What Happened at Verdun?

A battle of many firsts.

The Battle of Verdun was the longest and most costly in history when it took place, and was one of the most important battles in determining the outcome of World War I. The battle also saw completely new types of warfare, as well as the reform of others for some nations, such as the French abandoning of the ‘Doctrine of the Offensive’ and the German mass artillery bombardment strategy, and also saw some weapons being used en masse for the first time, namely the flammenwerfer. This essay will examine the significance of Verdun, discussing its effect on the war and warfare as a whole, as well as the context leading up to the battle.

In March of 1916 ‘Operation Gericht’ of WWI began, the German offensive to bombard French positions in and around the city of Verdun before quickly advancing and capturing them, the brainchild of General Erich Falkenhayn that was intended to crack open the enemy’s front whilst inflicting heavy casualties on him. From 1915 onwards the war had entered a severe stalemate along the majority of its western front, with neither side making any significant advances, and Falkenhayn knew that if Germany did not soon knock one of the Western powers out of the war then her other enemies would have time to muster their forces to gain an overwhelming numerical advantage on the German forces.

Thus, the city of Verdun, a French weak point and a territory that had seen almost no fighting, was chosen as the target of ‘Operation Gericht’, yet despite the battle lasting over nine months and the severe lack of French artillery for much of it, the attack was ultimately repulsed. The battle had absorbed the forces of both sides, and the original plan of a swift fight that would be costly to the enemy was prolonged, and instead was costly to both belligerents, so that German resources were absorbed and wasted whilst they made no gains elsewhere.

One of the key tactics involved in ‘Operation Gericht’ was the massive artillery bombardment of French positions in and around Verdun, so much so that on the first day of the attack alone it is estimated over 1,000,000 shells were fired, already making it the largest artillery bombardment in history at the time. Furthermore, by deploying a ten-hour-long continuous ‘rolling barrage’ technique over the entirety of the French frontline to tertiary positions, the powerful guns of the German artillery corps devastated, not only the buildings and trenches, but the landscape too, an overall result extremely similar to that seen in the nearby Argonne forest that year.

The sheer scale of the bombardment alone was new, however, its purpose was also unique to warfare practiced during the war, as the primary intention was to bleed the defending force of men by killing as many as possible with artillery. This placed a huge amount of importance on the German guns, and was a new approach to that of the traditional artillery role of flushing out the enemy or destroying his defences, which still played a part in the attack, but were not the primary goals.

The Battle of Verdun saw many other new steps taken in warfare at the time, as well as the reform of others. In regards the German military, other than their new mass-artillery tactic, they also deployed about six hundred or so flammenwerfer units during the initial assault of the bombarded French positions, with the intention of flushing out pockets of on a scale never before seen, as well as the introduction of flamethrowers to modern warfare, both of which would continue to be used and evolve in future conflicts.

Sources:

The Battlefield in the Argonne Forest, 1916 ((G.H.D.I.), Images of ‘Wilhelmine Germany and the First World War (1890–1918)’, section 7, image 10).

‘Westfront, Flammenwerfer, 1917’ in German Federal Archives digitized images section

Bruce, Robert B., ‘To the Last Limits of Their Strength: The French Army and the Logistics of Attrition at the Battle of Verdun 21 February — 18 December 1916’ in Army History, 45 (1998), pp 9–12.

Donnell, Clayton, The Fortifications of Verdun, 1874–1917 (Oxford, 2010), p. 43.

Jankowski, Paul, Verdun: The Longest Battle of the Great War (Paris, 2013), p. 214.

Kaufmann, J.E. & Kaufmann, H.W., Verdun 1916: The Renaissance of the Fortress (Brtitain, 2016), pp 108–140.