Battle of Verdun is considered the greatest and lengthiest in world history

The postponed attack of  12 February 

The attack on Verdun was originally planned on Saturday 12 February. On the night of the 11th /12th of February the German troops were placed in position. The German infantry was waiting in their 'stollen', thousands at a time, for the starting signal. At the very last moment the attack was cancelled. It had began to snow and rain severely, it was freezing, the wind had increased and turned into a storm and the visibility was very poor. A large part of the German troops had to remain in the very primitive 'stollen' that were not equipped for a long stay. The 'stollen' were not heated and flooded. The overall condition of the troops got worse every day because of stomach and colon problems and malnutrition. After nine days of hardships the weather conditions had improved in such a way that the signal for attack could be given. Most likely the delay saved France from defeat: the two French divisions, which had been appointed as reinforcements at the very last moment, could therefore be placed into position. It also gave them the opportunity to make last minute improvements in their defence.


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The Battle of Verdun is considered the greatest and lengthiest in world history. Never before or since has there been such a lengthy battle, involving so many men, situated on such a tiny piece of land. The battle, which lasted from 21 February 1916 until 19 December 1916 caused over an estimated 700,000 dead, wounded and missing. The battlefield was not even a square ten kilometres. From a strategic point of view there can be no justification for these atrocious losses. The battle degenerated into a matter of prestige of two nations literally for the sake of fighting......


The start of the German attack

Monday morning 21 February 7.15   The heaviest bombing that had thus far ever taken place in a war starts over the entire Verdun front on the left and right side of the river Meuse and had a frontal latitude of 40 kilometres. Verdun itself is also heavily bombarded; the entire civilian population is evacuated.
The bombardment is the most horrible thus far; a terrible inferno. The muzzling fire from the German guns is one uninterrupted sea of fire. Black grenades fall with a frequency of 40 a minute. [Note: later made estimations show that in a rectangular of 500 by 1000 meter, 80.000 (sic) heavy grenades have fallen.]