From Wikipedia

Siege Of Verdun

After the German invasion of France had been halted at the First Battle of the Marne, in September 1914, the war of movement gave way to trench warfare with neither side being able to achieve a successful breakthrough.

In 1915, all attempts to force a breakthrough by the Germans at Ypres, by the British at Neuve Chapelle and by the French at Battle of Champagne and Battle of Artois had failed, resulting only in very heavy casualties.

According to his post-war memoirs, the German Chief of Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, believed that although a major breakthrough might no longer be achieved, the French army could still be defeated if it suffered a sufficient number of casualties. He explained that his motivation for the battle was to attack a position from which the French army could not retreat, both for strategic reasons and for reasons of national pride. Verdun, surrounded by a ring of forts, was a stronghold and a salient that projected into the German lines and blocked an important railway line leading to Paris.

French 87th regiment in trench at Hill 34 outside of Verdun

However by early 1916, Verdun's much-vaunted impregnability had been seriously weakened. General Joffre had concluded, from the easy fall of the Belgian fortresses at Liege and at Namur, that this type of defensive system was obsolete and could no longer withstand shelling by the German heavy siege guns. Consequently, during the year 1915, the Verdun sector was denuded of over 50 complete batteries and 128,000 rounds of artillery ammunition. This stripping process was still in progress at the end of January 1916. By that time the 18 major forts and other batteries surrounding Verdun were left with fewer than 300 guns and limited ammunition. Furthermore , their garrisons had been reduced to small maintenance crews.

In choosing Verdun, Falkenhayn had opted for a location where material circumstances favoured a successful German offensive: Verdun was isolated on three sides and railway communications to the French rear were restricted. Conversely, a German controlled major railhead lay only 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the north of their positions. In a war where materiel trumped élan, Falkenhayn expected a favourable loss exchange ratio as the French would cling fanatically to a death trap.

Falkenhayn stated in his memoirs that rather than a traditional military victory, Verdun was planned as a vehicle for destroying the French Army. He quotes in his book from a memo he says he wrote to the Kaiser:

"The string in France has reached breaking point. A mass breakthrough—which in any case is beyond our means—is unnecessary. Within our reach there are objectives for the retention of which the French General Staff would be compelled to throw in every man they have. If they do so the forces of France will bleed to death."

However, recent German scholarship by Holger Afflerbach and others has questioned the veracity of this so-called "Christmas memo". No copy has ever surfaced and the only account of it appeared in Falkenhayn's post-war memoir. His army commanders at Verdun, including the German Crown Prince, denied any knowledge of a plan based on attrition. Afflerbach argues that it seems likely that Falkenhayn did not specifically design the battle to bleed the French Army, but proposed ex-post-facto the motive of the Verdun offensive, to justify its failure.

Current analyses follow the same trend and exclude the traditional explanation. The offensive was probably planned to overwhelm Verdun's weakened defences, thus striking a potentially fatal blow at the French Army. Verdun's rail communications had been cut off in 1915 and the city was depending on a single narrow road (the future"Voie Sacree") and a local narrow-gauge railway (the "Chemin de Fer Meusien") to be re-supplied. This logistical bottleneck had raised German hopes that an effective French defence could not be sustained beyond a few weeks.

Map of the battle

Douaumont fortress before the battle (German aerial photograph).

Douaumont fortress after the battle.