French Soldier from Verdun. WWI

3D Model

The Battle of Verdun was one of the bloodiest and longest battles of WWI. It began on 21 February 1916 with a nine-hour long German artillery shelling and lasted until 18 December 1916. The eventual capture of the Verdun Fortified Area would have opened the way for the Germans to advance on Paris and would have secured Metz and Lorraine from a possible attack by the French army reinforced by the English Expeditionary Corps. The Chief of the German General Staff, General Erich von Flankenhayn, outlined a plan to capture the fortress of Verdun in his “Christmas Memorial” of 1915. The task was given to the Fifth Army under the command of the heir to the throne, Prince William Hohenzollern. The French commander-in-chief, General Joseph Joffre, ignored the possibility, signalled by the intelligence, of an attack on this section. The battle, with varying results, was fought in six phases and eventually ended with the French moving closer to their pre-invasion positions.