Verdun was left surrounded by German-held territory on three sides and supplied by inadequate road and rail links to the rear. In 1914, the initial fighting came to a halt at trench lines outside the fortified perimeter. In the late 19th century, concentric rings of modern forts armored in steel and concrete had been built around Verdun as part of a defensive line following the Franco-Prussian War. In 1916, the historic fortress town of Verdun, standing on the Meuse River, was an exposed, lightly held outpost of France's eastern defenses. The battle was a costly French victory, as the French reclaimed the Verdun fortresses, and the German offensive would be halted. The 303-day battle saw around 377,231 French and 337,000 Germans become casualties, with an average of 70,000 casualties being made each month a later estimate stated that as many as 976,000 people were lost at Verdun.
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Over 100,000 French troops were lost at Douaumont alone, and the Germans began to crack as their supply lines were thinned out by the concurrent Battle of the Somme. 120,000 shells were fired at the fort, which was the site of a bloody French assault, and it was not until 24 October that the entire fortress was recaptured by the French. Fort Douaumont changed hands several times, as did the double ring of 28 fortresses around Verdun. French artillery bombarded German troops on the east bank of the Meuse River, and general Philippe Petain ordered that no withdrawals were to be made instead, the French would counterattack until victorious. The Germans captured Fort Douaumont in the first three days of the offensive, but their advance was slowed by a costly French defense. The Battle of Verdun (21 February-18 December 1916) was a major battle of World War I that occurred when the Imperial German Army assaulted the French fortress town of Verdun on the German border, hoping to lure the French Army into a battle of annihilation instead, it would be the largest and longest battle of the war, and it would see catastrophic losses on both sides.
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