Verdun: A Study in Horror

The infamous battle of Verdun (France), fought during WWI, was the most costly battle ever, in terms of human lives. Fought from Feb. 1916 until Nov. 1918, never has a single battle lasted for so long. It captured the very essence of “war of attrition.” Nearly one million soldiers died!

Visitors to the battle area (over 250 square kilometers) are cautioned not to stray from designated walkways. The danger of the multiple thousands of unexploded shells, which occasionally kill or maim, awaits any who dare to wander onto the battlefield. Imagine such an area under sporadic artillery duels for two and three quarter years. Imagine the state of the terrain after artillery had hit every square meter many times.

Today, just scraping the surface with a shoe reveals rusted belt and canteen strap buckles, rifle shell casings and similar items. It would take many pages to adequately describe the scope of this battle. The constant artillery, chlorine, mustard and nerve gases stand as stark testimony to “man’s inhumanity to man.”

Here is a summary of the first two days of battle: “On Feb. 21st 1916, at 7:15 a.m., the enemy opened fire on the two banks of the Meuse [River], over a front of 40 kilometers. Simultaneously Verdun was systematically bombarded, the last residents being evacuated by the military authority at midday on the 25th.

“For ten hours, all the enemy guns and trench mortars kept up a running fire without intermission. In all the woods adjoining the front it was a regular firework display. A feature of this overwhelming bombardment was the enormous proportion of heavy caliber shells, 150’s and 210’s coming over like hailstones.

“Under this deluge of projectiles all trenches were leveled, the woods became a twisted mass of trunks and branches, and villages collapsed and were blotted out.

“The infantry attack was launched at 5:15 p.m.…Three [German] army corps...advanced. They thought they had only to march, with their rifles slung, over ground like a ploughed field.

“The [French] 51st…and 72nd Divisions…sustained the first shock and...covered the arrival of French re-enforcements.

“A heroic combat followed the most formidable artillery preparation hitherto known. The chasseurs [light cavalry troops] of Colonel Driant resisted the attack, inch by inch, in the wood of Caures. By nightfall the advance of the enemy was insignificant compared with their losses…

“[The next morning] with snow falling, the bombardment was resumed with, if possible, greater intensity. Colonel Driant in the wood of Caures was outflanked on both sides and died fighting, after first evacuating his chasseurs to Beaumont.” (Verdun, An Illustrated Historical Guide, p. 24)

This long battle veered back and forth over one piece of ground! Today the battlefields are quiet, even more than when the German generals reported to their Crown Prince, “All is quiet on the western front,” when things were temporarily static on the French front lines. This famous comment is still quoted often.