Battle of Verdun: A Living Timeline (1916)

Theme: “Ils ne passeront pas” — “They shall not pass.”

Preludes to Hell (December 1915 – February 20, 1916)

Winter 1915 – Germany plans Operation Gericht (“Judgment”). Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn hopes to “bleed France white” by attacking a place they could not abandon: Verdun.

February 1916 – French intelligence misses clues. Troops at Verdun are under-equipped. The trap is set.

The Firestorm Begins (February 21 – March 1916)

Feb 21, 1916 – At 7:15 a.m., a 10-hour German artillery bombardment begins. Over 1 million shells fall in one day. Verdun’s forests vanish into flame and dust.

Feb 25 – Fort Douaumont, believed impregnable, falls to a small German unit with barely a fight. French morale falters. Paris trembles.

Late February – General Philippe Pétain takes command. He organizes the Voie Sacrée (“Sacred Way”), a single road that feeds Verdun with endless convoys of men and munitions.

Meat Grinder (March – May 1916)

March – Rain and mud drown the fields. Flamethrowers debut. Men burn alive in trenches. No man’s land turns to a churned graveyard.

April 9 – French counterattack to retake Fort Douaumont fails. Corpses fill craters. Gas seeps through tunnels.

May – Artillery duels darken the sky. Verdun becomes a symbol, not a place. Over 100,000 dead. Neither side gains ground.

Inferno Plateau (June – July 1916)

June 1 – The Germans capture Fort Vaux after a week of brutal underground fighting. The French garrison surrenders only after running out of water.

June 23 – Germans launch massive assault on Fleury. They get within 4 km of Verdun itself. Paris fears collapse.

July 1 – Battle of the Somme begins. British pressure draws German divisions away from Verdun. The tide begins to turn.

France Strikes Back (August – October 1916)

August – General Robert Nivelle replaces Pétain. He promises: “Vous les aurez!” (“You’ll get them!”).

October 24 – French retake Fort Douaumont in a stunning offensive. Morale skyrockets.

End of the Furnace (November – December 1916)

November 2 – French retake Fort Vaux.

December 15 – Last major French counterattack pushes Germans back to their February lines.

Dec 18, 1916 – Verdun ends. 302 days. Over 700,000 casualties combined. No major ground gained. But France holds.

Legacy: A Scar That Bled for All

Verdun becomes a symbol of French resilience.

“They shall not pass” is carved into stone—and memory.

The terrain remains cratered to this day; unexploded shells still sleep beneath the earth.