Verdun 6: France holds - "Ils ne passerons"

A poilu's helmet sits on top
of each milestone on the
Voie sacree

This blog post comes from 'on site'. Spending a couple of days at this historic, evocative place, and as I drove up the Voie Sacree from the motorway, it was easy to imagine the scale of the operation needed to keep Verdun supplied. The river Meuse is in flood now, as it probably was 100 years ago at this time. On either bank wholesale slaughter was continuing, as increasingly desperate German efforts sought to make the breakthrough. 
Frustrated through March and April on both banks, the Germans repeatedly changed tactics, testing out French defences with explosive attacks at many different parts of the line. The French resisted determinedly, and tried a few small counter-attacks of their own. The Germans were beginning to lose impetus. 

From the beginning of May to 25th, having tested other parts of the front in the interim, the Germans launched renewed and focused attacks on Mort-Homme. Hill 304, immediately to the west was their greatest success, but they could not reach beyond the lower slopes of Mort-Homme itself. Switching again to the eastern bank, they attacked and carried Hardaumont and Thiaumont farm near the Douaumont and Vaux forts on the 1^st June. On 8^th June they succeeded in taking Vaux fort and built up to perhaps their biggest effort against the remaining Thiaumont redoubt on 23^rd June, which - in typical to and fro combat - they secured one week later. This was the epicentre of a titanic combat through June and early July. The Germans launched 17 Divisions (approx 200,000 men) simultaneously against the line Thiaumont-Fleury-Souville on the right bank. They took Thiaumont, and gained a foothold in Fleury, but not in Souville.

Fleury epitomised the savagery of Verdun. Pre war a sleepy village of around 500 people it became the centre of this phase of the campaign. Already close to destruction from artillery bombardments in March and April, it became the crossroads of numerous mini-campaigns. To visit Fleury today is to find a few foundations and some street signs that indicate the previous layout of the village. Fleury and eight other villages ruined by the battle have not been rebuilt, and are officially designated as "Mort pour la France"

2016

The Germans were almost within sight of the Verdun citadel itself, but following their failure to break the French here, a sense of exhaustion came into their efforts. Nevertheless, they continued with probing attacks until mid-August, including more as far south as les Eparges, but they had reached their furthest advance. They had not taken Mort-Homme, their key objective on the west bank, and had reached only just beyond Douaumont and Vaux on the east, where they were held on a line between Souville and Tavanne forts. From the 1^st July the Battle of the Somme dictated the removal of men and materiel to support the outnumbered German lines there.

1916

The battle would continue for a further six months, but not at the same intensity. The French hero of Verdun, Petain, promoted to command the central group of French armies, was removed from the front line in May. His successor, General Nivelle, was a very different kettle of fish and he would oversee near disaster in 1917. He and his deputy, Mangin, reverted to the 'advance at all costs' approach, with high casualty counter-attacks that tested the men's morale to the very limits.

Buchan says of the action to August:

“The result had been a signal French victory. If Verdun represented a less critical moment than the Marne, it was a far more deadly struggle, and it bit deeper into the enemy’s strength”

A Pyrrhic victory - the losses to both sides had been horrific, approaching one million dead, injured or missing. The stench of rotting corpses pervaded the whole area for months. Some poilus had re-designated the Voie sacree as 'le Chemin de l'Abattoir'.
German recriminations began. Marshall von Haesler, the Crown Prince’s Chief of staff and mentor was recalled to Berlin, along with other corps commanders. Falkenhayn’s days were numbered.

We will revisit Verdun before the end of the year.