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Verdun is a town in northeastern France on the banks of the river Mosa or Meuse. It has been strategically located since the time of Attila, who failed to conquer it. It controls the northern entrance to the plain of Campania, which leads directly to Paris. That is why the French had taken care to construct fortifications on a large scale.
By the end of 1915, military operations on the Western Front had come to a standstill. The German advance of 1914 was succeeded by trench warfare. The German Chief of Staff, Erich von Falkenstein, believed that a massive offensive by his army would inflict heavy losses on the French and upset the balance of power in the region. He chose Verdun, which was isolated from the three points on the horizon, with little possibility of retreat and only one supply route for the French. Moreover, in an eventual victory, the road to Paris would be open.
The operation was planned in great secrecy, but was leaked to the French a few days before its launch, which was delayed by bad weather. Thus the French had time to reinforce their forces at Verdun with two divisions and raised their strength to 30,000 men. The German offensive began at 7 a.m. on 21 February 1916 with a heavy cannonade of French positions. It was estimated that over a million bombs had been dropped by the afternoon.
This was followed by an attack by three army corps, totalling 150,000 men. The Germans used flamethrowers for the first time to "clear" the French trenches, as well as chemical gases. Two days later they had advanced 7 km into the enemy lines, and on 25 February they captured Fort Duamont, an important link in the Verdun fortification chain.
The situation became desperate for the French. They were saved, however, by reinforcements under General Petain, who managed to stabilize the front. Heavy snowfall and imbalance in numbers led the battle to stalemate and stalemate, a familiar feature of operations on the Western Front. The battles of Verdun included a young captain, Charles de Gaulle (later President of France), who was taken prisoner.
In May Petain was promoted and gave his place to Robert Nivelle, a general of aggressive spirit and determination. To him is attributed the phrase "They will not pass" ("Ils ne passeront pas"), which became popular later on similar occasions ("No Passaran"). On 1 July 1916 the German forces were weakened when the Anglo-French opened a new front north of the Somme, and by the autumn they were exhausted by heavy losses. The great opportunity was seized by Nivelle and on 21 October he launched his counter-attack. By 18 December 1916 the Germans had been pushed back to the positions they held on 21 February, when they began the battle.
Verdun became a symbol of French determination, at a terrible cost in human lives. The French at the "Camino de Verdun" lost 378,000 men (163,000 killed and 215,000 wounded) and the Germans 330,000 (143,000 killed and 187,000 wounded). The strength and effectiveness of the fortifications at Verdun led the French to build the famous Maginot Line, which proved totally inadequate for the conditions of World War II.
Source: sansimera
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