This Is Our Place

Planning a large attack for two months, the Germans finally struck at the French Achilles heel of Verdun. It was a city General Erich von Falkenhayn believed the French would die defending. The attack kicked off on the east bank …

1916-02-21

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Planning a large attack for two months, the Germans finally struck at the French Achilles heel of Verdun. It was a city General Erich von Falkenhayn believed the French would die defending. The attack kicked off on the east bank of the Meuse, where the Hessian XVIII Korps centered on Bois des Caures. Troops of the crack 25th lnfanterie Division advanced after hours of murderous barrages. They ran smack into French chasseurs led by Colonel Emile Driant. lncredibly, many of the chasseurs got through the shelling and rose to fight back. Driant had laid out an effective defense: redoubts and concrete strongholds peppered the Wood and scattered the men. Driant yelled “ This is our place, they shall not move us out of it". For two long days they could not. Fighting broke into small isolated groups. Flamethrowers, flanking and successive human wave attacks had to wipe out stubborn defendcrs.

Verdun, France

The Battle of Verdun, was fought from 21 February to 18 December 1916 on the Western Front in France. The battle was the longest of the First World War and took place on the hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse. The German 5th Army attacked the defences of the Fortified Region of Verdun and those of the French Second Army on the right (east) bank of the Meuse. Using the experience of the Second Battle of Champagne in 1915, the Germans planned to capture the Meuse Heights, an excellent defensive position with good observation for artillery-fire on Verdun. The Germans hoped that the French would commit their strategic reserve to recapture the position and suffer catastrophic losses at little cost to the Germans.

Wikipedia: Battle of Verdun

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