams, and the thud of artillery are still industry-leading.
- Balance: After years of patches, the weapons from this DLC are in a great spot. The RSC 1917 is a beast for Medics who can aim.
It’s about the feeling of being a small part of a massive, chaotic machine. Most modern shooters try to make you feel like a superhero. Battlefield 1 makes you feel like a soldier who is lucky to survive the next thirty seconds. That's why this expansion specifically resonates so well.
Actionable Tips for Dominating the French Front
If you're jumping back into these maps, don't play them like it's Call of Duty. You will die. Immediately.
- Smoke is your best friend on Verdun Heights. The defenders have the high ground. If you don't use smoke to cover your movement through the burned trees, you're just target practice.
- On Fort de Vaux, stick to the outer ring. Everyone bunches up in the center "grenade hallway." It's a stalemate. If you take a small squad around the perimeter, you can back-cap the enemy and break the deadlock.
- Equip the Ribeyrolles for mid-range defense. If you're playing Soissons, don't try to out-snipe people. Use the bipod on the Ribeyrolles to suppress enemies while your tanks move up.
- Listen for the Trench Raider's grunt. He makes a specific sound when he swings. If you hear it, bayonet charge. It’s the only reliable way to take him down head-on before he bashes your skull in.
- Watch the sky on Rupture. The bridge is a chokepoint, but it's also a death trap for tanks. If you’re driving the Saint-Chamond, stay in the fields and use your range. Don’t get baited into the trenches where the assault players are lurking with dynamite.
The "They Shall Not Pass" expansion isn't just a map pack. It's the heart of what made Battlefield 1 the best entry in the franchise for many. It’s brutal, it’s beautiful, and it’s a fitting tribute to the millions who fought in the mud of France. Get out there and hold the line.