Traversed by ravines and heights, the region around Verdun saw the armies perpetually charging towards each other, with the enemy almost always within sight. First and foremost, this has to do with the fact that, unlike at other battlefields such as at the Somme, the battles at Verdun were characterized by a rather special mix of close-range combat and long-range bombardment. But in French historical memory, Verdun occupies a unique place. They had done so before – at the Marne – and would do so again later – at the Somme –, where they incurred similarly high losses. There, the poilus had given their all, braving unspeakable suffering and mass deaths, to defend French soil against the Germans. In contrast, the French for a century have remembered Verdun as an absolutely meaningful battle. In hindsight, it was above all the soldiers, which had bled as much as their French counterparts at Verdun, who came to see their enormous sacrifice as lacking sense or meaning. But this “bleeding to death” plan has, of course, darkened the German memory of Verdun. Historical research of the last decades has shown that this plan – the so-called “Christmas Memorandum” of 1915 – was a post-war fabrication to gloss over the Germans’ effective defeat at Verdun. Moreover, both nations still remember the plan of the German Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn, who claimed that he had never intended to conquer Verdun but to “bleed to death” the French army. Although these figures were surpassed later, Verdun for the first time brought losses of this magnitude and thus engraved itself deeply into collective memory. On the German side, 143,000 soldiers were killed, while the French counted 167,000 dead. The reality was far from it, but the figures are nevertheless dramatic: taken together, both armies suffered some 700,000 “casualties” – that is, dead, wounded, and missing persons (336,000 Germans 362,000 French). It is said that 1 million soldiers were killed. It is more widely and vividly remembered than even the battles that consumed more “human material” and materiel, such as the Battle of the Somme in the summer of 1916.įirst of all, both in France and in Germany, Verdun is remembered for its enormous “casualty” figures, even though fantasy numbers are frequently bandied about. In both France and Germany, the Battle of Verdun (February 21 – December 20, 1916) still today is seen as the most significant battle of the First World War.
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