The+Battle+of+Verdun

**The War of Attrition ** February 16' 1916 - December 18' 1916

Erich von Falkenhayn was a German general who thought they could stop France’s desire to fight by raising the cost of waging war. The German plan was “to bleed France white” as quoted by Falkenhayn. The first step of that plan was to capture the French fortress at Verdun Falkenhayn targeted Verdun because it was the key to French morale and he wanted to finally break French will – some great battles in French military history had been fought there, and the French would not abandon it under any circumstances.

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__**Spring 1916 **__ The battle began February 21st 1916 when the Germans started the bombing of Verdun. It was the biggest artillery barrage bombardment of the war; it lasted nine hours and they used 2.5 million shells.

Germans cleared French trenches by using flamethrowers to shoot into the trenches, burning those inside alive

**February 24th**: Germans capture Fort Douaumont.

Pétain appointed as the commander of the Verdun area. He took over on February 25th, and decided that the forts needed be strongly re-garrisoned; he also mapped out new lines of defence on both banks of the Meuse River.

Germans attacked the left (west) bank of the Meuse at Le Mort-Homme (Dead Man Hill) on March 6 and at Côte 304 on May 3rd. Germany suffered crippling losses to capture the hills.

**May 1916**: Failed French attempt to recapture Douaumont. The attack was planned by Robert Nivelle who had been promoted after Pétain was relieved (and also promoted) on May 1st. It was executed under the direction of Charles Mangin. Mangin was blamed for the failure and refused, as did Pétain, to support another attempt to recapture the fort.

__**Summer 1916 **__ Fort Vaux surrenders to the Germans on June 7th. Both sides suffered heavy losses.

Germans had to take Fort Souville before they could get to Verdun

**July 10th**: Germans attempted to incapacitate the French using diphosgene gas. Was not very effective; the French had relevant gas masks. Less than 100 German infantrymen made it to the top of the fort on July 12th. They had two options: retreat or surrender.

Fort Souville is the historic mark of the failed German offensive on Verdun. Today, it is one of the most hazardous sites of the Verdun battlefield.


 * July 1st **<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">: The Battle of the Somme began, forcing Germans to withdraw some artillery from Verdun to counter the offensive. Launched partially to remove some pressure from Verdun.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Falkenhayn has been replaced by Paul von Hindenburg as Chief of the German General Staff.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">The French launch a major counter offensive attack to retake Douaumont in October. Before the assault, the French used two railway guns to bombard the fort. They succeeded in recapturing the fort on October 24th.
 * __<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Autumn 1916 __**

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Germans evacuate Fort Vaux on November 2nd – they were affected by the bombardment of the railway guns as well.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">**December 15th**: Another offensive planned by Nivelle began, pushing the Germans back close to their starting lines of February. Within 36 hours the French had taken 11,387 prisoners and 115 artillery pieces.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">The battle ended on December 18th, 1916. It lasted 10 months and was the longest battle of World War I.



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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Results
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">The battle taught generals crucial lessons about waging modern war. In total, approximately 40 million artillery shells were fired. 70% of the casualties on both sides were due to artillery fire.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">**French casualties**: 400,000 casualties, 163 000 dead <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">**German casualties**: 355,000 casualties, 143,000 men dead

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">This battle is considered a French victory because they managed to drive back the German offensive and ended up with control of Verdun. The Germans tried to redeem themselves by claiming that they “bled France white”, however Germany suffered nearly as many casualties as France.

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">A single track railway, “Le chemin de fer Meusian” ran alongside voie sacrée and could move 1,800 tons of supplies every day.



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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Strategies and Weapons
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">· Flamethrowers (Germans) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">· Diphosgene gas (Germans) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">· Bombardment (both sides) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">· The Voie Sacrée: used by the French

<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">- A road that connects Bar-Le-Duc to Verdun <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">- 45 miles long <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">- Initially very narrow, only room for one truck to pass at a time. Soldiers had to walk on the sides of the road to make room for trucks. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">- One truck passed every 14 seconds <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">- In 1916 the road was widened to 23 feet allowing two trucks to pass at a time. <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">- In the initial conflict from February to March, 23,000 tons of ammunition, 2,500 tons of other material and 190,000 men were delivered using voie sacrée.



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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Interesting Facts
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">· Captain Charles de Gaulle (future French president) was taken prisoner during the battle at Douaumont <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">· Falkenhayn lost his position due to the failure of his recommendations <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">· Verdun was vulnerable to attack from three sides at once <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">· Pétain rotated soldiers at the front lines, and it is estimated that 70% of the French army fought in the battle.

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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">Skill Testing Questions
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 1. Why did Erich Von Falkenhayan choose Verdun? <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 2. What were the Germans' 2 options on July 10 1916? <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 3. How long did the battle last? <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 4. What was the main cause of casualties? (70%) <span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;"> 5. List 3 forts fought over in this battle.

__**Links**__ Link to description of the battle: http://www.firstworldwar.com/battles/verdun.htm Link to photographs of battlegrounds from WWI: http://www.firstworldwar.com/photos/battlegrounds.htm __** Sources **__ = = = = = = 1. World War I almanac – Tom Pendergast, Sara Pendergast – Published in Detroit, 2002 by U.X.L.  2. World War 1 encyclopedia - Bri Gadier, Peter Young – Published in London, 1986 3. The Experience of World War I by J.M. Winter 4. The Century by Peter Jennings and Todd Brewster Through Wikipedia: 5. Dupuy, R. Ernest and Trevor N. Dupuy, The Harper's Encyclopedia of Military History, HarperCollins Publishers, 1993. 6. Grant, R.G., Battle:A Visual Journey through 5,000 years of Combat, DK Publishing, 2005. 7. Ground warfare: an international encyclopedia, Vol.1, Ed. Stanley Sandler, ABC-CLIO, 2002. 8. Holger Afflerbach Falkenhayn. Politisches Denken und Handeln im Kaiserreich, München: Oldenbourg, 1994. 9. Le Halle, Guy, 1998,Verdun. Les Forts de la Victoire, CITEDIS, Paris. 10. MacKenzie, Donald A., The story of the Great War, Buck Press, 2009. 11. The Encyclopedia Americana, Vol.28, J.B. Lyon Company, 1920. 12. Total War: Combat and Mobilization on the Western Front, 1914–1918, Roger Chickering and Stig Foerster, eds., New York: Cambridge, 2000.

**<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Helvetica,sans-serif;">BRIE W, LAURA M, LYON T **