21 February 1916
The Battle of Verdun begins.
At 7 o'clock in the morning on this date, the Germans began shelling the French-held salient north of the city of Verdun. In the early evening, the bombardment paused and the Germans sent their infantry out to probe the French lines. This began a pattern of fighting that lasted for months. The best thing for the French would have been to fall back across the Meuse, but French national honor was at stake, and the French decided to make a stand at Verdun. Philippe Pétain organized the defense, and after 23 June - the Germans' furthest extent - the tide began to turn. By December the fighting had settled down to the usual trench warfare.
The total casualties at Verdun numbered 700,000 dead, missing, or wounded. The French hailed it as a great victory, but, like most of the Western front in that most useless of great wars, neither side really won anything.
At 7 o'clock in the morning on this date, the Germans began shelling the French-held salient north of the city of Verdun. In the early evening, the bombardment paused and the Germans sent their infantry out to probe the French lines. This began a pattern of fighting that lasted for months. The best thing for the French would have been to fall back across the Meuse, but French national honor was at stake, and the French decided to make a stand at Verdun. Philippe Pétain organized the defense, and after 23 June - the Germans' furthest extent - the tide began to turn. By December the fighting had settled down to the usual trench warfare.
The total casualties at Verdun numbered 700,000 dead, missing, or wounded. The French hailed it as a great victory, but, like most of the Western front in that most useless of great wars, neither side really won anything.
posted by Greg | 7:45 PM
1 Comments:
I seem to remember Verdun being the only major western front battle where defensive casualties outnumbered those of the attackers.
Utterly futile.
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