German troops launch an attack on France’s most impregnable fortress

After an initial phase of mobile warfare in late 1914, the front lines of the Western front soon became bogged down in a war of attrition conducted in a dense network of trenches and fortifications. Seeking to regain the initiative in 1916, German Army planners developed an operation designed to inflict immense casualties on the French in an attempt to “wear down” and “bleed them dry”.

The offensive launched on 21 February 1916 achieved initial successes, but the French managed to hold many of their positions. One such location was the massive fortress of Verdun. Whilst thousands of artillery pieces turned the area into a cratered landscape, two million soldiers engaged in mortal combat. By 19 December 1916, the battle had claimed some 700,000 killed or wounded on both sides. The Germans had caused only slightly more losses to the French than they had incurred themselves.