Verdun WW1 Battlefield site, Verdun-sur-Meuse, France. March 2014 Seen here : Shell scared landscape and Ouvrage de Froideterre
Verdun WW1 Battlefield site, Verdun-sur-Meuse, France. March 2014 Seen here : The shell scared landscape and remains of the small defensive Ouvrage de Froideterre on hill 345 on the Verdun Battlefield. After Douaumont and Vaux forts fell to the Germans in 1916, this fort was one of the last lines of defence between the German Army and Verdun town. The Battle of Verdun lasted 9 months, 3 weeks and 6 days between 21 February and 20 december 1916. It was the longest and one of the most costly battles in human history; recent estimates increase the number of casualties to 976,000. Caption information below from wikipedia: The Battle of Verdun (Bataille de Verdun0, was fought from 21 February – 18 December 1916 during the First World War on the Western Front between the German and French armies, on hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France. The German Fifth Army attacked the defences of the Région Fortifiée de Verdun (RFV) and the Second Army on the right bank of the Meuse, intending rapidly to capture the Côtes de Meuse (Meuse Heights) from which Verdun could be overlooked and bombarded with observed artillery-fire. The German strategy intended to provoke the French into counter-attacks and counter-offensives to drive the Germans off the heights, which would be relatively easy to repel with massed artillery-fire from the large number of medium, heavy and super-heavy guns, supplied with large amounts of ammunition on excellent pre-war railways, which ran within 24 kilometres (15 mi) of the front-line. The German strategy assumed that the French would attempt to hold onto the east bank of the Meuse, then commit the French strategic reserve to recapture it and suffer catastrophic losses from German artillery-fire, while the German infantry held positions easy to defend and suffered few losses. The German plan was based on the experience of the September – October 1915 battles in Champagne (Herbstschlacht) when after early success the French offensi
Size: 4052px × 2691px
Location: Verdun Battlefield, Verdun,France
Photo credit: © BRIAN HARRIS / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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