The thunderous explosions of the "trummelfeuer" were heard 160 km away.

By the second year of World War I, static trench warfare extended along the Western Front from the Belgian coast to Switzerland – a bloody modern version of medieval siege warfare.  Neither the German Empire nor the Allies could impose a decisive victory.  Suicidal frontal attacks against machine guns and field artillery slaughtered hundreds of thousands of soldiers.

German army chief Eric von Falkenhayn decided to bleed the French Army to death by attacking a position it could not cede – Verdun.  Heavy artillery and poison gas were his weapons of choice.  Battles of attrition are the last resort of poor, unimaginative, brutal generals.

The initial German infantry attack fell on the Bois de Caures, defended by two French battalions of Col. Emile Driant.  His valiant defense delayed the German attack, but Driant was killed and his two battalions wiped out.

The French commander, Gen. Nivelle, ordered his 2nd Army: "No surrender; no retreat, not even an inch. Die where you stand."   And it did.