rather more successful than the
French last September; it covered three or four miles on a
considerable front, and it even reached Douaumont, one of the old
forts and the fort which was placed on the highest hill in the
environs of Verdun. Thousands of prisoners had been captured and many
guns taken. But at this point the French resistance stiffened, as had
the German last year. French reserves and artillery arrived. Petain
and Castelnau arrived. There was an end of the rapid advance and there
began the pounding, grinding attack in which the advantage passed to
the defender. It was just what happened at Neuve Chapelle so long ago
when we first saw this kind of fighting exemplified completely.

In the new attacks the Germans still gained ground, but they gained
ground because the French withdrew from positions made untenable
through the original German advance at other points. They
consolidated their line, organized their new front. Ten days after the
attack had begun it had ceased to be a question of Verdun, just as in
a shorter time the French had realized last September that they could
not break the German line in Champagne. But like the French in
Champagne, like the British at Neuve Chapelle, the Germans persevered,
and in consequence suffered colossal losses, exactly as the French and
British had.

To understand the German tactics you must recognize two things. The
Germans had expected to take Verdun, and they had unquestionably known
that the French military command did not intend at the outset to hold
the town. They had advertised the coming victory far and wide over the
world; they had staked much upon it. Moreover, in the first days, when
they had taken much ground, when they had got Douaumont and could look
down into Verdun, they had every reason to believe that they possessed
the key to the city and that the French high command was slowly but
steadily drawing back its lines and would presently evacuate the city.

Knowing these things you can understand why the Germans were so
confident. They did not invent stories of coming victory which they
did not believe. They believed that Verdun was to fall because they
knew, and the same thing was known and mentioned in London. I heard it
there when the battle was in its earlier stages--that the French high
command intended to evacuate Verdun. What they did not know and could
not know was that the French politicians, perhaps one should say
statesmen this time, had in