VERDUN GUN JAM FREE

VERDUN GUN JAM FREE

It later belonged to Lotharingia (successor kingdom of the Carolingian empire) and in 1374 became a free imperial city of the Roman empire. Verdun’s history dates back to 843 AD with the Treaty of Verdun during the reign of the Carolingian empire. More than a strategic value to the German forces, Verdun held a sentimental value to the French. Simply put-Britain entered the first world war to uphold a “scrap of paper”. Falkenhayn wanted to “Bleed France White”. Britain was France’s ally in the first world war and had been involved in the war since Germany attacked France though Belgium which had a treaty with Britain called the 'Treaty of London of 1839' which ensured Belgium’s neutrality. His plan was to obliterate a small piece of land, causing a gap in the French frontline, (Verdun is not far away from the Franco-German border), and defeating all the French reserve forces and the British relief offensives and to expel the British out of France and eventually out of continental Europe. Falkenhayn had been a strong advocate for defeating the French by sheer numbers. There were 72 German battalions as compared to 34 French battalions. The French on the other hand had only 270 guns available. 168 planes were located in and around the Verdun area- the largest concentration of planes up to this point. The germans were superior in their planes as well. The Germans, with the help of about 1300 ammunition trains were able to stock up about 1200 artillery guns that could fire a quarter of a million shells on the tiny piece of land Additionally, the Germans had Big Berthas, a howitzer that could fire around 850 Kg of shells over a distance of about 8 miles. Although a lot of sources varied in number of deaths recorded, a good estimate of the deaths would be around 360,000 French soldiers and over 340000 German soldiers. It was fought between the German 5th Army and the French second army from 21st February-1916 to 18th December-1916 on a mere 8 mile stretch of the western front and was the bloodiest and longest battle of the great war. The battle of Verdun is an epitome for such a battle. This, was the beginning of the Battle of attrition. The idea was to have maximum impact by covering a very small piece of land and stay close to the original line of battle to recuperate the resources quickly and hold the vantage point. They needed a simple yet effective solution to win the war. The great war, as it was called, also known as the war to end all wars (Ironic enough?) was in its third year and Germany had exhausted its resources. It was the problem which germinated with the onset of the first world war. How would you handle this situation? Well this was exactly the status quo of Erich Von Falkenhayn, the chief of staff of the German army under the commander Kaiser, Wilhelm II. Your home country is being attacked by a strong force on the eastern border and a stronger force on the western border. Imagine you’re a chief of staff of an army.

Verdun gun jam