rps which had held the Vauquois-Etain sector
was increased to seven. Some of the finest German troops were included
in these armies, such as the Third Brandenburg Corps and the Fifteenth
Corps. It was evident that the Germans counted on the battle of Verdun
to decide the fighting in France, for just before the offensive began
General Daimling addressed his troops in these words: "In this _last_
offensive against France I hope that the Fifteenth Corps will
distinguish itself as it has ever done by its courage and its
fortitude."

Starting from the north of Varennes the German order of battle on the
day of attack was as follows: On the extreme right were the Seventh
Reserve Corps, comprising the Second Landwehr Division, the Eleventh
Reserve Division (later relieved by the Twenty-second Reserve
Division), and the Twelfth Reserve Division in the order given.
Northeast of Verdun, and facing the French lines, were the Fourteenth
Division and the Seventh Reserve Corps, with the Eleventh Bavarian
Reserve Division in support. To the left of these armies was a central
force, comprising the Eighteenth Corps, the Third Corps, the Fifteenth
Corps, and the Bavarian Ersatz Division in the order named.

It was estimated by a competent French military authority that the
Germans had under arms in this sector up to the 16th of March a grand
total of 440,000 men, of which 320,000 were infantry. When the battle
opened, the Germans were at least three times as strong in numbers as
their opponent.

Before the date fixed for the great offensive the Germans undertook
many local attacks on the French front with a view to deceiving their
antagonists as to their real objective. In Artois, Champagne, and the
Argonne Forest there was some strenuous mine fighting, and at Frise in
Santerre the Germans gained some ground only to lose it a little
later.

A bombarding squadron of Zeppelins which the Germans sent out along
the Verdun front to cut railway communications fared badly. The French
antiaircraft guns brought down a number of Fokkers and a Zeppelin in
flames at Revigny, but the raiders succeeded in cutting the Ste.
Menehould line, leaving only a narrow-gauge road to supply Verdun.

At 4.15 in the morning of February 21, 1916, the great battle began,
the German guns deluging the sector with shells of every caliber that
smashed and tore the French positions and surroundings until the very
face of nature was distorted. French trench shelters