Erik Sass is cover the effect of the war incisively 100 years after they pass . This is the 236th instalment in the series .
May 22-25, 1916: French Fail To Retake Fort Douaumont
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Even more significantly , Petain – a dour pessimist who ’d quickly realized the futility of foot assaults again entrenched defenders – avoided falling into the trap fructify by German chief of the oecumenical staff Erich von Falkenhayn , whohopedto weary France out through unmingled abrasion . Where Falkenhayn expect the French to splurge every last military personnel into the fight to save Verdun , Petain avoided beam his troop against strong German defensive positions whenever possible , was unforced to give up small amounts of ground when necessary , and relied heavily on artillery to make the enemy compensate for every satisfying foot of captured ground ( thus turning the table on Falkenhayn , who ’d go for to lure the French into counterattack and blow them away with gun ) .
Between this and German commander ’ over - eageradvances , what was suppose to be a struggle of attrition for the French alone ended up being equallycostlyfor the Germans , prompting the commander of the German Fifth Army , Crown Prince Frederick Wilhelm , to in private propose Falkenhayn that the flak had go bad and should be squall off on April 21 , 1916 . In short , the French defense of Verdun appeared to be successful .
However , French chief of the general staff Joseph Joffre was n’t satisfied with mere defense : give Verdun ’s symbolical importance , the German gains had to be overthrow through taxonomic countermove , even at bang-up monetary value . In other news , he was prepared to forsake Petain ’s hard - fought justificatory posture , thus playing into Falkenhayn ’s hands exactly as the latter hoped . And Joffre had the perfect commandant to launch the splendid bloodbath : General Robert Nivelle , a cocky French heavy weapon ship’s officer who ’d made his name helping defeat the German offensive of 1914 at the Marne and Aisne . Nivelle was supported by the commander of the 5thDivision , General Charles Mangin – a committed acolyte of the cult of the blast , who exuded self-confidence that the right combination of firepower and French bravery could bump the Germans from their positions northward of Verdun .
Of course Joffre could n’t just cashier a successful policeman like Petain ( as he had literally 100 of other lesser lights ) so instead he decide to kick him on a higher floor . On May 1 , 1916 Joffre promote Petain to mastery of Army Group Center , render him obligation for a large stretch of the Western Front besides Verdun , while Nivelle was promoted to command the Second Army . The stage was coiffure for the French to tack from denial to offense .
While the Germans remained focussed on the implausibly fierce struggle for the strategical hills Cote 304 and Mort Homme ( the appropriately name “ Dead Man ” ) on the west bank of the Meuse , Nivelle and Mangin planned to discover a reversal at the very center of the German lineage by recapturing Fort Douaumont , lose with scarcely a shot force out in the first days of the attack on Verdun , now a dependable haven , communications hub and clearing house for German troop on the way to the deep . They were understandably encouraged by belated news of the calamitous explosions and fire thatkilled650 German soldier at Fort Douaumont , concluding that these had in all likelihood damaged the fort ’s defenses as well .
Illustrated First World War
However the Germans quick repaired the harm with their typical efficiency , and then – alarm to the coming flak by intelligence reports – buttressed the garrison with reinforcements . Meanwhile the Gallic gun preparation ( which lasted five days ; above , the French bombardment ) was frustrated by pre - war French engineering skill , make little stamp on a cap write of thirty feet of soil over eight feet of concrete , although several gun enclosure , entryway , and a baron generator were destroy .
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When the French emerged from their positions to attack , German artillery unit in the trench around Douaumont opened up with ferocious accuracy , wiping out entire large number before they strain the fortress . all the same one French regiment , the 129th , wield to storm the ceiling of the structure , and a small number of Gallic military personnel actually managed to penetrate the fort through a hole provide by a lucky Gallic shot , reaching the the outer tunnels and even glimpsing the DoI of the fort itself before being swiftly expelled .
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The French go down up a machine gun on the roof of the fort and mowed down scores of German ( counter)-attackers emerging from the garrison ’s inside , but their own losses were astronomical , amount to almost half the regiment by the end of the first day . One anonymous French observer at Douaumont note the lunatic vehemence of the fighting , and its effect on the man :
Worse still , the French troops on the fortress ’s roof were slue off from reinforcements and resupplies by German weapon , mean it was only a matter of prison term before they ran out of ammunition and succumbed as well . By May 24 a German trench mortar wipe out the French machine gun , and the arriver of the Bavarian 1stand 2ndDivisions as strengthener on the German side on May 25 spelled the end of the venture .
Thus the onrush by the Gallic 5thDivision against Fort Douaumont terminate in total defeat . The total price from May 22 - 25 was 6,400 Gallic fatal accident , including numb , wounded , missing and prisoners , or almost half the strength of the 5thDivision , now so battered it could barely book its own position in the French justificatory line .
Meanwhile fighting continued along the entire Verdun front ( above , newsreel footage of Verdun ) and specially on the west bank of the Meuse , where the French and Germans were still battling for control condition of Cote ( Hill ) 304 . One eyewitness , the Gallic soldier Louis Barthas , described the shocking scenes amid around-the-clock scrap at Cote 304 :
Barthas afterwards saw the oddment of a French regiment which had been wiped out on Cote 304 not long before in the “ Rascas trench ” :
An anon. French police lieutenant painted a similar impression of conditions at Verdun :
See theprevious installmentorall entrance .
