THE WESTERN FRONT

THE FIRST BATTLE OF VERDUN:  FEBRUARY- DECEMBER 1916

Acknowledgements

Poster: propaganda poster by French artist Maurice Neumont, creative commons Western Front (detail): createwebquest.com Verdun Forts: pierreswestern front.nl Map: drawn by Gdr from en wiki Douaumont: by French painter Henri Georges Chartier, Paris, Army Museum Verdun: in public domain, author unknown Pétain: en wikipedia.org Cartoon: Punch.photoshelter.com

    The Battle of Verdun, code-named Gericht (Judgement), was the longest single battle in the First World War and, like the Battle of the Somme, was one of the bloodiest in the history of warfare. The total cost is estimated at some 700,000 men, with the French losing 360,000 and the Germans 340,000 in dead, wounded or missing.

     Itxwas at the beginning of 1916 that the German Chief of the General Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, devised a campaign of attrition against the French army, based on an assault against the fortress town of Verdun. Contained in a lengthy memorandum to the Kaiser, this plan aimed to gain land by means of a series of sharp attacks in which the infantry would advance a short distance, dig in without delay, and then ruthlessly crush the inevitable counter attacks. He chose Verdun for a good reason. It was the centre of a highly defended but vulnerable salient, constructed after the disastrous Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. It contained twelve major forts and seven strong points, each defended by cannon and machine guns, and overlooked by 40 armoured observation posts (see map on right). This region had come to be seen as a statement of faith in the security and the survival of the French Republic. He anticipated that the French would die to the last man in the defence of this “sacred ground”, and in that he was proved right. This was the place and means, therefore, by which France would be bled to death and fall to its knees. Great Britain would then seek a peace settlement and the war would be won. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Kaiser supported the plan.

     The first of these short, sharp attacks began on the 21st February (the line arrowed on map below) and, initially, proved highly successful. It began with a short bombardment – a mere nine hours! – but it was marked by a soul destroying ferocity along a 25 mile front, and could be heard 150 miles distant. In addition to mortars and medium and light guns, it was launched with the use of 542 heavy guns, 17 howitzers and 13 Big Bertha guns, each with a range of several miles. In addition, the largest concentration of aircraft to date – 168 – was assembled for both reconnaissance and bombing, and two new weapons were brought to the battlefield, the deadly flame-thrower and phosgene, a poison gas which was ten times more lethal than the chlorine gas used earlier. The bombardment virtually obliterated the first French lines. There was no escape. One French gunner wrote about hell on earth. You eat beside the dead, you drink beside the dead, you relieve yourself beside the dead, and you sleep beside the dead. It was seen as “the most appalling mass murder in history”.

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     Following this enormous bombardment – close on 2.5 million shells – the Germans advanced at speed along the east bank of the River Meuse. Some 140,000 in number, they quickly occupied the town of Brabant and within four days had captured Fort Douaumont (see map above). In fact, this stronghold, the largest and highest of the nineteen forts defending Verdun, was quickly taken by a small raiding party. It was lightly manned by some fifty men and gave no resistance. It was at this point that General Pétain, tasked with the defence of Verdun, virtually came to the rescue. Much alarmed at the unpreparedness of Verdun’s outer defences, and utterly determined to save Verdun, he rushed in men and massive reinforcements. Within a matter of days, 25,000 tons of supplies and 90,000 troops were moved into Verdun, conveyed along the only approach, a narrow road, hopefully nicknamed “the Sacred Way”. (This timely action and his subsequent leadership was to earn Petain the title of “The Lion of Verdun”.)

     On 6th March the Germans renewed their offensive, this time launching an attack along the west bank of the Meuse. They captured Forges, Regneville and the Bois de Courbeauz, but they were frequently held back by sustained and accurate artillery fire and proved unable to capture high ground overlooking Verdun. Come April, the Germans again went on the attack, operating along a front some twenty miles wide, and spanning both the east and west banks of the Meuse. In the west they managed to reach the slopes of Le Mort-Homme, but it was only after bitter fighting throughout May – the French showing enormous courage and determination – that early in June, after five days of bitter conflict – they managed to take the key-point of Fort Vaux. Further gains then followed. Pushing towards Fort Souville, they captured Thiaumont and then, using poisonous phosgene gas for the first time, seized Fleury, just 2.5 miles north of Verdun. There, however, the French counter-attacked and called a halt to the German advance.

     Meanwhile, however, there was increasing demand for German manpower and munitions from other battle zones. On the Eastern Front, the Battle of Lake Naroch in March and the extensive Brusilov Offensive in June required urgent support. Then in July, the British, assisted by the French, launched the ambitious Battle of the Somme. As a result, four divisions plus armaments, had to be hastily sent north to meet this new and sizeable threat. This was to bring a reversal of fortunes amid the “killing fields of Verdun”. On the 10th of July, in an attempt to regain the initiative with the means at their disposal, the Germans launched another attack, again using phosgene gas, but it failed to take the fortress town of Souville, just north of Verdun. In reply the French then made a successful counter attack, recapturing Thiaumont and several other key locations. In August, the Kaiser, disappointed and alarmed at the lack of progress, decided to take action. In September he dismissed Falkenhayn and appointed Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg as the new Chief of the General Staff. At the end of the month, he called a halt to all offensive operations in the area.

    Thexline dated 6th September 1916 (arrowed on map above) marks the extent of the German advance in this First Battle of Verdun. Towards the end of October it was the French who went on the offensive, under the command of General Robert Nivelle, an ambitious commander whose motto was “On ne passe pas” (“No one will get by us) – as seen on the poster above. Following the heaviest bombardment conducted by the French, the French infantry, using a creeping barrage to good effect, regained the prized stronghold of Fort Douaumont (see pic) and then, nine days later, early in November, took Fort Vaux. Then on 15th December the French (keeping on the east side of the Meuse), regained Louvremont and Bezonvaux. This put an end to any immediate threat to Verdun. In the New Year both sides turned their attention to other areas of the Western Front, a battle line which remained as static as ever.

    The ferocious fighting around Verdun in 1916 and the consequent heavy casualties were rightly foreseen and adjudged by Falkenhayn. The French were not only fighting to regain their homeland, but to retain at virtually any cost a unique embattled area of France which embraced at its heart the French denial of political as well as military defeat. And with France struggling at this time to maintain its strength in numbers, the idea of bleeding France to death was a cruel possibility, despite, or perhaps because of, the tenacious resistance shown by the French on the battlefield. But, as noted earlier, Germany also paid a heavy price in manpower. Furthermore, by the end of the year Verdun was still in French hands and its army had regained some of the lost ground. The battle of Verdun was far from over, but at this stage, despite the enormous loss in life and the widespread devastation, the French could claim victory. And it was a victory which, it must be said, owed much to the Nieuport 11, France’s small fighter aircraft. It was this “Bébé” which had gained mastery of the skies - despite the presence of the legendary German Fokker! – thereby minimising aerial attack, and enabling valuable air support to be given to the ground forces. In the rugged terrain surrounding Verdun, this helped to turn the battle in their favour. Indeed, in December, as we shall see, the Germans were to put forward a surprise peace proposal, but purely on their unacceptable terms!

     GeneralxPhilippe Pétain (1856-1951) became a national hero – the “Lion of Verdun” – for his defence of this sacred fortified city, the very symbol of French patriotism and resistance. For his efforts and ultimate success, he was appointed commander of the French forces in 1917, and made Marshal of France the following year. He was born in Cauchy-a-la Tour in northern France and joined the army in 1876. His interest in infantry tactics and the use of artillery earned him a place on the teaching staff of the École Supérieure de Guerre in 1904, and when war broke out, then aged 58, he was given command of the 6th Division at the Battle of the Marne. His success there, due in large part to the support and encouragement he gave to the lower ranks, was followed by the outstanding role he played as commander of the 2nd Army in the Champagne Offensive of Autumn 1915. On the strength of that performance, he was given the task of defending Verdun in February 1916. Despite huge losses in what came to be known as “the furnace”, his sensitive handling of his troops – providing them with regular periods of rest – and his insistence on the regular supply of food and war material, won him the affection and support of the rank and file, and tipped the battle in his favour. In the eyes of the public, he was nothing less than the saviour of France. And, as we shall see, more acclaim came his way after the widespread mutinies that followed the disastrous Nivelle Offensive of April 1917. There were some executions, but he acted with caution, meeting the grievances of the rank and file, including better food, a larger wine ration, and regular respite from the front. His measures proved successful. This was mutiny against living conditions, not against the waging of war itself. Nonetheless, he also insisted on limited offensives to keep loss of life to the minimum.

     In the interwar period he played a large part in building up French defences, but with the coming of the Second World War and the fall of France in mid-1940, he took on a very different and very questionable role: the head of state in Vichy France (that area which was not directly under German control). In this office he became a despot, taking over complete control of the government and openly collaborating with the Nazi regime, including the persecution of the Jews and other “worthless” minorities. He condemned “the false idea of the natural equality of men” and “the felony of opinion”. At the end of the war, he was found guilty of treason, but his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, and he spent the rest of his days in captivity on the small island of Île d’Yeu, just off the coast of the Pays de la Loire. The French public are never likely to forget his patriotic role in the victory he forged over the battle for Verdun, but, likewise, his infamous role in the Second World War is never likely to be forgotten or, indeed, forgiven. (The Cartoon is from Punch, December 1941. The quote reads: “I protest against this action by Great Britain”.)

     Incidentally, at Pétain’sxdeath, the leader of the Free French during the Second World War, Charles de Gaulle, wrote: “Pétain’s life was successively banal, then glorious, then deplorable, but it was never mediocre”. ......

     …… Thexeventual success of the French in holding onto Verdun and its surrounding forts caused them to have an over optimistic faith in fortified positions as a means of defence. In the 1920s, the French Minister of War, André Maginot (1877-1932), proposed the building of a line of avant-garde defences along France’s frontier with Germany. When completed in the 1930s they were named after him – the Maginot Line – but, unfortunately, this line proved of no barrier to Nazi Germany’s panzer (tank) divisions in 1939. Maginot served in the First World War and was wounded at the Battle of Verdun. A memorial to his memory was dedicated at Verdun in September 1966.

    It was in July, in the midst of the fighting around Verdun, that, somewhat belatedly, the British opened their infamous Battle of the Somme – to be described by the British poet, Siegfried Sassoon as “that sunlit picture of hell”. It was part of the so-called “Big Push”, a combined Allied assault on three fronts, specifically designed to draw German forces away from the ferocious blood letting exercise engulfing Verdun. The British attack did assist in reducing the pressure on the French further south, but, as we shall see, like Verdun itself, it lasted for months rather than days, and was not without its own cost in “blood letting”.