alternatehistory.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun
What if the German army stuck to the plan of attrition that Falkenhayn envisioned for the attack at Verdun? Falkenhayn wanted to maintain von Mudra's tactics in the Argonne on a wider scale, by tying the infantry advance to the pace of the artillery. However, as soon as the French collapsed in the first few days of the offensive, the 5th army had their infantry advance as quickly as they could and their artillery lagged far behind for several crucial days, forcing the infantry to fight without support and were bloodied rather badly until the artillery caught up. So what if instead of allowing the infantry to advance and focus on capturing ground, instead the advance was tied to the pace of the artillery?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Verdun_and_Vincinity_-_Map.jpg

Obviously this means several of the early successes wouldn't have occurred easily, like the capture of Ft. Douaumont and later the village of the same name. But then the French would be fighting further forward in a fire sack covered on 3 sides by German artillery. Also the Germans would not experience being enfiladed in their advance by French artillery batteries across the Meuse. By focusing on using their artillery to grind up the French and force them to fight as far forward as possible across the East bank of the Meuse, the French would be most vulnerable to attrition.

OTL the Germans did not operate on these principles and paid the price in blood for the goal of capturing ground. Will what I am suggesting increase the French casualty ratio to the German one or will it make a difference?

http://books.google.com/books?id=sO...&resnum=1&ved=0CCgQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Based on information from this book, it seems likely that this would be so, at least until the French completed their rail connection to the city itself. At that point it would make sense to wrap up the campaign. Obviously lower losses would bolster Falkenhayn's position and willingness to wrap up the campaign may have saved his job if he had done so. This obviously had knock on effects of the rest of the year and war, but would it make difference in the campaign at the time?
Top