France Holds Verdun Through Ten Months of Battle

At 7:15 on the morning of 21 February 1916, almost 1,200 German guns opened a heavy bombardment along a front north of Verdun on the River Meuse. The initial plan devised by Erich von Falkenhayn, Chief of the German General Staff, sought to draw the French army into a costly defense of Verdun. By concentrating massive artillery fire against French reserves committed to holding the salient, the German high command intended to wear down French fighting strength through calculated attrition.

French fortifications in the Fortified Region of Verdun had been substantially weakened before the assault. General Joseph Joffre had concluded in 1915 that heavy siege artillery had rendered traditional fortresses obsolete, prompting the removal of most artillery batteries and ammunition reserves from the ring of forts. When the German 5th Army began its infantry advance, positions such as Fort Douaumont were held by only a small caretaker garrison. The fort fell to German troops on 25 February, taken without a fight, and General Philippe Petain took command of the French Second Army at Verdun the next day.