. A story of the war and family war service record, 1914-1919. >^ CHAPTER for Verdun. lis ne passeront pas—They shall not watchword of the French army at VerdunyM\tV/< has been made famous by the great battle that//i^^^^^fe opened Feb. 21, raged with little abatement for four ^ and a half months, cost the Germans 1,000,000 andthe French 500,000 in killed, wounded and captured,ending in a French victory that for the second timesaved Paris, saved France and probably the out-come of the war. Verdun is and was one of the four great Frenchfortresses protecting the northe
. A story of the war and family war service record, 1914-1919. >^ CHAPTER for Verdun. lis ne passeront pas—They shall not watchword of the French army at VerdunyM\tV/< has been made famous by the great battle that//i^^^^^fe opened Feb. 21, raged with little abatement for four ^ and a half months, cost the Germans 1,000,000 andthe French 500,000 in killed, wounded and captured,ending in a French victory that for the second timesaved Paris, saved France and probably the out-come of the war. Verdun is and was one of the four great Frenchfortresses protecting the northeastern border whereit adjoins Alsace and Lorraine, the others being- ^_r^^^ Tout, Epinal and Belfort. The town of Verdun is^^^ ^ insignificant in size and the forts around it, though ^^* ^ numerous, might have been completely shattered,W but it is a strong point because of its natural posi- tion at the gateway through the Argonne forest onthe west and the hills of the Meuse on the east. ^i ^-^m/j iiC.^^; V ifllWh^^T/ n sA SiVlJ/Mr-J^^jT #. dbysMi^ y t{\\ .^r!^^ III M ;(l(|!i 111 7/ cj:;?^^/ \ A Story of the War On a wide semi-circle extending northwest tosoutheast of Verdun, a distance of 32 miles, theFrench had built 16 large forts, 21 smaller ones and47 permanent batteries. Only two of the largeforts did the Germans capture with a sacrifice of1,000,000 men, and both of those they lost a littleInore than eight months after the beginning of thebattle. Along this 32 mile front at a distance of fourmiles or less from the fortifications, the Germansopened a terrific bombardment Feb. 21. They hadmassed 3,000 guns of large caliber on this line andrained upon the French 1,000,000 shells a day. Theyhad assembled a picked army of 300,000 men tooppose French forces aggregating 80,000. Botharmies later were greatly increased. General Herr,the French commander, drew his forces back slowlyat the rate of a mile a day, bringing the Germans tothe neighborhood of the village and fort of Doua
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectworldwar19141918
