Electronic Arts has posted concept art from the upcoming Battlefield 1 expansion They Shall Not Pass, which will bring new maps and weapons to the battlefield, and also the French Army, which for reasons that will never really make sense was left out of the base game.
EA said it doesn't want to give too much away at this point, but the expansion will involve Verdun, one of the longest and bloodiest battles of the war—it dragged on for nearly all of 1916, with hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides—and the less famous, late-war Battle of Soissons, in which French forces deployed nearly 500 tanks to recapture ground lost during the German Spring Offensive of 1918.
"Some 40 million artillery shells were fired over the course of the battle at Verdun, pulverizing the ground, turning the earth into a shattered lunar landscape. And underneath some of these trenches, tunnels and underground fortresses provide for new experiences yet unexplored in Battlefield 1," EA wrote. "In contrast to Verdun the Battle of Soissons in late 1918 inspired us to create a new set of maps that captures the massive French tank assaults. The fighting revolves around key bridges over the Aisne River and something big lurks around the village of Fismes."
They Shall Not Pass is set to come out in March 2017, and will be released two weeks early to Battlefield 1 Premium Pass holders.