In the first battle of Verdun, which lasted forty-eight days (February 21st to April 9th), the German casualties were over 200,000, with a very high proportion of killed.

And by the end of the year the casualties at Verdun, on both sides, had reached 700,000.

Opinion in Germany, at first so confident, wavered and dropped.

Why not break off?
But the dynasty was concerned.

Fortune, _toute entiere a sa proie attachee_, drove the German Army again and again through lanes of death, where the French 75's worked their terrible will--for no real military advantage.