On December 19, 1916, one of the most violent and bloody battles of the First World War ended, the Battle of Verdun, codenamed “Operation Day of Judgment” (Gericht), which saw the opposing armies of France and Germany.

Verdun is the symbol of World War I, the first mass war in history, the first war with mass death in history: ten months of fighting, an estimated 420,000 casualties - one death per minute, night and day, for the duration of the operation - 800,000 poisoned by toxic gases or injured, entire villages razed to the ground, woods and hills burnt and obliterated in a lunar landscape of craters dug by months of bombing, between labyrinths of trenches and forests of fences, and no appreciable result from a strategic and military point of view. Neither of the two fighting sides "won" in Verdun. It was an indecisive battle in an indecisive war, a futile battle in a futile war.

For three hundred days all the most modern and deadly weapons were used. The soldiers of both sides fought in terrible conditions, including wounded without treatment who were in agony, couriers who did not return, rescues and rations that did not arrive and corpses buried and dug up by the incessant bombardment of artillery. It was precisely the continuous roar of artillery that characterized the battle on the Verdun front for almost a year, establishing in the fighters a kind of "loss of will", an insensitivity to suffering and death, which if on the one hand corroded souls , on the other hand, it allowed to endure unspeakable suffering.

Excellent Jai. A truly horrendous battle which in the end took on a will of its own, and sucked in 75% of all fighting troops on the French side.. I recommend the book " the Price of Glory", by Alistair Horne, as perhaps the best summing up of the battle.

Phil

The German goal was to bleed France to death..and nearly worked, but the French stood their ground and Neville, who was killed, set the expression “they shall not pass”..and held ..on the western front, the french paid a higher price than British by far...

Another point I like about this site learning history

And discussing. We all have something to contribute

Anyone who gets the chance you visit this battle field - as even now you can understand what went on. Both in the town where the command center was and out at the forts in the surrounding area.