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.