greatwar-1914:May 7, 1916 - Verdun: Germans Capture Côte 304 Pictured - French troops take cover dur
greatwar-1914:May 7, 1916 - Verdun: Germans Capture Côte 304 Pictured - French troops take cover during a bombardment on Côte 304.The battle of Verdun concentrated from February to May on the Left Bank of the Meuse River in front of the city of Verdun, in particular on the French positions located on a 295-meter tall hill called Le Mort-Homme, and another called Côte 304, which gave the French a vantage point and guarded the ridges where the French artillery was concentrated.The two armies had been fighting over Mort-Homme for months by May, with the French holding the crest while Germans swarmed on the lower parts of the hill. Trenches switched hands daily, regiments from both armies were decimated in days and replaced with new ones fresh for the slaughter. In May, 500 German heavy guns opened up on Côte 304 for two days and one night, smashing in French positions poorly prepared without any deep shelters. In one battalion, only three men survived, the rest of their comrades buried alive. For those who survived, no food or ammunition came for days.Reinforcements still filtered up to the French lines, but no one knew where to go or what to do. “Nobody knew exactly the location of the mixed up regiments,” wrote a French company commander, “It was impossible to move. Orders had pushed up men on top of men and set up a living wall against the monstrous German avalanche.”France’s living wall could not hold out forever. On May 7, Côte 304 fell to the Germans, who immediately requested double tobacco rations to cover up the odor of corpses. Some 10,000 French soldiers had fallen for this tiny corner of their nation. The capture of Côte 304 marked the first penetration of the “Line of Resistance” which French commander General Henri Petain had set up upon taking command. With Côte 304 fallen, Mort-Homme stood open to German flanking attacks. -- source link
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