Verdun 1916

by J E Kauffman

  The most lethal infantry weapon with a greater range than the grenade or flamethrower was the trench mortar. It served as artillery for the troops in the trenches, but, more importantly, could break up wire and other obstacles. The Germans originally developed it for use against fortresses. It became known as a ‘trench mortar’ because it was mostly a short-range weapon used in front-line trenches, often to drop bombs into enemy trenches. Once again, the inspiration for the development of this weapon came to the Germans from their study of the Russo-Japanese War. The Germans called it Minenwerfer (bomb or mine thrower). When the war began, they had about 150 of these weapons to use against French and Belgian forts. The Rheinmetall Company produced the 170mm (6.69in) Minenwerfer from 1913 after approval from the army. Production increased during the war. This over 1,000lb weapon fired a 110lb shell at a rate of twenty rounds a minute at ranges of up to 1,500m, but it was only accurate under 300m. The Germans had about forty of the heavier 250mm Minenwerfer, which they had adopted in 1910. This weapon had rifling to increase accuracy and fired a 210lb shell with an effective range of about 540m and a maximum range of 970m. It weighed about 1,700lb and it was reputed to fire up to one round every 3 minutes. Its production increased soon after the beginning of the war. A third German trench mortar was the 75.8mm (2.99in) Minenwerfer, which weighed about 200lb and was mounted on a two-wheeled carriage that could be manhandled into position. It fired a 10lb bomb and had an effective range of about 300m and a maximum range of about 1,100m. It went into production in the summer of 1914.

  The French and the British had no mortars of this type when the war began. In late September 1914, when they had to find methods of lobbing bombs into enemy trenches, they developed the makeshift grenade launchers previously mentioned. In 1915, the French produced the Batignolles heavy mortars and even resorted to pulling out museum pieces from the previous century.5 The Batignolles mortar, designated Mortier de 240mm (9.45in), weighed over 1,900lb and fired a 180lb projectile at ranges between 600m and 2,070m.6 Its six-man crew could fire one round every 6 minutes. It first went into action in September 1915 during the Second Champagne Offensive. In early 1915, the French developed a 58mm (2.3in) mortar, which became the standard trench mortar and was nicknamed Crapouillot (‘Little Toad’). The weapon weighed 165lb, its carriage 498lb. It fired shells ranging from 40lb to 77lb with a maximum range of 1,450m and required a crew of five.

  At the end of 1915, the British fashioned a simple mortar from a 4in pipe that fired a bomb up to 1,300m without any accuracy. In 1916, Wilfred Stokes designed mortars of different calibres that reached the front in the same year. The most common calibres were 3in (76.2mm), 4in (101mm) and 6in (152mm). Unlike the German weapons, the Stokes mortars were smoothbore, but the parts (barrel, bipod and baseplate) were light enough for the crew to carry them into battle. The 108lb 3in mortar needed only a two-man crew and fired a 10lb round at a range of up to 750m and a maximum rate of over twenty rounds a minute.

  The trench mortars were gradually improved during the war. Without these weapons, it was much more difficult to breach enemy trench lines. Placed close to the front and controlled by the attacking infantry, mortars could take out targets the artillery missed. Their ability to break up wire obstacles was a bonus for the Allies.

  The weapon that sowed absolute terror in the trenches and could rip massive openings in the enemy front was poison gas. Both sides had tested irritants like tear gas without major effects. At the Second Battle of Ypres the Germans, in violation of the terms of the Hague Convention, introduced poison gas, accusing the Allies of having used it first. The only delivery methods at the time were gas cylinders and letting the poison fumes drift across the battlefield. At Ypres, French colonial troops panicked when they were hit with a green wave of chlorine gas. Since neither the French nor the German army had an adequate gas mask at this point, they had to resort to expedients. It was many months before artillery rounds were able to deliver the gas. The Germans had to be careful because the dominant western winds could blow the deadly fumes back upon their own trenches, which did happen. The British were the first to retaliate by using gas during the Battle of Loos on 25 September 1915. They launched smoke bombs with their Stokes mortars before they opened the gas cylinders because they thought that the German masks were good for only 30 minutes and they wanted to confuse the enemy. This operation was initially successful and resulted in the capture of Loos. However, shifting winds caused casualties among the British who then discovered that their gas protection equipment was ineffectual. Both sides used chlorine gas until December when, on the 19th, the Germans released phosgene against the British near Ypres. Chlorine gas had a strong odour similar to bleach and formed a yellow-greenish cloud. It attacked the lungs, but troops standing above the trenches were less affected than those seeking cover in the trenches. Phosgene was more difficult to detect because it was colourless and had the musty odour of freshly cut hay or grass. It was also more deadly than chlorine, but could take more than 24 hours (up to 48 hours in some cases) before the exposed troops came down with the incapacitating symptoms. It caused an estimated 85 per cent of all deaths from gas during the war, but did not bring about any breakthroughs on the battlefront. Mustard gas proved to be the mostly deadly, but it did not come into use until July 1917. It had a yellow-brownish colour and smelled of garlic and instead of damaging the lungs it went through the skin.

  Gradually, however, artillery weapons began to dominate in trench warfare. The infantry attack had to be preceded by a coordinated artillery bombardment. The French army relied too heavily on the 75mm cannon, which had little value in trench fighting because, like most direct-fire cannons, it was ineffective against wire obstacles. The Germans, on the other hand, entered the war with an assortment of heavy artillery and batteries of howitzers, which, like the heavy German Mörsers, had the ability to drop heavy artillery rounds on the enemy trenches and break up wire obstacles. It took the French time to produce howitzers and heavy artillery in sufficient numbers. Thus, they were at a distinct disadvantage in 1914 and much of 1915, when they launched several major offensives.

  Other innovative weapons and equipment that became part of the arsenal of trench warfare included the tethered observation balloon and aircraft. Both served for observation and reconnaissance of enemy positions. An observer in the balloon could provide valuable information for artillery targeting, although the observer himself was very vulnerable. The aircraft could use an aerial camera by flying over enemy lines and taking photographs that helped map out and target the enemy’s positions. Aircraft also strafed and bombed enemy positions. The Germans had even produced a ground-attack aircraft by 1917 and both sides had to develop anti-aircraft guns to protect both the front-line troops and targets behind the lines.

  Glossary

  Abbatis An obstacle traditionally formed from branches and bushes, but can include uprooted trees and other materials.

  Abri (Fr.) A shelter for troops or ammunition and when built for fortifications usually made of concrete.

  Aerial torpedo guns Trench mortars that fired large finned bombs.

  Anti-balloon guns Artillery pieces, often up to 75mm in calibre given a mounting, sometimes on a truck, that allowed a high angle of fire. They were intended for shooting down observation balloons, but soon became ‘anti-aircraft guns’ as the aeroplane became a weapon of war.

  Avant-cuirasse (Fr.) In reference to turrets on forts, this comprises the armoured plates that surround a turret position to prevent artillery rounds from penetration and reaching the turret well. The term translates into forward armour, but is also known as a glacis (or circular armoured glacis) for a turret. In English, it is often referred to as a ‘turret collar’ and in German ‘vorpanzer’.

  Bunker A vague and generic term that can describe almost any type of fortification from a small blockhouse to concrete submarine pens. The French generally describe small bunkers as blockhouses, casemates or abri of various types.

  Capo
nier A projection from a fort’s rampart into the moat or fossé with weapons positions for covering the side of the moat.

  Caserne A barracks or garrison area that includes the barracks and often other facilities such as the kitchens, latrines, cisterns, etc.

  Chasseurs à pied (Fr.) A term from ‘hunters’ referring to light French infantry, in this case foot soldiers as opposed to light cavalry. In the twentieth century these were elite light French infantry and some were identified as Chasseurs Alpin or elite mountain troops.

  Chicane An obstacle that prevents direct passage. Sometimes referred to as a ‘zigzag’ in English. It often consists of two sections with one on the left side of a passage or road, and the other on the right side but a small distance apart. Each of these two or more sections cover at last half the passage, but not the full width. Thus, one must pass around the side of one and then turn in the space between the two sections and go on to pass around the other section. They may include embrasures.

  Cloche (Fr.) Refers to a non-rotating dome shaped armored position generally used for observation. The term comes from the bell shape.

  Coffre (Fr.) A counterscarp casemate with firing positions to cover the fossé.

  Concertina wire Barbed wire formed in coils that the troops pulled out to form an obstacle. This wire, once extended to form the obstacle, was secured by stakes.

  Counterscarp The outside wall of a moat or fossé, usually a vertical masonry wall.

  Elan An enthusiastic spirit instilled in the troops used to motivate them to win.

  Feldkanone (Ger.) Field cannon. It is also abbreviated FK and followed by the last two digits which represent the year of that model, for example, FK 96 is 1896 and FK 16 is 1916.

  Feld grau (Ger.) Field grey colour of German uniforms which was a grey-green colour.

  Fort d’arrêt Literally a ‘stop fort’ or in English a ‘barrier fort’ that is generally isolated and blocks passage at a key point.

  Fossé (Fr.) Generally refers to a ditch or moat surrounding a fortification, but can also be a ditch.

  Foxhole Possibly a British term that appeared in the First World War referring to what formerly may have been known as a ‘rifle pit’ for one to three men. It is usually a rather simple entrenchment and not linked to a trench or anything else.

  Glacis A sloping area, usually descending from the counterscarp that provides clear fields of fire from the ramparts. Also refers to the armour sections surrounding a turret which in French is called the avant-cuirasse or forward armour.

  Gorge The rear section of a surrounding fossé where the entrance to the fort is found. It is often wider than other parts of the moat and one or both sides of it may include facilities of the fort’s caserne.

  Grand Quartier Général (GQG) (Fr.) French General Headquarters.

  Heer (Ger.) German army.

  Landsturm (Ger.) German home guard made up of men aged 17–20 and 39–45.

  Landwehr (Ger.) German territorial army made up of men aged 27–38 after serving their time in the regular army and reserve.

  Left and right banks of a river These are oriented towards the mouth of the river. From a section of a river assume the direction of the river’s mouth (where it ends) as 12 on the face of a clock and the source (where it begins) as 6. The side of the river that is where 3 would be on the clock is the right bank and the side where 9 would be is the left bank. This can be done using directions such as north and south since not all rivers end with their mouth in the north. In the case of the Meuse, the right bank is also the east bank and the left bank the west bank, whereas with a river like the Rhone (flows south to its mouth) the right bank is the west bank and so on. Depending on the way a river bends and changes it can have sections with east and west banks and other sections with north and south banks and so on.

  Minenwerfer (Ger.) ‘Mine thrower’. It was a short-range mortar, a trench mortar.

  Mitrailleuse (French) French term for a machine gun. The first of these in the mid-nineteenth century were multi-barrel weapons similar to the American Gatling gun.

  Monte-charge (Fr.) An elevator or lift. These were mainly intended for moving ammunition and could be large enough for men and cases in a gallery leading to a combat block or small enough for carrying rounds of ammunition in the control level of a turret block up to the guns in the turret.

  Mörser (Ger.) Term for an indirect-fire weapon, for example, a mortar or howitzer. Usually if over 100mm calibre it is a howitzer and a mortar if less.

  Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL) (Ger.) German Supreme Army Command.

  Ouvrage (Fr.) A work. Before and up to the First World War, these were generally smaller intermediate works or fortifications, located in gaps between forts. In the 1930s the large forts of the Maginot Line were also known as ouvrages.

  Pillbox A British term used to describe some of the first small bunkers of the First World War because of their shape. It soon became a generic term for almost any type of bunker with a weapon.

  Pioneer German and French combat engineers. Also, German engineer troops involved in construction and destruction of fortifications. Many armies used the same term.

  Sappers British and French military engineers who were known as Pioneers. The term comes from trench excavator, usually while under enemy fire. By the end of the eighteenth century in the French army it soon referred to troops that carried axes to clear the way through enemy obstacles.

  Scarp Inner wall of a moat or fossé. In some forts, a masonry scarp wall was replaced by or built with a gently sloping earthen scarp.

  Schützgraben (Ger.) Firing trench.

  Stollen (Ger.) Underground troop shelter with exit(s) to the surface. These could include the use of corrugated iron encased in concrete, timber and other building materials.

  Traverse A position, usually earthen, on the ramparts between gun positions. Often large traverses included a shelter for ammunition or troops.

  Turret In modern fortifications this generally refers to a rotating and sometimes retracting cupola. The French refer to fixed cupolas as cloches. The term turret can also mean a small tower in older fortifications.

  Verbindungsgraben (Ger.) Communications trench.

  Notes

  Preface

  1. Archival documents might help in this case, but the only copies of the Schlieffen Plan were supposedly destroyed in the bombings of 1945. It is a curious fact that no historian or archivist typed a copy of such an important document.

  Chapter 1

  1. Between 1905 and 1914, German military intelligence had failed to notice that the Russian rail network had vastly improved after the end of the Russo-Japanese War as a result of financial investments made by Russia’s allies.

  2. The actual existence of this plan, which demanded almost 90 per cent of the German forces in the West to be concentrated for the flanking movement through Belgium, has become a subject of debate since it was only mentioned by name and its supposed details were not presented until after the war. In addition, the plan called for a much larger force than the German army could mobilize and for a number of non-existent units. Many historians blame Moltke the Younger for weakening the right wing to assure protection of his left along the frontier with France. Moltke may not have been wrong since it is doubtful that he could logistically maintain such a large force advancing through Belgium. Such a large number of divisions pushing through Belgium would have had to live off the land to some extent because supply priority went to ammunition to maintain the offensive. In addition, the rail link between Aachen into Belgium via Liège formed a bottleneck with the only other major German rail line about 100km to the south, along the Moselle and then through Luxembourg and southern Belgium.

  3. The sequence of events was as follows: 28 July, Austria declares war on Serbia; 29 July, Russian mobilization begins; 31 July, Germany gives France 18 hours to declare neutrality; 1 August, Germany begins general mobilization and declares war on Russia as France mobilizes; 2 August, Germany demands passa
ge through Belgium; 3 August, Germany declares war on France, Belgium rejects ultimatum; 4 August, Belgium invaded and Great Britain declares war on Germany; and 5 August, Austria declares war on Russia.

  4. General von Falkenhayn, Minister of War, replaced Moltke the Younger in September 1914 after the Battle of the Marne. Although many other Prussian officers like Hindenburg did not like this young upstart, he had the Kaiser’s support and trust. He held both positions until early 1915 when the Chancellor replaced him with General Heinrich Adolf Wild von Hohenborn as Minister of War.

  5. When the Germans began their assault, they removed the Netherlands from their plan because it could serve as a window for neutral trade with Germany. This turned out to be a wise choice in the long run.

  6. The rail and road capacity of northern Belgium, even without the delay imposed by the Belgians by blocking those logistical life lines, was not sufficient to bring victory since the German army was not large enough to execute the bold plan of either outflanking the French west of Verdun or taking Paris.

  7. Until the end of the previous century French plans had been largely defensive. A new school of thought based on Charles Ardant du Picq (1819–70) and Louis Grandmaison (1816–1915) called for offensive à outrance (offence or attack to excess) relying on élan rather than weapons and tactics to overcome the enemy. Joffre adopted this doctrine.

  8. The taxis that carried troops to the Battle of the Marne mark the first time that motor vehicles were credited with helping win a battle even though they carried only a few thousand troops. During the Battle of Verdun, motor vehicles played a much more important role in keeping the French army supplied.

  9. During this period, Darwinian Theory led the Germans and others to believe in their own cultural and ethnic superiority.

  10. It took much of 1915 before Joffre realized a knockout victory was not possible and élan and offensive à outrance would not work.