Battle of Verdun

The Battle of Verdun was the longest battle fought in World War I in Western Front between German Empire and Third French Republic. Verdun was an important fort to Paris, at the same time one of the important town in Gaul culture. It was the key to Paris, so two nations would then fight in hell to get or defend it.

Battle
Unternehmen Gericht (Operation Judgement) was due to begin on 12 February but fog, heavy rain and high winds delayed the offensive until 7:15 a.m. on 21 February, when a 10-hour artillery bombardment by 808 guns began. The German artillery fired around 1,000,000 shells, the largest amount of shells fired at that time, along a front about 30 km long by 5 km wide. The German troops then used flamethrower to attack, and soon pushed forward.

Until 15th April, the return of offensives of German was a large causality. Joffre replaced Petain as a new general and tried to counter attack, but failed.

Changes
It was a day in April, somewhere near the battlefield. French artillery kept bombarding for covering a new infantry push. An shell hit the hidden ammunition depot. However, it didn't explode. Discovering the danger, the German switched the depot to another place, and started another wave of bombarding.

Netherlands joined war
On the 11 May, 100,000 Dutch troops arrived at North Verdun, trying to surround the French. However, With lack battling skills, they were trapped. Germany, finding a chance, immediately started poisonous artillery attack in South, then advanced successfully.

Hitler became a general
In German advance, a small group of German troops was trapped. Their leade was shot to death, and they were ready to surrender. However, a soldier came out and persuaded them to listen to his order. He successfully led this group of Germans out, and back to the main force. That soldier was called Hitler. He the replaced the dead general, and was awarded. In another advance, German troops suffer a huge loss but couldn't go farther. When they were ready to retreat, they found Hitler's troops successfully launched a surprise attack from their back. Seeing the German Army flag waving in French trench, the German soldiers immediately pushed forward with confidence.

Saving the trapped Dutch
25 May, the troops moved towards North Verdun after taking control of key points in South. Simple forts had build in North, while French had much advantage against the Dutch. German troops surrounded the French from the back, forcing them into a two-front battle. Hitler led a group of German troops to breaking through the French defence and met me Dutch troops. The French army was forced to retreat and many became prisoners of war.

Result
8 June, the entire Verdun fell under Germany control.

Petain got his rank back, while German troops pushed to Paris.