The Battle of Verdun
The Battle of Verdun was one of the longest, deadliest battles in history. It was fought from February to December 1916 on the Western Front in France.
Verdun was an ancient fortress city on the River Meuse. It was an important city for French national pride and of strategic importance along the Western Front. The Germans hoped to overwhelm the French there with over 1200 artillery pieces and force the French to surrender.
The German army made early advances and inflicted heavy French casualties. However, the French General Philippe Pétain ordered there to be no retreat and that German attacks were to be counter-attacked. Artillery guns on each side caused a near constant bombardment.
A long, bloody stalemate ensued over months as both sides rotated in new troops and commanding officers. Fighting in such a small area devastated the land, resulting in miserable conditions for troops on both sides. Rain and the constant artillery bombardments turned the ground into a wasteland of mud full of debris and human remains; shell craters filled with water and soldiers risked drowning in them. Forests were reduced to tangled piles of wood and eventually obliterated.
The French and British Allies began their own offensive at the Somme River northwest of Verdun in July and both sides sought to end the fighting in Verdun. However, offensives by both sides were only partially successful and gains one day would often be lost the next.
It took until French assault in December that finally cut off the German retreat and blocked the advance of any reinforcements to end the battle after 302 days.
Both sides suffered over 300,000 casualties and about the same number in total were killed. Over the 10 months of fighting, there was an average of 70,000 casualties a month. Nine villages surrounding the town of Verdun were entirely destroyed. The effect of the battle on many soldiers was profound and accounts of men breaking down with insanity and shell shock were common.
