Kingdoms Fall - The Laxenburg Message (37 page)

Plans for the proposed German offensive at
Verdun were reportedly sent to Emperor Franz Joseph at Christmas in 1915.
French commander Joffre learned of the planned offensive sometime in advance
(perhaps because the build-up of German troops and materials was simply too
massive to obscure). Joffre was busy planning his own summer offensive at the
Somme and basically ignored Minister of War Gallieni’s alarm. Gallieni was able
to direct some French troops and supplies to Verdun and, providentially, the
attack was delayed by bad weather for nine days. Even then, the huge German
offensive received very little public notice for several days, and it was not
until three days into the battle that Joffre assigned General Philippe Pétain
(who later in life would lead the French Vichy government during World War II)
to command the French forces at Verdun.  Pétain’s demands for more men and
materials eventually caused Joffre to replace him as well.

The Battle of Verdun in 1916 was one of the
largest and costliest battles of the war and went on for nearly ten months with
virtually no change in the two armies’ final positions. The crushing blow
envision by Erich von Falkenhayn, who later claimed that the offensive was only
intended to wear down the French army, ended up exacting an almost unbearable
toll upon Germany itself. Over two million men fought in the great battle, and
approximately 700,000 men were wounded, of which over 300,000 died (some
authorities claim that as many as 700,000 men died, but that figure may include
all the battles along the Western Front during that time period), with almost
as many German casualties as French. The Douaumont Ossuary, built near the city
of Verdun to memorialize the men who fell in the battle, contains the skeletal
remains of 130,000 soldiers, and another 16,000 graves line the hill in front
of the memorial. Yet, as Gresham would quickly point out, the battle did little
more than perpetuate the dreadful stalemate that made the Great War so
devastating – a war that destroyed both the political and physical landscape of
Europe and left open great voids in political leadership that would eventually
be filled by ruthless and ambitious men.

Please visit this novel’s companion website at

www.KingdomsFallNovel.com

to learn more about the Great War

and about the forthcoming adventures of David Gresham and
James Wilkins in the continuing
Kingdoms Fall
series:

Kingdoms Fall - The
Korniloff Affair

(expected December 2014)

and

Kingdoms Fall - The
Wierengen Proposal

(
expected
December 2015)