The Battle of Verdun was a condensed version of the continentwide war. The unbearable stench added to the suffering. The noise caused many in the surrounding area to go deaf. In the ossuary, the bones of the bitter enemies are mixedĪccording to military calculations, about 1 million steel projectiles weighing a total of 1.35 tons touched down on a surface area of less than 30 square kilometers (12 square miles) during the Battle of Verdun. The French did not so much succeed as end up on the better side of an unparalleled human catastrophe. By October, the French were advancing by December, they had recaptured almost all lost territories. A member of almost every family in France took part in the battle - particularly between February and June 1916, when large parts of the army were concentrated in the area.įrom July 1916 on, after the failure of smaller offensives, von Falkenhayn ordered a "strict defensive." German troops had long been needed elsewhere, especially on the Somme front.
More than 70 percent of French soldiers were ordered to fight at least once in the trenches near Verdun for eight to 10 days. He deployed virtually the entire nation in the battle. The French general used a clever tactic to counter Germany's goal of obliterating the French. Philippe Petain, Verdun's defender, saw through von Falkenhayn's intentions. However, Supreme Commander Erich von Falkenhayn was not seeking a breakthrough or surround-and-capture operation: Verdun was a blood pump that was to bleed the French dry - or, in the officer's own words, "bleed them white." Under no circumstances could Verdun fall into enemy hands.Īnd, military experts and historians widely agree, Verdun was not a good starting point for the Germans if they had really intended to push forward the 250 kilometers to Paris. It was place of great psychological significance for the French. This is where the Carolingian Empire was divided into the three kingdoms from which eastern and western France would evolve at the end of the medieval period. The city in the Lorraine region "was a symbol of the German-French conflict," the historian Herfried Münkler said. Verdun - with its hilly landscape along the Meuse River, which bends around the city - was more than a strategic military location to the French. They did not "fall" as soldiers had in previous wars they were torn apart, blown up or pulverized. Five hundred were killed per day on the German side, even more on the French.
Over 300 days, 162,000 French and 143,000 German soldiers would lose their lives. The German author Ernst Jünger called it a "storm of steel." Europe had been at war for a year and a half at that point, but the Battle of Verdun ultimately became the symbol of World War I. Two hundred kilometers (120 miles) in the distance, the cannons of Verdun could be heard.
The world had never seen anything like it. Hundreds of German barrels of all calibers fired for nine hours straight. The barrage that announced Operation Judgment began in the early hours of February 21, 1916.
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