World's War Events Volume II Part 1

World's War Events.

Vol. II.

by Various.

THE BATTLE OF VERDUN

RAOUL BLANCHARD

Copyright, Atlantic Monthly, June, 1917.

[Sidenote: Greatest drama of the war.]

The Battle of Verdun, which continued through from February 21, 1916, to the 16th of December, ranks next to the Battle of the Marne as the greatest drama of the world war. Like the Marne, it represents the checkmate of a supreme effort on the part of the Germans to end the war swiftly by a thunderstroke. It surpa.s.ses the Battle of the Marne by the length of the struggle, the fury with which it was carried on, the huge scale of the operations. No complete a.n.a.lysis of it, however, has yet been published--only fragmentary accounts, dealing with the beginning or with mere episodes. Neither in France nor in Germany, up to the present moment, has the whole story of the battle been told, describing its vicissitudes, and following step by step the development of the stirring drama. That is the task I have set myself here.

[Sidenote: German successes in France.]

[Sidenote: Preparations for a great offensive.]

The year 1915 was rich in successes for the Germans. In the West, thanks to an energetic defensive, they had held firm against the Allies'

onslaughts in Artois and in Champagne. Their offensive in the East was most fruitful. Galicia had been almost completely recovered, the kingdom of Poland occupied, Courland, Lithuania, and Volhynia invaded. To the South they had crushed Serbia's opposition, saved Turkey, and won over Bulgaria. These triumphs, however, had not brought them peace, for the heart and soul of the Allies lay, after all, in the West--in England and France. The submarine campaign was counted on to keep England's hands tied; it remained, therefore, to attack and annihilate the French army.

And so, in the autumn of 1915, preparations were begun on a huge scale for delivering a terrible blow in the West and dealing France the _coup de grace_.

The determination with which the Germans followed out this plan and the reckless way in which they drew on their resources leave no doubt as to the importance the operation held for them. They staked everything on putting their adversaries out of the running by breaking through their lines, marching on Paris, and shattering the confidence of the French people. This much they themselves admitted. The German press, at the beginning of the battle, treated it as a matter of secondary import, whose object was to open up free communications between Metz and the troops in the Argonne; but the proportions of the combat soon gave the lie to such modest estimates, and in the excitement of the first days official utterances betrayed how great were the expectations.

[Sidenote: Troops urged to take Verdun.]

[Sidenote: Objects of the campaign.]

On March 4 the Crown Prince urged his already over-taxed troops to make one supreme effort to "capture Verdun, the heart of France"; and General von Deimling announced to the 15th Army Corps that this would be the last battle of the war. At Berlin, travelers from neutral countries leaving for Paris by way of Switzerland were told that the Germans would get there first. The Kaiser himself, replying toward the end of February to the good wishes of his faithful province of Brandenburg, congratulated himself publicly on seeing his warriors of the 3d Army Corps about to carry "the most important stronghold of our princ.i.p.al enemy." It is plain, then, that the object was to take Verdun, win a decisive victory, and start a tremendous onslaught which would bring the war to a triumphant close.

We should next examine the reasons prompting the Germans to select Verdun as the vital point, the nature of the scene of operations, and the manner in which the preparation was made.

[Sidenote: Strategic advantages to be gained.]

[Sidenote: Verdun railways dominated by Germans.]

Why did the Germans make their drive at Verdun, a powerful fortress defended by a complete system of detached outworks? Several reasons may be found for this. First of all, there were the strategic advantages of the operation. Ever since the Battle of the Marne and the German offensive against St. Mihiel, Verdun had formed a salient in the French front which was surrounded by the Germans on three sides,--northwest, east, and south,--and was consequently in greater peril than the rest of the French lines. Besides, Verdun was not far distant from Metz, the great German a.r.s.enal, the fountain-head for arms, food, and munitions.

For the same reasons, the French defense of Verdun was made much harder because access to the city was commanded by the enemy. Of the two main railroads linking Verdun with France, the Lerouville line was cut off by the enemy at St. Mihiel; the second (leading through Chalons) was under ceaseless fire from the German artillery. There remained only a narrow-gauge road connecting Verdun and Bar-le-Duc. The fortress, then, was almost isolated.

[Sidenote: Iron mines of Lorraine.]

[Sidenote: Extent of Lotharingia.]

For another reason, Verdun was too near, for the comfort of the Germans, to those immense deposits of iron ore in Lorraine which they have every intention of retaining after the war. The moral factor involved in the fall of Verdun was also immense. If the stronghold were captured, the French, who look on it as their chief bulwark in the East, would be greatly disheartened, whereas it would delight the souls of the Germans, who had been counting on its seizure since the beginning of the war. They have not forgotten that the ancient Lotharingia, created by a treaty signed eleven centuries ago at Verdun, extended as far as the Meuse. Finally, it is probable that the German General Staff intended to profit by a certain slackness on the part of the French, who, placing too much confidence in the strength of the position and the favorable nature of the surrounding countryside, had made little effort to augment their defensive value.

[Sidenote: Serious obstacles to an offensive.]

This value, as a matter of fact, was great. The theatre of operations at Verdun offers far fewer inducements to an offensive than the plains of Artois, Picardy, or Champagne. The rolling ground, the vegetation, the distribution of the population, all present serious obstacles.

[Sidenote: The plateaus of the Meuse.]

[Sidenote: Hills and ravines.]

The relief-map of the region about Verdun shows the sharply marked division of two plateaus situated on either side of the river Meuse. The plateau which rises on the left bank, toward the Argonne, falls away on the side toward the Meuse in a deeply indented line of high but gently sloping bluffs, which include the b.u.t.te de Montfaucon, Hill 304, and the heights of Esnes and Montzeville. Fragments of this plateau, separated from the main ma.s.s by the action of watercourses, are scattered in long ridges over the s.p.a.ce included between the line of bluffs and the Meuse: the two hills of Le Mont Homme (295 metres), the Cote de l'Oie, and, farther to the South, the ridge of Bois Bourrus and Marre. To the east of the river, the country is still more rugged. The plateau on this bank rises abruptly, and terminates at the plain of the Woevre in the cliffs of the Cotes-de-Meuse, which tower 100 metres over the plain. The brooks which flow down to the Woevre or to the Meuse have worn the cliffs and the plateau into a great number of hillocks called _cotes_: the Cote du Talon, Cote du Poivre, Cote de Froideterre, and the rest. The ravines separating these _cotes_ are deep and long: those of Vaux, Haudromont, and Fleury cut into the very heart of the plateau, leaving between them merely narrow ridges of land, easily to be defended.

[Sidenote: Stretches of forest.]

[Sidenote: Villages well placed for defense.]

These natural defenses of the country are strengthened by the nature of the vegetation. On the rather sterile calcareous soil of the two plateaus the woods are thick and numerous. To the west, the approaches of Hill 304 are covered by the forest of Avocourt. On the east, long wooded stretches--the woods of Haumont, Caures, Wavrille, Herbebois, la Vauche, Haudromont, Hardaumont, la Caillette, and others--cover the narrow ridges of land and dominate the upper slopes of the ravines. The villages, often perched on the highest points of land, as their names ending in _mont_ indicate, are easily transformed into small fortresses; such are Haumont, Beaumont, Louvemont, Douaumont. Others follow the watercourses, making it easier to defend them--Malancourt, Bethincourt and c.u.mieres, to the west of the Meuse; Vaux to the east.

These hills, then, as well as the ravines, the woods, and the favorably placed villages, all facilitated the defense of the countryside. On the other hand, the a.s.sailants had one great advantage: the French positions were cut in two by the valley of the Meuse, one kilometre wide and quite deep, which, owing to swampy bottom-lands, could not be crossed except by the bridges of Verdun. The French troops on the right bank had therefore to fight with a river at their backs, thus imperiling their retreat. A grave danger, this, in the face of an enemy determined to take full advantage of the circ.u.mstance by attacking with undreamed-of violence.

[Sidenote: Troops selected in October.]

The German preparation was, from the start, formidable and painstaking.

It was probably under way by the end of October, 1915, for at that time the troops selected to deliver the first crushing attack were withdrawn from the front and sent into training. Four months were thus set aside for this purpose. To make the decisive attack, the Germans made selection from four of their crack army corps, the 18th active, the 7th reserve, the 15th active (the Muhlhausen corps), and the 3d active, composed of Brandenburgers.

[Sidenote: Artillery and munitions made ready.]

These troops were sent to the interior to undergo special preparation.

In addition to these 80,000 or 100,000 men, who were appointed to bear the brunt of the a.s.sault, the operation was to be supported by the Crown Prince's army on the right and by that of General von Strautz on the left--300,000 men more. Immense ma.s.ses of artillery were gathered together to blast open the way; fourteen lines of railroad brought together from every direction the streams of arms and munitions. Heavy artillery was transported from the Russian and Serbian fronts. No light pieces were used in this operation--in the beginning, at any rate; only guns of large calibre, exceeding 200 millimetres, many of 370 and 420 millimetres.

[Sidenote: Reliance on heavy artillery.]

The battle plans were based on the offensive power of the heavy artillery. The new formula was to run, "The artillery attacks, the infantry takes possession." In other words, a terrible bombardment was to play over every square yard of the terrain to be captured; when it was decided that the pulverization had been sufficient, a scouting-party of infantry would be sent out to look the situation over; behind them would come the pioneers, and then the first wave of the a.s.sault. In case the enemy still resisted, the infantry would retire and leave the field once more to the artillery.

[Sidenote: The point selected for attack.]

The point chosen for the attack was the plateau on the right bank of the Meuse. The Germans would thus avoid the obstacle of the cliffs of Cotes de Meuse, and, by seizing the ridges and pa.s.sing around the ravines, they could drive down on Douaumont, which dominates the entire region, and from there fall on Verdun and capture the bridges. At the same time, the German right wing would a.s.sault the French positions on the left bank of the Meuse; the left wing would complete the encircling movement, and the entire French army of Verdun, driven back to the river and attacked from the rear, would be captured or destroyed.

[Sidenote: A ten months' battle.]

[Sidenote: The formidable German attack.]

[Sidenote: Periods of fixation.]

The Battle of Verdun lasted no less than ten months--from February 21 to December 16. First of all, came the formidable _German attack_, with its harvest of success during the first few days of the frontal drive, which was soon checked and forced to wear itself out in fruitless flank attacks, kept up until April 9. After this date the German programme became more modest: they merely wished to hold at Verdun sufficient French troops to forestall an offensive at some other point. This was the _period of German "fixation,"_ lasting from April to the middle of July. It then became the object of the French to hold the German forces and prevent transfer to the Somme. _French "fixation,"_ ended in the successes of October and December.

[Sidenote: Lack of foresight on the part of French.]

The first German onslaught was the most intense and critical moment of the battle. The violent frontal attack on the plateau east of the Meuse, magnificently executed, at first carried all before it. The commanders at Verdun had shown a lack of foresight. There were too few trenches, too few cannon, too few troops. The soldiers had had too little experience in the field, and it was their task to face the most terrific attack ever known.

[Sidenote: The battle begins.]

[Sidenote: French left driven backwards.]