The Battle of Verdun

In late 1915, German Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn devised a brutal new strategy. He no longer sought a decisive breakthrough on the Western Front. Instead, his goal was ‘Ausblutung’—to bleed the French army to death. In a proposal to Kaiser Wilhelm II known as the Christmas Memorandum, Falkenhayn laid out his plan to create a giant meat grinder. He chose the ancient fortress city of Verdun as his target. Its symbolic importance, he calculated, would compel France to throw every available soldier into its defense, right into the sights of superior German artillery. Falkenhayn believed he could maintain a casualty ratio of two French soldiers for every one German. The operation was codenamed ‘Gericht,’ which translates to ‘Judgment’ or ‘Place of Execution.’ The Germans would attack the Verdun salient, a bulge in the French line vulnerable from three sides, and wait for France to walk into the trap.