The Battle of Verdun started on 21 February and continued till December 15, 1916.The battle was mainly fought between the French forces and the German fifth army. At that time, the German artillery was under the rule of Crown Prince Wilhelm.The city Verdun itself was unharmed during the First World War battle, but bombs decimated the surrounding areas really badly. The population of Verdun turned against the allies after the war because the city and its environs were nearly entirely devastated. And therefore, Verdun became an emblem of allied power after the fight. The castle of Verdun and its surrounding walls along the Meuse River were chosen because they threatened the main German lines of communication, they were a key component of the French defenses, and the loss of such a historic fortress would be devastating to French confidence. The tactical plan’s centerpiece was a series of small pushes that would bring the French reserves into the German artillery’s mincing machine. Each of these advances was to be protected by a heavy artillery barrage, which would be brief for surprise and compensated for by the number of guns and their velocity of firing.The French were only concerned with surviving the first several hours of the conflict. They hunkered down in every trench, dug-out, shell-hole, and other depression they could locate, relying on nothing but luck and scant cover to keep them alive. Throughout the morning and into late afternoon, the hammering was felt all along the French lines. The bombardment progressively changed its focus away from large-caliber howitzers and toward smaller field artillery and mortars, which could give more precise targeting against sites thought to be resisting the German assault. The Germans had encircled the Verdun region on all three sides, making it a strategic point on the western front. The French had committed a large number of soldiers and resources to the area in order to secure its perimeter. They built a set of defensive lines at Verdun, which became known as the Verdun Fortified Region. There were a number of forts in this area which were large concrete structures that were mostly subterranean. The Verdun forts were connected by an extensive tunnel of concrete shelters, improved observation posts, batteries, concrete bunkers, command posts, and underneath tunnels.If you liked reading our article on the Battle Of Verdun and are interested to know about such wars of our history, then do take a look at our other articles on Battle of Stalingrad and Battle of Vicksburg here only on Kidadl.The Battle Of Verdun Date, Year, Time, And Countries InvolvedOriginally, the Battle of Verdun was started by German infantry, where they attacked the French army. The battle was started at 7.15 a.m. on February 21 and continued till December 15, 1916. This attack continued for eight months in World War 1. The British began the Fight of the Somme in July 1916 in an attempt to relieve German offensive pressure on the French at Verdun as a result of the Verdun fatalities and the major impact of the battle which French Army had.Falkenhayn needed to target a region of the French front where strategic needs and national pride collided in order to achieve his goal. Verdun, a historical fortress and city on the River Meuse, was one such location. The Germans would control the surrounding area if they secured the heights on the Meuse’s east bank and attacked the west bank of the Meuse, thus making it critical for the French soldiers to recapture the terrain or lose Verdun. Falkenhayn planned to destroy French morale with over 1,200 artillery pieces while using German infantry sparingly to reduce his own fatalities.At Verdun, General Philippe Petain was appointed head of the French Massive Army. Petain was known as a master of fortification, and instead of sending all of his troops into the dangerous front line trenches, he organized his military to defend in depth by building a series of mutually supportive strongpoints. While this revealed much of the French army to the fighting, it also meant that men did not spend long amounts of time at the front. The French also boosted the number of artillery pieces stationed at Verdun, causing the Germans to be bombarded as well.The Purpose Of The Battle Of VerdunErich von Falkenhayn, who was Germany’s Chief of General Staff, originally devised the plan to ensure German forces on the Western Front. His goal was to smash the French troops before their allies got stronger as a result of the British soldiers’ complete deployment. As a result, the Allies would not be able to fight on the Western Front without French casualties of ninety-six divisions.Falkenhayn concluded that the French troops could not afford to lose the forts of Verdun because the national humiliation after that would be too great. Falkenhayn predicted that by fighting to the death, the French would lose so many troops that the battle would influence the trajectory of the war. Falkenhayn’s strategy was effective as the Fort Douaumont and Fort Vaux were ingrained in the French psyche, and they would battle tooth and nail to keep the German attack out from them. Falkenhayn’s strategy, however, had one big flaw: it anticipated that the French soldiers would be an easy opponent, and therefore the French defenders would lose and have large losses and not the Germans, who would suffer large deaths.Number Of People Who Died In The Battle Of VerdunThe two armies at Verdun suffered almost 700,000 losses, including 300,000 killed, over the course of ten months in 1916. The number of French casualties was estimated to be around 400,000, whereas the number of German casualties was estimated to be around 350,000. The unknown troops were remembered at the Douaumont Ossuary, a monument dedicated to the unidentified remains of 150,000 French and German soldiers that was constructed in 1932.The attack began with 140,000 German troops. They were backed up by 1,200 artillery batteries, which fired 2,500,000 shells into the Verdun area. About 1,300 ammo trains were required to supply the guns. With 168 planes in the vicinity, the German soldiers had completed the air supremacy, which is the highest concentration of helicopters and planes in history up to that moment. The French second army had only around 30,000 troops to fight the Germans with. And over 1,000 German machine guns were fired on February 21 when the war began at a six-mile line on the French front.The Weapons Used In The Battle Of VerdunThere were many dangerous weapons used in the battle of Verdun which was never used in the history of World War. There is a reason behind the saying that this war is the bloodiest one in history. The reason is that weapons like Machine guns, Artillery batteries, rifles, flamethrowers, grenades, and large tanks. Men were suffocated, and from top to bottom was cut in half or split. They were blown into waterfalls of flamethrowers, bellies were flipped inside out, and their skulls were found smashed into their chest during the attack.The struggle of Verdun lasted for around 300 days and therefore making it the longest and most expensive battle in modern history. As Anglo-Zanzibar War of 1896 was the shortest one. Little ground had been won by either army at the end of the war, and the position was much the same as it had been in the months before. Although the combat appeared to be a draw, the French had stopped the Germans and weakened them. Thus, in the end, France won the fight by not being defeated and by continuing the war, which aided the western allies in their victory on the western front. The Germans’ failure to fulfill their objectives in the nearly year-long battle of Verdun was due to a number of factors. The Germans had miscalculated the French defenses’ depth and size, as well as their capacity to rebuild them during downtimes in the battle. The French forces proved to be far more durable than Berlin’s High Command had predicted. The French weaponry, on the other hand, had performed far better than planned. The French were able to murder and injure thousands of German soldiers because they were stationed on the ridges above the Meuse River.Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly facts for everyone to enjoy! If you liked our suggestions for Battle Of Verdun: must know World War history facts for kids then why not take a look at mind-blowing Antonio Brown facts for the hardcore football lovers, or 19 amazing Antonio Vivaldi facts for the music lovers.The first image is by Arnauddevial.
The Battle of Verdun started on 21 February and continued till December 15, 1916.
