CONCLUSION
The Battle of Verdun was not merely one of the hardest of the War’s many battles, it was also one of the most serious checks received by the Germans. The enemy High Command had foreseen neither its amplitude nor its long duration. Whereas, “according to plan,” Verdun—“Heart of France”—was speedily to be overpowered by a carefully prepared mass attack, the Germans found themselves involved in a formidable struggle, without being able either to obtain a decisive advantage or keep the relatively small advantages obtained at the beginning of the battle.
The battle did not develop “according to plan,” its successive phases being determined by circumstances.
The huge numbers of troops which the Germans were compelled to engage brings out very clearly the immensity of their effort and the different phases of the struggle.
The first and shortest phase (February 21st–March 1st) was that of the surprise attack by a large concentration of specially trained troops.
To the six German divisions which had been holding the Verdun sector since the Battle of the Marne, were added nine full divisions, rested and trained for attack.
Of these fifteen divisions ten took part in the surprise attack, their losses being immediately made good by reserves stationed in the rear of each army corps. At the end of February, in consequence of the French withdrawal in Woevre, two further divisions strengthened enemy action in that region.
The second phase (March 2nd–April 15th) marked the general attack on both banks of the Meuse, in place of the surprise attack which had failed.
During this period nine and a half fresh German divisions were engaged, of which four came from the Eastern front.
At the same time two and a half German divisions were withdrawn and rested in quiet sectors, while four others were sent to the rear to reform, two of them being, however, again engaged after twenty days’ rest.
The third phase (April 15th–July 1st) was that of attrition. After the failure of their general attack and to avoid avowal of their defeat, the Germans persisted in their attacks on Verdun.
Twelve fresh divisions were engaged, in addition to three others which had been sent to the rear to reform. On the other hand, fourteen divisions were withdrawn and sent to the rear, to Russia, or other sectors on the French front.
The fourth phase (July 1st, 1916, to 1917) was that of the retreat and stabilisation. The Germans were exhausted and compelled to use their reserves for the Russian front and especially in the Somme. Their activities on the Verdun front were limited to making good their losses. However, they were finally obliged to weaken this front to a point that they were unable to reply to the French attacks.
From August 21st to October 1st, the Germans brought up only one division and withdrew four. From October 1st to 24th, three divisions relieved nearly five. After October 24th the strength of the enemy forces varied only slightly, the French offensives preventing any further weakening of the front. The attrition caused by the French attacks of October 24th and December 15th gave rise only to rapid replacements of about equal importance.
In brief, from February 21st, 1916, to February 1st, 1917, the Germans engaged fifty-six and a half divisions (or 567 battalions), of which six divisions appeared successively on both banks of the Meuse, eight others being also engaged twice and six three times. In reality, in the course of eleven months, eighty-two and a half German divisions took part in the attacks on Verdun, which they had expected to crush in a few days with ten to twelve divisions. The contrast between this formidable effort and the meagre results obtained is striking, and is a splendid testimony to the courage and tenacity of the defenders. The Battle of Verdun in 1916 was not merely a severe local setback for the Germans; by using up their best troops it had also very important strategical consequences. Their successes were few, temporary, and dearly bought. Advancing painfully, each step forward was marked by a mountain of corpses. Up to the end of the War, even after the Battles of the Somme and Aisne in 1910 and 1917, and after the Battle of Champagne in 1918, Verdun remained a hideous spectre for the German people, while their soldiers surnamed it “The Slaughter-House of Germany.”
Douaumont Fort and its Approaches.
(Photographed from aeroplane in May, 1916.)
As the French President, M. Poincaré, declared, on handing to the Mayor of Verdun the decorations conferred on that city by the Allied nations, it was before the walls of Verdun that “the supreme hope of Imperial Germany was crushed.” It was at Verdun that Germany sought the “kolossal” victory which was to enslave the world, and it was there that France quietly but firmly replied “No road.” For centuries to come the name of Verdun will continue to ring in the ears of humanity like a shout of victory and a cry of deliverance.
Verdun Decorated
It was in a casemate of the Citadel, transformed into a salle de fêtes, that, on September 13th, 1916, Président Poincaré handed the undermentioned decorations, conferred on the city by the Chiefs of State of the Allied countries, to the Municipal Authorities of Verdun: St. George’s Cross of Russia (white enamel); the British Military Cross (silver); the medal for military valour of Italy (gold); the Cross of Leopold I. of Belgium (gold); the medal “Ohilitch” of Montenegro (gold); the “Croix de la Légion d’Honneur” and the “Croix de Guerre” of France. Since then the French Government has conferred a Sword of Honour on the city. Generals Joffre, Pétain and Nivelle, the Military Governor (General Dubois), the French War Minister and representatives of the Allied Nations were present at this moving ceremony, which consecrated the heroic resistance of the army of Verdun and the German defeat.
[The City of Verdun]
[The left-hand side of the map of the city]
[The right-hand side of the map of the city]
A VISIT TO THE CITY OF VERDUN
Motorists coming either from St. Menehould, or Bar-le-Duc, via the “Sacred Way,” enter Verdun by the Porte-de-France, which has been chosen as the starting-point of the following descriptive itinerary for visiting the town. Follow the streets shown on the outline map, in the direction of the arrows, consulting at the same time the text and photographs on [pp.32–56].
See also the [two-coloured plan] above.