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French chasseurs à pied (light infantry) in the Bois des Caures, in the northeastern front on the first days of the Battle of Verdun. The chasseurs, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Émile Driant, were subjected to the devastating bombardment of February 21 and 22, 1916, and the assault of the 22nd and 23rd. Driant, a professional soldier and writer who had also represented the city of Nancy, was killed by a machine gun bullet through his forehead. After the two days in the trenches, only 118 of the original 1,200 infantrymen remained.
Map of the battlefield of Verdun, showing the line on February 21, 1916, when the initial bombardment began, the line reached in the first days of the offensive, and the line reached by June. From 'The German General Staff and its Decisions, 1914-1916' by General Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of the German General Staff, who staked his position on the Battle for Verdun. He was replaced in August, 1916.
Periscope view of the Russian trenches, February, 1916. The message dated February 24, 1916 notes that the hash marks from the central point are measured in meters.
Gun turrets of Fort Douaumont in the rain, September 22, 2015. © 2015 John M. Shea
England's Distress: Postcard map of England and Ireland with the restricted zone Germany proclaimed around the islands, showing the ships destroyed by submarine in the 12 months beginning February 1, 1917.
"Imagine, if you can, a storm, a tempest, growing steadily worse, in which the rain consists entirely of cobblestones, in which the hail is made up entirely of masonry blocks. Remember that a mere 120, at the point of impact, has gathered the same energy and releases, just as instantaneously, the same destructive force as an express train hitting the buffers at 90 kilometers an hour. . . . And we're underneath it, you follow? UNDERNEATH IT, as quiet as Baptists, smoking our pipes, waiting from moment to moment for the inevitable, fatal moment when our wretched carcasses are going to be squashed, flattened, ground instantly into dust." ((1), more)
"Bombardments by the German heavy artillery, during February 21st and the night of the 21st-22nd, preceded the charge of the shock divisions. Nowhere before, on any front, in any battle, had anything like it been seen. The Germans aimed to create a 'zone of death,' within which no troops could survive. An avalanche of steel and iron, of shrapnel and poisonous gas shells, fell on our woods, ravines, trenches, and shelters, destroying everything, transforming the sector into a charnel field, defiling the air, spreading flames into the heart of the town, damaging even the bridges and Meuse villages as far as Genicourt and Troyon. Heavy explosions shook our forts and wreathed them in smoke. It would be impossible to describe an action of the kind. I believe it has never been equalled in violence, and it concentrated the devastating fire of more than two million shells in the narrow triangle of land between Brabant-on-Meuse, Ornes, and Verdun." ((2), more)
"yesterday we heard that 4 fortresses of Verdun were taken. There has been a lot of shooting . . . Maybe this is the end of Verdun and peace will come soon . . . the barbed wire on the other side of the card is French. You can see dead patrols" ((3), more)
"In the afternoon of February 23rd [1916], while we had not retired a single foot, order was given us to withdraw carefully, for, the Waville wood having been taken, we ran the risk of being surrounded. We waited for the night to come. Some of our men, when they learned that we were to leave, protested, asking to be allowed to fight and die on the spot. However, tactical reasons obliged us to evacuate Herbebois, and we had to reckon with the general situation." ((4), more)
"On 24th February [1916]—three days after the Germans launched their attack on Verdun—there was a conference in Stavka. The Russian superiority of numbers was now considerable—on the northern front, 300,000 to 180,000; on the western, 700,000 to 360,000 (917 battalions to 382) with 526 cavalry squadrons to 144; and on the south-western front, about half a million men on either side (684 Russian battalions to 592, and 492 squadrons to 239)." ((5), more)
(1) Description of the bombardment that opened the Battle of Verdun on February 21, 1916 by Marc Stéphane, a French Corporal of the chasseurs à pied (light infantry), who had returned from sick leave on the 18th. His battalion was stationed in the Bois des Caures, in the northern tip of the Verdun salient. Along with the 120 mm guns Stéphane refers to, the German arsenal of over 1,000 guns included 150, 210, 305, 380, and 420 mm guns.
The Road to Verdun by Ian Ousby, pp. 82, 83, copyright © 2002 by The Estate of Ian Ousby, publisher: Anchor Books, publication date: 2003
(2) Description of the beginning of the Battle of Verdun by Henri Philippe Pétain, the extraordinary bombardment of February 21 and 22, 1916, and the infantry assaults of the 22nd. French commander-in-chief Joffre charged Pétain with the defense of Verdun on February 26.
Verdun by Henri Philippe Pétain, pp. 58, 59, copyright © 1930, publisher: The Dial Press, publication date: 1930
(3) Part of the message from a photo postcard of a German trench view of barbed wire and a dead patrol. Dated February 22, 1916, and field postmarked the next day, the message is from a soldier of the 10th Ersatz Division to his uncle, and reads in part, 'yesterday we heard that 4 fortresses of Verdun were taken. This have been a lot of shooting . . . Maybe this is the end of Verdun and peace will come soon . . . the barbed wire on the other side of the card is French. You can see dead patrols . . .' (Translation from the German courtesy Thomas Faust, Ebay's seller Urfaust.) Evidently the author safely reached the French trench line.
Verdun February 22, 2916 German trench view of barbed wire and dead by Soldier 10th Ersatz Division, postcard back, publication date: 1916-02-22
(4) A French officer's account of his regiment's withdrawal from Herbebois in the northeastern salient of Verdun. The Battle of Verdun had begun with a German bombardment of over 1,000 guns on the 21st. Bois des Caures, northwest of Herbebois, had fallen on the 22nd, exposing the left of the officer's line.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. IV, 1916, p. 55, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
(5) The Germans launched the Battle of Verdun on February 21, 1916 with a bombardment of over 1,000 guns along the Verdun salient, continuing the attack the next day with artillery and infantry assaults. The French immediately requested a Russian offensive to relieve the pressure. Stavka was the Russian General Headquarters, under the command, since the summer of 1915, of Tsar Nicholas.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, page 227, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
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