The horror of the battle was magnified by the extensive use of poisonous gasses, flamethrowers and, obviously, extensive and devastating use of artillery that basically created a "moon" landscape on Earth!Īt the end nobody really "won" as we are used to think of a normal battle: the Germans were repelled and went back to their starting trenches but the "victorious" French paid a terrible price, that greatly damaged their army, to defend a place that was, basically, strategically useless. Rather than try to capture land or win an objective, the battle became about killing as many men as possible.
The battle came to symbolize the brutality of the entire war. the decisive german victory turned the tide against the allies until the united. Verdun is still considered by many military historians as the ‘greatest’ and most demanding battle in history. The French, under Petain, were forced to defend every inch of ground suffering terrible casualties. which explains the significance of the battle of verdun in world war i a. The initial idea of the German commander in chief Falkenhayn was to nail down the French in a position they were forced to defend at any cost (for reasons of historical and of national pride, the fortress of Verdun) and in doing so get bled to death loosing as many soldiers as possible (battle of attrition), annihilate their army and possibly be forced to sue for peace. Above all we have helped the French immensely by relieving the pressure on Verdun’.In total Germans and French lost during the battle about #500,000# men (or more) and while for the French was a "glorious" victory (they were able to defend and retain a place of historical importance but strategically irrelevant) for the Germans was the first serious defeat of their mighty and proud army.Īlso, for both the contenders was a battle that decimated their armies without giving a decisive victory for the outcome of the war. The sheer scope and violence of the fighting here made it one of the major battles of the First World War. It was a Franco-German battle but it also involved colonial forces. Nicknamed the mill on the Meuse, Verdun lasted for over nine. will smash him in his deep dug outs… Anyhow we have shown the Bosche that we can rush his line on a wide front and I think we shall penetrate the second line if the ammunition holds out. The symbolic effect of the Battle of Verdun Almost three-quarters of the French army fought at Verdun in 1916. On 21 February 1916, the Germans attacked Verdun in what became the longest battle of the war.
We are going to beat the Germans by heavy howitzers and trench mortars as they. I was promised 200 of these but have only received 25. We are not too well off for ammunition for our heavy howitzers and we require more heavy trench mortars, which have performed invaluable service to the French in this attack. It speaks well of the courage of the New Armies, but had they had more time to devote to training they would have been able to hold on to many points from which they were driven by a few enterprising German machine-gunners. The Battle of Verdun began on 21 February 1916 at 7.15 am when the German army began pounding the forts and trenches with artillery fire. 29 Brigades (about 100,000 men) were taking part in the first assault the percentage is not so high… I cannot speak too highly of the spirit and self-sacrifice of the rank and file. what was the significance of the allied invasion of normandy on jit was the beginning of the attack on the nazi army in western europe. ‘The casualties have of course been heavy and the figures look large, but when one considers that.
0 kommentar(er)
