Interesting Facts: The Battle of Verdun

[justdiscoveredfire]

To give you a modern day comparison of how chaotic the battle of Verdun was. Imagine if everyone on Manhattan Island, NY, USA (roughly the size of the actual battlefield of Verdun) decided to take sides and wage a bloody and brutal battle for 10 months while having 32 million artillery shells bombard the entire island. The Battle of Verdun is considered to the most destructive battle within an area in human history, followed by WWII's bloodiest battle, Stalingrad.

The total number of casualties from both sides are still being debated to this day. However, what makes things even more interesting and grim, is that historians are realizing that the estimated numbers used today are NOT exaggerated. Sources in 2000 estimated over 700,000, a recent estimate from 2014 brings it up to over 900,000 casualties. The casualty-rate for the duration of the battle is also very grim and tragic, for within 303 days of bloody fighting, it is estimated that for every single minute, 1 French soldier and 1 German soldier would become a casualty. It is estimated that 1.25 million people (soldier and civilian) suffered in the battle as any form of casualty.

There were 9 villages that were caught in the middle of the battle and were utterly destroyed, as a testament to the fallen and preservation of the battlefield, only 3 were reconstructed, 2 of which are still partially reconstructed. Little is left of the 6 missing villages, only a handful of building ruins and signs mark the destroyed villages' locations.

Even to this day, more German or French remains are still being discovered and relocated to proper military burials. It is estimated that thousands if not tens of thousands are still yet to be discovered.

As an act of public safety, the majority of the battlefield today is wooded and the wooded areas are restricted due to the concern of undiscovered explosives that failed to detonate during the battle. However, efforts into finding these explosives and removing them safely is still being conducted to this day. Visitors are instructed to remain on the trails and to keep out of the restricted areas, and to even contact the authorities if they spot any unexploded ordnance. It is estimated that nearly 900 tons of explosives have been successfully defused and disposed on an annual basis since 2001.

At the German's High Water Mark during the battle, they have reached 2.5km away from the city of Verdun itself at Fort Souville on June 23, 1916. Further movements were cancelled due to the British commencement of their offensive at the Somme.

The Battle of Verdun is considered to be the first Modern Battle in which the battle was supplied primarily by trucks (for the French) est. 12,000 trucks participated in transporting troops, supplies, and evacuating civilians.

France's Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (in front of the Arc d'Triomphe, Paris) is dedicated to an unidentified French soldier who was killed at Verdun.

To this day, not only does the French Flag fly over the Verdun Memorial, but the German flag as well as an act of reconciliation between the two nations and to express condolence and respect to the German fallen.

[BossBabyFunnyMomentsCompilation]

Something to mention as well, this was a battle of attrition! of wearing down the french by forcing them to pump their soldiers into the killing grounds of Height 304, Mort Homme, Vacherauville, Caures woods, Bras-sur-Meuse, Douaumont, Vaux, Haumont Samogneux, Bezonvaux, Souville and a handful of other places on the heavily ringed heights of the Verdun Salient. The plan was to threaten the symbol of French pride by threatening the city of Verdun but not actually taking it since it provided little strategic value. To a degree this almost worked the French took the bait and tossed their forces at the Meuse river taking a lot of fighting power out of the Somme offensive (which is why the British had to field the battle mostly with their forces) however, something to note the Germans made a critical error in attacking the right bank of the Meuse first without supporting it with the left bank attack, this allowed French guns to set up on the far side of the river and basically play target practise with the advancing infantry (often times the germans found themselves under some severe punishment from the French artillery which would fire behind and in front of them so they couldn't escape). Soldiers that made it long enough to get leave would often times find themselves sitting by themselves because they smelled of death (as one soldier put it). Sometimes (according to one french soldier) units were being destroyed as fast as they were being put into the frontlines, one can only imagine the limits of insanity that must have been 1916.

il ne passeront pas

où allez-vous soldat? la bataille c'est de ce côté!

les déserteurs seront fusillés!

[Yuithgf]

verdun WAS a battle of attrition, but its very likely that both side didnt want it to be.

The germans attacked verdun hoping to pierce through unlike what most people think. The only times Falkenhayn publically said he wanted verdun to be a battle of attrition was after said battle.

Verdun was almost undefended as france was preparing the somme offensive with the british, and germans knew it as they made several recon missions with planes (fun fact: rommel did some plane recon missions in the verdun sector).

Plus its almost a direct road from berlin to paris, and germans had a ton of railways to bring their troops near verdun.

[BossBabyFunnyMomentsCompilation]

You're absolutely rigiht i do love a good chat about Verdun as it's one of the most bitterly contested grounds in terms of sheer hopelessness! While the Brusilov offensive and the Somme had higher casualties, the attack, counter attack, from all directions and the stakes that were set were very high for both sides. The absolute panic that ensued when Douaumont was captured was unfathomable.......Personally i can't see the risk of having to fight through not just the Verdun woods (Caures, Haumont, Fosses), the fortified farms (Anglomont, Mormont) the villages that where gunfire seemed to come from every window and cellar (Barbant, Samogneux, Louvemont), but it seemed from what i saw on the maps that every ravine between the heights was fotified with emplacements and fortifications. I just recently was looking at the operations map for the Devils Anvil in Battlefield 1 and noticed something funny maybe you can spot what i did :) I almost laughed because i had never noticed it before, but thanks to MS Paint i was able to draw a few lines


https://i.imgur.com/OQciMaC.jpg

[Yuithgf]

still havent played battlefield one. one of my steam friends described it as ''ww1 without the trenches and with guns not being historicall accurate'' so im kinda hesitant if its a ww1 game or just a normal battlefield with a ww1 skin.

for real though, fort de vaux has to be onwe of the worst places to fight in in the outbreak of verdun. forgotten weapons made a video about it if youre curious.

[BossBabyFunnyMomentsCompilation]

They mixed up the location of Fort Vaux and the Ravine of Samogneux on the operations map lol! priceless! Ah yeah gun jesus, i like his content, have you watched that 1920s french film about Verdun? they reenact at the real world locations if i remember right, it's a good one (Verdun, visions d'historie (1928), and a german one that aired that i never got to see but they follow soldier stories and reenact stuff - Die Holle von Verdun, really good stuff! i recommend both if you haven't seen them already

Also yes imagine if the USA arsenal of pederson device 1903's, thompsons, and BAR's had made it to the front before Germany had given up xD that's how i compare Battlefield 1 although the maps are absolutely beautiful especially Passchendaele, Somme, Chemin des Dames, i run around with bolt action iron sight rifles and get stomped by people with x12 scopes, aperature sights, and that 1 bloke that brought the 1 cei-rigotti that ever existed to the frontlines

[Yuithgf]

looking at the maps you sent, by watching the emplacement comapred to the river BF1's vaux kinda looks in the place of douaumont actually. maybe it was supposed to be a douaumont map and they changed it at some point? idk

[BossBabyFunnyMomentsCompilation]

They also show the germans only advancing from the east, you'd think if the first map you play is the opening hours after the bombardment of the french front lines and then if you lose that one you go to fort vaux as the french.....you'd think they'd have the germans advancing from the north instead of having Samogneux on the far side of verdun and then getting pushed back west to fort vaux it makes no sense lol!

here's the full operations map with the german advance - https://i.imgur.com/tlwmr3D.jpg

[Yuithgf]

k, as i said i havent actually played battlefield games, so i tried watching some devil's anvil gameplay on the map you showed me and first thing i see is a french soldier in 1916 using a BAR... i mean, theres putting gameplay before realism, and theres completely ignoring the source material youre adapting. cmon...

[BossBabyFunnyMomentsCompilation]

you mean the french didn't use that long recoil operated slow firing thing called the Chauchat? Ian from forgotten weapons lied to me! lol but yeah the map itself is beautiful with the caures woods on fire from all the arty, truely looks like an apocalypse that captures that hellish gritty feeling of evil! that's where the game shines is in its maps and sound design......sometime listen to Ian rant about the exaggerated sights on the guns in the game and the fire rate of the weapons

[Yuithgf]

theres having exaggertaed sights and innaccurate ROF and theres having french soldiers use american weapons 2 years before they were invented... also theres the fact that in ww1 automatic weapons were very rare, and even though im not asking for a game to fully stick to that part of ww1 to me this game looks like your average ww2 shooter but with colored uniforms.

i know im asking a lot for the triple A ww1 game that cant put fort vaux on a verdun map, but still...

whatever. im sure its a nice and enjoyable game, but its DLC policy made me want to not buy it anyway.

[Wilson]

Originally posted by Yuithgf:

verdun WAS a battle of attrition, but its very likely that both side didnt want it to be.

The germans attacked verdun hoping to pierce through unlike what most people think. The only times Falkenhayn publically said he wanted verdun to be a battle of attrition was after said battle.

Verdun was almost undefended as france was preparing the somme offensive with the british, and germans knew it as they made several recon missions with planes (fun fact: rommel did some plane recon missions in the verdun sector).

Plus its almost a direct road from berlin to paris, and germans had a ton of railways to bring their troops near verdun.

This is very interesting, do you have links to articles/sources on the Germans planning to breakthrough at Verdun rather than turn it into a meatgrinder for the French?

[Trem]

Which battle of Verdun?

[Bishop]

Originally posted by Wilson:

This is very interesting, do you have links to articles/sources on the Germans planning to breakthrough at Verdun rather than turn it into a meatgrinder for the French?

I think Indy mentions it in his Sabaton History vid for Verdun lol. Think he mentions a split in German high command, frontline commanders wanted to capture Verdun, rear wanted to draw the French in and destroy them.

[justdiscoveredfire]

Originally posted by Yuithgf:

still havent played battlefield one. one of my steam friends described it as ''ww1 without the trenches and with guns not being historicall accurate'' so im kinda hesitant if its a ww1 game or just a normal battlefield with a ww1 skin.

for real though, fort de vaux has to be onwe of the worst places to fight in in the outbreak of verdun. forgotten weapons made a video about it if youre curious.

Battlefield 1 is fun to play, I personally enjoy it. It is however not authentic and the gameplay is more WWII-ish. However, that still doesn't mean its not fun. I haven't had this much fun with a Battlefield since BF 3. Unfortunately the player base isn't what it used to be. And apparently a lot of people are saying its "gotten old already". I don't buy into that. I can say though that BF1 is the first AAA mainstream WWI game to acknowledge that there was so much more to the war than just the trenches of the Western Front. We're talking about the open Eastern Front, mountainous Italian Front, deserts of the Suez, Sinai, and Mesopotamia, and the shores of Gallipoli. Is it authentic? No, but it is very fun and beautiful to play, and it certainly got WWI back into the mainstream of things for awhile. It got people to acknowledge that we were going through its 100th anniversary and to remember at least for a while what happened in world in the years of 1914 - 1918.

[justdiscoveredfire]

Originally posted by Tremozl:

Which battle of Verdun?

The one the game is based on you silly goose.