Lex Anteinternet: 2ième Bataille Offensive de Verdun

Thursday, December 15, 2016

2ième Bataille Offensive de Verdun

The 2ième Bataille Offensive de Verdun, a second French offensive at Verdun, a battle that had been running for months, commenced at 10:00 on this day in 1916. A German barrage designed to halt a ground attack commenced too late to stop it.

Map depicting french gains from December 15 (15/12), 1916 to December 18 (18/12), 1916.

The artillery phase of the offensive preceded the ground assault by several days, with artillery duels occurring as a result.

The offensive would run until the 18th and gain up to about five miles in some locations, taking some very strategic position in its course and resulting in significant German losses. The French would take 11,000 Germans as prisoners alone. The halt of their advance on the 18th marked the end of the siege of Verdun. In the total siege the French sustained about 400,000 casualties and the Germans about 300,000.

No comments:

Lex Anteinternet?

This blog has been around since 2009. In the very first post, we asked the question: "What the heck is this blog about?"

Our answer to the question was: "The intent of this blog is to try to explore and learn a few things about the practice of law prior to the current era. That is, prior to the internet, prior to easy roads, and the like. How did it work, how regional was it, how did lawyers perceive their roles, and how were they perceived?"

We also noted: "Part of the reason for this, quite frankly, has something to do with minor research for a very slow moving book."

All of this is still true, but the focus of the blog has changed somewhat. It now focuses on the era from 1890 to 1920 in general, rather than on the law and lawyers specifically, although that may be far from obvious. It's also become the location where we comment on anything we feel moved to comment on.

We hope you'll feel moved to comment as well. While we moderate every comment, so as to weed out Spam, we greatly appreciate the comments where they are offered, and hope to see more.

Thank you for stopping in!