euse was just this: the troops facing north were
meeting and slowly yielding to a terrific drive coming south and
southwest; the rest of the troops that faced east toward the Woevre
were not attacked severely. But as the Germans came south, and when
they took Douaumont, they were able to reach the bridges across the
Meuse behind the French troops on the Meuse Hills and to destroy them
by indirect fire, and these French troops, more than a hundred
thousand probably, were fighting with their backs to a deep river and
exposed to destruction in case their lines did not hold.

In this situation Joffre proposed to take his troops behind the Meuse
and on the hills to the west and above the city, leaving the city to
the Germans. The French line would thus come north behind the Meuse
from St. Mihiel and then turn west above Verdun, following either the
Charny Ridge or else the Hills of Regret and Chaume, on either side
of the trough, described above, which the road to Paris follows.

If Verdun were a fortress actually; if either the old town or the
circle of forts outside had been of value, Joffre would not have
proposed this thing. But they were of no value. Verdun was once a
fortress barring the way to the Plain of Chalons, but the Germans were
in the plain, having come through Belgium by the back door, as it
were. The forts outside the city on the rim of the basin had already
been abandoned because they could have been destroyed by German heavy
artillery, as were those of Liege and Antwerp. Verdun was just a
position; but it was a difficult position to defend because of the
river, which cut off one-half the army and could be crossed only by
bridges, which were under indirect fire.

If the French had come back to the Charny Ridge, or even to the Regret
Hills south of the trough followed by the Paris-Metz road, they would
have stood on hills of patent military value; the trough is a natural
ditch in front. These hills are all trenched and prepared for defence.
The French would merely have shortened their lines and taken an easy
position to defend, instead of holding a bad position. But ultimately
this would have meant the relinquishing of Verdun, the little town
down in the valley below, now become a heap of ruins and having lost
its military value thirty years earlier, when heavy artillery began
its decisive success over the old fortifications.

The French did not retire, because the civil government overruled the
military