#Verdun france map how to#

On February 24 the Germans sought to advance from their position at Samogneux, but they were immobilized by French artillery. Thousands of French troops, placed in untenable positions in open country, were almost immediately wiped from the field. In three days the Germans had overrun the first line of French defenses, and both sides hastily reinforced their positions. The village of Haumont was razed by artillery fire, and by February 23 the villages of Brabant-sur-Meuse, Wavrille, and Samogneux were in German hands. The following day the Germans capitalized on their gains, repelling a French counterattack. German troops made significant gains by the end of the first day, occupying the Bois d’Haumont and penetrating the French lines. Combat engineers then followed, ahead of the main body of the advance. If French defenses had not been shattered in a given area, the scouts retired and directed additional shelling. At about 4:45 pm the first German infantry attack was launched, initially by teams of scouts who surveyed the damage done by the opening barrage. The 37-mile (57-km) dirt road connecting the railhead at Bar-le-Duc to Verdun came to be known as La Voie Sacrée (“the Sacred Way”) for its critical role in the French defense.Īt 7:15 am on February 21, the Germans commenced a massive bombardment of a front some 25 miles (40 km) long, from the Bois d’Avocourt to Étain. Confronted with a massive logistical challenge-main rail lines to Verdun had been cut or were under constant barrage by German artillery-French officers organized a motorized supply chain on an unprecedented scale, transporting men and matériel to the front in a fleet of more than 3,000 trucks. Over the next 10 days, thousands of men and dozens of guns were moved to Verdun to oppose the expected German attack. As French commanders had been almost exclusively focused on their own offensive plans, their hasty efforts to bolster the defenses of Verdun were very nearly too late. He regarded Russia as already paralyzed and Italy as unlikely to affect the outcome of the war, concluding, “Only France remains.” Falkenhayn stated that a breakthrough en masse was unnecessary and that instead Germany should bleed France to death by choosing a point of attack “for the retention of which the French would be compelled to throw in every man they have.”īattle of Verdun Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.Īs early as January 1916, French airmen had detected German preparations for the Verdun offensive, and on February 11, 1916, a French intelligence officer discovered a buildup of German troops on the right bank of the Meuse. In Falkenhayn’s view, Britain’s “real weapons” in the war were the French, Russian, and Italian armies.

In a letter to German Emperor William II in late 1915, he argued that Britain was the most formidable of the Allied powers, but he conceded that it could not be assaulted directly, save by submarine warfare, as the British sector of the Western Front did not lend itself to offensive operations (an assessment that would be proved correct at the First Battle of the Somme). Erich von Falkenhayn believed that the war would be won or lost in France, and he felt that a strategy of attrition was Germany’s best hope of achieving its goals. Uncover the history of the most ferocious battle of World War I, the Battle of Verdun, 1916 Contunico © ZDF Enterprises GmbH, Mainz See all videos for this article SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.Britannica Beyond We’ve created a new place where questions are at the center of learning.100 Women Britannica celebrates the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, highlighting suffragists and history-making politicians.

#Verdun france map how to#

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