By not scoring a decisive blow, the winners leave room for the losers to believe they can win the next time. And most of the time when you win, it’s only temporary. These methods tend to result in far fewer casualties, waste fewer resources and are a display of superior intellect, rather than just strength.Īttrition warfare is usually a last resort only. Traditional military theorists such as Sun Tzu (“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting”) and Machiavelli (“Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception”) evangelized for clever tactics. Indeed, theorists are divided as to whether attrition is even a separate tactic, rather than a ubiquitous feature of all conflict.

The International Encyclopedia of the First World War defines attrition warfare as “the sustained process of wearing down an opponent so as to force their physical collapse through continuous losses in personnel, equipment and supplies or them down to such an extent that their will to fight collapses.”Īttrition warfare is considered a somewhat dirty tactic, although necessary in some situations. “When you do as everyone else does, don’t be surprised when you get what everyone else gets.” - Peter Kaufman The best way out is to use a different approach - through tactics, strategy, or weaponry. It’s hard to see when you’re in it, but most people and businesses are in some form of attrition warfare. The winning side usually has a slight advantage in production capability or resources. If you have any relatives that do so for the last 100 years, and if you can show a certificate or anything that shows that a family member particpated in the battle of Verdun, you can officialy claim and get the medal as a show of respect for your relatives.When warring opponents use similar approaches and possess similar weapons, trench warfare becomes inevitable. It was carried with pride to show that these soldiers participated in the biggest attack France had to suffer in its history. It is relatively common medal to find but it was an immense measure of respect in the civil life. On this badge, you can find the head of the Republic (a symbol of the IIIrd French Republic) and the famous sentence pronounced by Robert Nivelle: “ Ils ne passeront pas”, translated as: they will not break through. The medal is very simple: A red ribbon with a French flag is supporting a bronze badge. Around 70% of all the French soldiers that were engaged in World War I participated to the battle of Verdun.

These soldiers, holding for several months under intense pressure from infantry attacks and heavy artillery pounding, held their ground. The operation was a failure but the battle wasn’t over just yet…Ĭreated in late 1916 even before the end of the battle, the medal of Verdun was made for who we call in France, the “ Poilus”. But the main objective was to capture Verdun or at least a large portion of enemy land. The first few days of the battle were showing that the Germans advanced. The French could start firing back with their own artillery fire and reinforce the destroyed divisions. It would later explain why the attack was a failure in the first days: the Germans were too slow to do capture anything strategic. Time was the key in this operation and every minute was important. Even worse, as the artillery fired more than 2,000,000 shells as previously stated, the ground was destroyed and it was very hard for the infantry to advance into this mayhem. As the French were trying anything they could do to slow down the German forces, it was looking more and more like Falkenhayn’s plan was starting to fail. The Germans expected to find demoralized and desorganized units but they encountered fierce and brave resistance from the French. In one day, 2 million shells were fired on the French positions. As the fire was raging on and behind the French lines, 60,000 Germans attacked.

Battle of verdun outcome