Battle of Verdun: Battle of the Titans at the Gates of France

On February 21, 1916, one of the bloodiest and best-known conflicts of World War I begins, the Battle of Verdun.

Operation “Focus” (Unternehmen Gericht) of the German marshal Erich von Falkenhayn proposed attacking a target of great symbolic importance for France. According to the plan, in order to protect the objective of great importance to them, the French would engage with all their forces, along with their strategic reserves, and be decimated, with the least possible German losses, ultimately giving Berlin the strategic advantage.

Falkenhayn chose for this purpose Verdun, a city from where the “traditional” avenue of invasion of the German princes against France began. At this point the French had constructed strong fortifications but by 1916 these had been weakened considerably, both by men and weapons, since the pressing needs of the front had moved them elsewhere.

The main fortress of Verdun (Fort Douaumont) before and after the battle (German aerial photographs)

The German attack began at exactly 07:12 on February 21, 1916, when a German 380 mm Krupp howitzer opened fire on the Verdun Fort. It was one of 1,200 guns and howitzers, spread over a front of 20 kilometers, involved in the bombardment of the fortifications and the medieval city. In total, 2.5 million shells were carried on 1,300 cables and fired against the forts.

The attack took the French by surprise. Not only because the front was fairly quiet in this area but also because following the orders of General Ferdinand Foch, who directed the War School and had recently taken command of the Northern Army, the French had to abandon the static struggle and move to a more kinetic and aggressive strategy.

In the first four days of the battle alone, the French advanced divisions suffered 60% losses. However, the losses of the Germans in an endless regression of the positions of the two opponents were similar. Von Falkenhayn justified his strategy by arguing that he never intended to capture Verdun, but to “bleed” the French to the point of breaking morale and units, even if it meant heavy German losses.

Against all odds, Verdun withstood the heavy blow and the danger rallied the French to become (still) the scene of an incredibly bloody confrontation on both sides, with 155-160,000 French and 143,000 German dead in the 11 months of fighting. The total losses – including wounded – for both sides reached 800,000 men of which, a percentage of 70% came from explosions and fragments of the 40-60 million shells exchanged by the belligerents.

The battle was an artillery clash pulverizing the entire landscape on both sides while the explosions could be heard at distances of 160 km. The French commander of the 2nd Army, whose area of responsibility was Verdun, General Philippe Petain, kept alive the “flame” of resistance by feeding the forts from a narrow road 6 meters wide. In all, 40 French divisions were recycled through the “holy road”, as it was called, keeping the morale and stamina of the defenders up.

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