The town of Fleury fell, as did the first line of trenches in front of Souville, but the offensive stalled at the French strongpoint at Froide Terre. Forced to divert attention to the Eastern Front when victory at Verdun seemed imminent, the Germans renewed their attack on the right bank on June 21. Aleksey Brusilov launched a devastating offensive in Volhynia (now in Ukraine) that led to the capture of 200,000 Austro-Hungarian troops in the space of just three days. While the Germans retained the initiative at Verdun, their efforts were frustrated by events nearly 1,000 miles (1,600 km) away. Such minor gains, which came at an enormous cost in lives, would typify the horrors of trench warfare on the Western Front. Fighting on the left bank was largely inconclusive, but on June 15 the French reclaimed roughly a little more than a half mile (one kilometre) of trenches on Le Mort Homme.
After days of back-and-forth combat, the Germans captured both positions on June 9, but they were unable to carry their attack through to the defensive works south of Thiaumont. On June 1 the Germans attacked Vaux and Thiaumont, two strongpoints in the French line on the right bank. As each army continued to seek the advantage at Verdun, preparations for the upcoming Somme offensive exerted pressure on both sides to push for a hasty and conclusive resolution to the battle. The village of Cumières fell in heavy fighting on May 24, but the German gains were partially reversed days later, owing to a French attack on Douaumont that immobilized German reinforcements destined for the left bank. On May 8 the Germans captured the Bois Camard but were unable to parlay that advance into a successful assault on the French strongpoint at Hill 304. Max von Gallwitz commanded the left bank until he was replaced by Gen. The German command had also divided the field of battle into two sections, with Gen. Pétain was promoted to commander of Army Group Centre, and his former command was divided, with Robert-Georges Nivelle taking charge of French forces on the right bank and Henri Berthelot leading the defense on the left. The bloody stalemate continued through April as both armies rotated their commanding officers. On April 9 the crown prince ordered an attack on both banks on a scale not known since the opening offensive in February, but the gains were insignificant. The new front passed through Avocourt, the first slopes of Hill 304, the southern reverse of Le Mort Homme, and to the north of Cumières. By April 8 the French had lost all that remained of their former front line on the left bank of the Meuse. The Germans brought up fresh troops, and on March 28 the battle began again on the left bank on the right bank the Germans captured the village of Vaux on March 31. On the left bank the Germans overran the Bois d’Avocourt on March 20 as a prelude to an assault on the French strongpoint at Hill 304, but that attack failed to develop.
On March 8 the Germans captured the defensive works surrounding Hardaumont on the right bank, and they spent the next 10 days engaging in a series of bloody but inconclusive attacks on the fort and village of Vaux. The battle was now raging on both banks of the Meuse. SpaceNext50 Britannica presents SpaceNext50, From the race to the Moon to space stewardship, we explore a wide range of subjects that feed our curiosity about space!.Learn about the major environmental problems facing our planet and what can be done about them! Saving Earth Britannica Presents Earth’s To-Do List for the 21st Century.
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