Desperate to break the stalemate on the Western Front in 1916, Germany's army chief-of-staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, conceived a diabolical plan — by attacking one of France's most symbolic towns, he would draw her army into a bloodbath, and bleed it to death. At first this seemed to be working all too well, for more than six months the battle raged, with more than three-quarters of the French army going in to defend Verdun and suffering dreadfully. But the Germans had not allowed for the courage of the ordinary French soldlers, or the steadfastness of their commander, Philippe Petain.
