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A thousand German guns open fire on French positions around Ferdan. These are the opening salvos of one of World War I's deadliest battles. At Verdon, traditional military strategy gives way to the grim logic of attrition. Kill the enemy faster than you lose your own men, and you'll crush his will to fight. The theory will be tested to the limit. Verdan becomes a giant meat grinder. Consuming a thousand lives a day for 300 days. The battle will be immortalized for its horror and the extraordinary suffering of troops on both sides. But it is also a dramatic tale of leadership, determination, and heroism
against a backdrop of emerging technologies and evolving military doctrines. This is the story of Verdan 1916. Two months earlier, Allied commanders meet at Shanti, France to discuss military plans for the year ahead. had been a bad year for the Allies. Russian forces in full retreat, and despite costly Allied offensives, the Germans still occupy Belgium and parts of France. The western front is now locked in trench warfare in which attacking forces suffer massive casualties for every tiny advance. But Allied commanders at Shanti believe the German army is now overstretched and the 1916 is their chance for victory.
The allies agreed to launch large-scale simultaneous attacks from east, west, and south to deal a knockout blow to the central powers. It is exactly what German commander Eric von Falenheim fears. He is already convinced that a decisive German victory in the war is unlikely. Allied resources are too vast. Instead, he argues that Germany should try to force the enemy to negotiate and do it soon.
He believes this can be achieved by making the cost of war impossibly high for the allies and that the French will be first to crack. So he plans an offensive against the French code named Operation Ger Judgment. The target Verdan in northeastern France. The historic fortress city lies in a valley of the river Moose. In 1914, the Germans had crossed the river to the north, and the city now lies in an exposed salient, but it is well protected. Verdon is surrounded by hills and ridges, reinforced by a ring of powerful forts built to guard France's eastern frontier. These are formidable defenses, but there is logic behind Falconheine's choice of target.
Falconheine knows that Verdan holds immense symbolic importance for France and their generals will feel forced to defend it, potentially to the last man. This is what he wants because his real goal is not to capture Verdan but to inflict so many losses on the French that he destroys their fighting spirit. The phrase he repeatedly uses according to one officer is that the French army must be bled white. All the Germans have to do is capture the heights that surround Verdan.
The French will be forced to counterattack, beginning a battle of attrition in which the Germans hold the best cards. Artillery is the greatest killer on the Western Front and is key to Falconheine's plans. Significantly, Verdan is just 25 mi from Mets, a major German rail hub with rail links straight back to German factories, ensuring his guns will get all the shells they need. In contrast, Verdan itself can no longer be safely supplied by rail due to the German advance and has to rely on a constricted road network for supplies. Some historians claim that later, having seen the battle Verdun became, Falconheine lied about his plans in 1916. That in truth, he had always hoped to capture Verdan.
But after the war, he then chose to rewrite history, even faking a key report to claim he had only ever planned a grand battle of attrition. Falconheines's exact objective will soon become a moot point. And either way, the plan is bold and ruthless. But for it to work, the Germans will have to seize and hold Verdun's famous forts. This video is sponsored by War Thunder, the most comprehensive vehicle combat game ever made. Available now for free on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and mobile.
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You can join the action now for free on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, or mobile using our links in the description or pinned comment and jump straight into battle with a community of over 95 million players. New and returning players who haven't played for at least 6 months on PCs and consoles will receive the exclusive Eagle of Valor vehicle decorator, 100,000 Silver Lions, and 7 days of premium account access. Available for a limited time only. Verdon is protected by 19 major French forts and around 20 smaller fortifications or U of most were built in the 1880s following France's defeat in the FrancoRussian War, but they have been continuously
modernized and strengthened Since each fort is within sight of its neighbors, so their guns can offer supporting fire. The jewel in the crown is Fort Duong, which dominates the landscape and is reputed to be the most powerful fort in Europe. It is a steel and concrete pentagon quarter of a mile wide and sits above a slope or glasses guarded with barbed wire and spiked railings. The center of the fort is protected by a dry moat 5 m deep 10 m wide. Three galleries in the forward corners house light cannon and machine guns which allow flanking fire across the outer glasses and into the moat. At the center armored observation points
and five elevated artillery and machine gun imp placements. These include the Kasmat Dubour with two 75 mm guns and a rotating 155 mm gun turret that can be lowered into the fort for protection. Only a fraction of the fort is visible from the surface. Deep underground below 13 ft of earth and 8 ft of steel reinforced concrete lie tunnels, facilities, and barracks for 800 soldiers across two subterranean levels. But all is not as it seems. In the opening stages of the war, Belgium's famous forts had been smashed by German heavy artillery. This had caused French generals to question the value of Verdan's forts.
Plus, no one is expecting a major attack at Verdan. So, with urgent calls for artillery elsewhere on the front, Duour and other forts have been stripped of their heavy guns. By 1916, they are also pathetically undermanned. In 1914, Duong was held by 500 men, now by just 56 middle-aged reservists. The most powerful fort in Europe is a paper tiger. German preparations for the attack progress rapidly. Artillery will pave the way for the infantry's advance.
Engineers build 10 new railway lines, 24 stations and spur lines to transport heavy guns into position. They assemble a terrifying arsenal, 1,220 guns for an attack on an 8 mile front, an average of one gun every 12 yd. 1,300 munitions trains deliver 2.5 million shells for the initial bombardment. Finally, 140,000 soldiers move up for the assault. Verdon is the first major battle in history to begin with a struggle for air superiority. The Germans deploy 168 aircraft to dominate the skies and prevent French aircraft from observing their buildup. But there are some ominous signs.
The French notice that the Germans are demolishing churched steeples behind their own line, something they do before a major attack, so enemy spotters can't use them as reference points. But reports like these and urgent requests for reinforcements are ignored. On the eve of battle, the French are badly outnumbered and outgunned. At 7:15 a.m. on the 21st of February, more than a thousand German guns open fire on French positions around Verdan. They fire almost a million shells that day. The Germans call such bombardments troop fire, drum fire, because the continuous explosions sound like a drum roll. At 5:00 p.m., the barrage lifts and German infantry advance.
They find many French trenches abandoned or occupied only by crazed shellshocked survivors. Yet there are pockets of resistance as dusk falls. Isolated French regiments mount a desperate defense from the shattered woods of Core and Omar. While French artillery harasses German infantry advancing across open ground. But they cannot hold the enemy for long. 4 days later, on the 25th of February, the Germans reach Fort Duong. A small detachment of soldiers approaches cautiously. But to their astonishment, they find it almost abandoned. They slip in through an opening and the famed Fort Duong falls without a shot fired.
Its loss, a French officer remarks, will cost the French army 100,000 lives. The Germans are now just 6 miles from Verdan. Only a weaker line of forts. Suvil, Samichelle, and Belleville stand in their way. France's high command has been caught napping. And at first, commanderin-chief General Zoffre is reluctant to act. He wants nothing to disrupt plans for the major Allied assault that summer. But he is soon persuaded that Verdan's loss would be an unacceptable blow to French morale as well as a political disaster. He orders the entire second army under General Philip Petan to reinforce Ferdan.
6 days after the German attack, Peter is in overall command of the sector. He immediately suspends costly counterattacks to prioritize defense and by the end of February, the French line has been shored up. One help is that the Germans have advanced beyond range of their own supporting artillery. Guns that are nightmarishly hard to haul forward through the thick mud. The German advance stalls. Crucially, Falconheine has failed to capture all the heights on the east bank of the moose. This means German lines are exposed to artillery fire from Buurus, Mar and Vasheo, and other French guns on high ground west of the Muse.
German planners had urged Falconheine to attack these positions from the start. Finally, on the 6th of March, long after the element of surprise has been lost, he extends his offensive to the West Bank. After a devastating artillery bombardment, two divisions, more than 30,000 men, attack on a threemile front. They suffer heavy losses and are unable to take two key positions that will become infamous. Coat 304 and Limort. At the end of March, two more German attacks are bloodily repulsed around Duong village and the Guaday. The battle already seems to be taking on a life of its own, sucking in more and more troops.
The original objectives blurred as every village and high point becomes a ferociously contested prize. Falconheine is later criticized for two key mistakes in this opening phase of the battle. Not attacking on the west bank of the moose from the outset and not committing his reserves soon enough to exploit his early breakthrough. Now those opportunities have passed. There will be no more easy gains for the Germans and a familiar pattern emerges as Verdun turns into a terrible grinding battle of attrition. As deadly for the Germans as for the French.
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He remained a prisoner of war for the rest of the conflict. Make sure you join us for part two of the Battle of Verdan, where we'll look at the artillery weapons that dominated the battlefield, conditions for troops in the front line, and the savage fighting for Fort Vo. Get early access to this and all our videos at Patreon. Big thanks to all those already supporting the channel from builders such as Abbe Sullemanov, Chris Skeel and Tim to citizens like Emil Unibbrand Kai and Milan Satala and heroes like NBD. D.
