Verdun
- For other uses see Verdun (disambiguation).
Verdun | |
|---|---|
Location of  | |
| Country | France |
| Arrondissement | Verdun |
| Canton | Chief town of 3 cantons |
| Time zone | UTC+01:00 (CET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+02:00 (CEST) |
| INSEE/Postal code | 55545 / |
Verdun (German (old): Wirten, official name before 1970 Verdun-sur-Meuse) is a city and commune in the Lorraine région, northeast France, in the Meuse département, of which it is a sous-préfecture. Population 25,000.
History
Verdun (Latin: Verodunum) was founded by the Gauls (as its Celtic name shows. "Dunum" is the latinized version of a Celtic word meaning oppidum). It has been the seat of a bishop since the 4th century, with interruptions. In the Treaty of Verdun in 843, the empire of Charlemagne was divided into three parts. Verdun became part of the middle kingdom Lotharingia, and later of the Holy Roman Empire, in which it was an Imperial Free City. Together with Toul and Metz, it formed the Three Bishoprics, that became part of France in 1552 (recognized in 1648).
Battle of Verdun
Verdun was the site of the Battle of Verdun in 1916 during World War I. One of the costliest battles of the War, Verdun exemplified the 'war of attrition' pursued by both sides and which cost so many lives.
By the winter of 1915-1916, German General Erich von Falkenhayn was convinced that the war could only be won in the west. He decided on a massive attack on a French position 'for the retention of which the French Command would be compelled to throw in every man they have'. Once the French army had bled to death, Britain would be fighting alone on the Western Front and could be brought down by Germany's submarine blockade.
Falkenhayn targeted the town of Verdun and its surrounding forts. They threatened German lines of communication and lay within a French salient (a bulge in the line), restricting their defenders. Verdun was a Gallic fortress before Roman times and later a key asset in wars against Prussia, and Falkenhayn knew that the French would throw as many men as necessary into its defense. He realized that this would enable him to inflict the maximum possible casualties. Since Germany had a larger population, he concluded that Germany could afford to lose 2 men for every one Frenchmen. In an absolute reflection of how dehumanized and inglorious the war had become, Falkenhayn stated that the objective was to "bleed France white".
He massed artillery to the north and east of Verdun to precede the infantry advance with intensive artillery bombardment. His attack would hit the French positions on the right bank of the Meuse. Although French intelligence had warned of his plans, these warnings were ignored by the French Command and troop levels in the area remained low. Consequently, Verdun was utterly unprepared for the initial bombardment on the morning of 21 February 1916. German infantry attacks followed that afternoon and met tenacious but ultimately inadequate resistance for the first four days.
File:Verdun 3.jpg Top: Fort Douaumont before German attack. Bottom: Fort Douaumont in the summer of 1916.
On 25 February the Germans occupied Fort Douaumont. French reinforcements -- now under the leadership of General Pétain -- began to arrive and were instantly thrown into "the furnace" (as the battle was called) to slow the German advance, no matter what the cost. Over the next several days, the stubborn defense managed to slow the German advance with a series of bloody counter-attacks. In March, Falkenhayn decided to target the French positions on the left bank of the Meuse as well, broadening the offensive front two-fold. Throughout March and April, Le Mort Homme and Hill 304 were under continuous heavy bombardment and relentless infantry attacks. Meanwhile, Pétain organised repeated, small-scale counter-attacks to slow the German advance. He also ensured that the Bar-le-Duc road into Verdun - the only one to survive German shelling - remained open. It became known as La Voie Sacrée ('the Sacred Way') because it continued to carry vital supplies and reinforcements into the Verdun front despite constant artillery attack.
German gains continued in June, but slowly and only after increasingly heavy losses on their side. They attacked the heights on both banks of the river. On 7 June, following almost a week of bitter resistance, Fort Vaux fell to the Germans after a murderous hand-to-hand fight inside the very fort. On 23 June the Germans reached what would become the furthest point of their advance. The line was just in front of Fort Souville, the last stronghold before Verdun itself. Pétain was makeing plans to evacuate the right bank of the Meuse when the Allies' offensive on the Somme River was launched on 1 July, partly to relieve pressure off the French. The Germans could no longer afford to continue their offensive at Verdun when they were needed so desperately on the Somme. At a cost of some 400,000 German casualties and a similar number of French, the attack was finally called off. Germany had failed to bleed France to death and from October to the end of the year, French offensives regained the forts and territory they had lost earlier. The battle has lasted 11 months. Falkenhayn was replaced by Hindenburg as Chief of General Staff and Pétain became a hero, eventually replacing General Nivelle as French commander-in-chief.
Verdun circa 2004
Cemetery and Memorial
There are many French and German cemeteries throughout the battlefield. The largest is the French National Cemetery and Douaumont Ossuary, near Fort Douaumont. Thirteen-thousand crosses adorn the field in front of the ossuary which holds roughly 130,000 unidentified remains brought in off the battlefield. Every year yields more remains which are often placed inside the ossuary's vaults.
Among many revered memorials on the battlefield is the "Bayonets Trench", which marks the location where some dozen bayonets (fixed to rifles) lined up in a row were discovered projecting out of the ground after the war. And below each rifle was the body of a French soldier. It is believed that these belonged to a group of soldiers who had rested their rifles against the parapet of the trench they were occupying when they were killed during a bombardment. The men were buried where they lay in the trench and the rifles left untouched.
Nearby, the World War I Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial is located east of the village and is the final resting place for 14,246 American military Dead, most of whom died in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The chapel contains a memorial to the 954 American Missing whose remains were never recovered or identified.
External links
- "World War I Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery and Memorial". American Battle Monuments Commission. Retrieved January 17.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - "Verdun - A Battle of the Great war".
- "Visit the Battlefield and City of Verdun".
- "Pictures from battlefields of Verdun".