VERDUN, BATTLES OF

In the Aponte War Ae Asie 7 Poh of | defended rance’s eastern by General fortre Sarrail’s line. It forces was | against the advancing Germans, Aug. | 1914, and the victory of the Marne, Sept. and|relieved the pre ure on the fortre , is|although the Germans had gained and |secured a foothold on the Meuse at St. Mihiel. Early in 1916 Falkenhayn began a great offensive, white which in was the dede- |cigned to bleed France fense of this important area, and |thus indirectly to secure a settlement i Britain. The first LAR oir It was ion pean preceded by an intense bombardment EB. of the Meuse, which battered the Fr. defenses from Brabant to Ornes, on the E. slopes of the heights of the Meuse. On the first day of the struggle, | Feb. 23, the Germans made a salient in ver-|the center of the front from Haumont Wood to Been gee the ne withdrew to the line ampneuvilleOrnes. Next day the latter village was by teaser hills eae to | evacuated, MeN, fe and Micke from the Ad ‘twin’ ae econ drew back on the Talou and Poivre -|hilis, the southern Louvemont vailey, | Bezonvaux, and Morgeville. On_ the 25th the Germans were ma ing to attack | defense 0 e fortre . ith rec urgers enter e disman ort, | Feb. 26, but Pétain, who had now arrived | to organize the defense, made a vigorous counter-attack which partly dislodged Cape|the invaders. The German claim to have captured the key to Verdun was | Herce bat; 5 Pop.|™mont village, which c hanged hands several times. ‘On ne pa e pas’ became ra ecu. | by the close of the mon e attackers his|had been fought to a standstill. Their | lo es had been disproportionately heavy |and a pause ensued. It was now evident that Verdun | could not be rushed frontally, no matter a how many divisions of Pru ians and Bavarians might be thrown into the fray. So it was decided to make a combined attack on the W. bank of the Meuse. On March 2 the Ger. guns began to attack the front between the Forest of Argonne and Forges. At the same time a holding attack was made at Douaumont village, the ruins of which were captured, March 2. On the 6th, aided by enfilading fire from the E. bank, the Germans advanced acro the Forges brook up to the slopes of the Goose’s Crest, where the French were prepared to meet them. The N.W. slope, known as the ‘Crows’ Wood,’ was carried after furious fighting, and the advance was pushed along the railway on-the W. bank. For days the fighting ebbed and flowed, with the attackers gradually working forward, although at a terrific cost. By March 14 they were on the Goose’s Crest and on the slope of its W. summit known as Mort Homme or Dead Man. On the following day Berlin announced its capture, but the news was false; the French still held the key position. Meantime, on the other side of the Meuse, the Germans had made several unsucce f ul attempts to capture Vaux village and to scale the slopes to the fort. On the Woévre side they had occupied most of Hardaumont Wood, and further S. the French had withdrawn to the skirts of the Meuse heights, but the Germans were still held up by the Douaumont plateau. On the W. bank Mort Homme barred the way to the Charny heights. From the start of the battle the Germans had lost at least twice as many men as the defense, and in the second stage the proportion was nearly four to one. An attempt was now made to take Mort Homme in flank. The French line formed a salient at Béthin court, and this was attacked on its re-entrant between Mal an court and Avocourt, March 20. The object was to work round Hill 304 and get in rear of the March 29, and took the redoubt which the Germans had constructed in Ayocourt Wood. Then he quietly withdrew his troops to the slopes of Hill 304, and for several days the Germans bombarded empty trenches. Their attacks were now more intermittent, and see-sawed irregularly from one side of the river to the other. On April 2 they penetrated Caillette Wood, between the Douaumont and Vaux forts, but on the following day they were thrown back down the ravine. On April 7 the French withdrew from Béthin court, which had become a dangerous salient. On the loth came a fierce attack all along the front W. of the Meuse, with Mort Homme as its goal; the struggle raged till the 11th without substantial succe . The Germans themselves were now convinced that tho task was hopele , but they could not break off the battle, and in both action and inaction they were bleed i = to death. During April there was nothing more than minor attacks, including three at Les Eparges, to the S.E. of Verdun, April 19. Then at the beginniag of May the Germans renewed their efforts against the Mort Homme and_ the Douaumont plateau. The French by this time had consolidated the real defense of Verdun on the Charny ridge W. of the Meuse, parallel to the Douaumont line on the E. What may be termed the second battle of Verdun consisted of three main episodes. First came the attempt of the Ger. right wing to carry Hill 304 and Mort Homme and to pre the French back on their last position—an attempt which succeeded in its immediate but failed in its ultimate purpose, May 3 to June 30. The second, simultaneous with the earlier stages of the first operation, was a vigorous counter-attack by the French on the Douaumont ridge, May 22-25. The third was a concentrated Ger. a ault from Douaumont against the line covering Verdun, which gave them Vaux fort, Thiaumont, and for a period, June 24 to Aug. 3, the village of Fleury, within 4 m. of the walls of Verdun. The little garrison of Vaux, under Major Raynal, continued a heroic resistance for five days after the fort had been jsolated, June 2-6. General Nivelle was now in command of the defense, and by a brilliant effort drove the Germans out of Thiaumont fort, June 30, and stemmed the tide at Fleury. Biding his time, he counter-attacked, Aug. 3, and flattened the Fleury salient. Fleury was again lost and won five days later, but as a strategic movement the battle had really ended at the close of June. From first to last it cost the Germans over 300,000 men. On Oct. 24, and again on Dec. 15, General Mangin executed two brilliant strokes which recovered much of the lost ground E. of the Meuse. The first attack recovered Thiaumont and Douaumont, and Vaux was eventually evacuated, Nov. 3. The Fr. line stood as it had stood on Feb. 26. In a remarkably succe ful action, fought between Dec. 15 and 18, Poivre Hill, Louvemont, Cauriéres and Hardaumont woods were recovered, and 10,000 prisoners and 80 guns taken. On Aug. 20 General Guillaumat made a great attack on both banks of the Meuse, and by Aug. 26 had recovered Hill 304, Mort Homme, and Crows’ Wood on the W. side, and Talou Hill, Samogneux, and Bois des Fo es-on the E., and had practically restored the Fr. front to the position it occupied when the battle of Verdun began. In the autumn of 1918, after their elimination of the St. Mihiel Salient, the Americans began to advance W. of the Meuse, Sept. 26. See also Worip War. VON (1832-1910), Ger. soldier; lecturer at the Berlin Military Academy os author of masterly treatises on,ctics.