Each barrage consisted of many separate operations, many different sub-barrages, all going on independently at the same time.

Basically, three types of barrages made up most pre-attack bombardments.

1) Trench Shelling this was designed to wipe out the enemy forces in the trenches, dugouts, and pillboxes, or wherever they were located; it was generally the work of the medium or heavy howitzers.

2) Counter-Battery Fire this means fire directed on enemy artillery positions to silence the enemy guns - counter-battery fire could be performed by any Gun or howitzer of sufficient range to reach the enemy position.

3) Interdiction Fire This fire was generally to interrupt enemy troop and/or supply movement, and was of two types.

a) a "cordon barrage", close behind the lines at the point of assault, to prevent reinforcement of the assaulted sectors, and

b) long range interdiction, directed at roads or railroads, route junctions, etc., to cause confusion, disruption, and delay of the rear area services.

The Germans mixed shrapnel, High Explosive, and Gas in all these fires, but the proportions tended to vary. High Explosive (HE) was used most heavily in the Trench Shelling, and Gas was used most in the Counter Battery work, because it tended to kill the horses and blind the Gunners even when their gasmasks were effective against it. Through shrapnel soon passed from use in trench shelling, it was still useful in killing horses and disrupting services. The Germans had a "mixed" round which was part shrapnel and part HE which they used for this purpose.

The French made somewhat less use of gas and HE, primarily because their industry was not yet procucing the right shells in the right quantities. Much of the French shell at this time was still of an inferior grade and made out of cast and wrought iron, an expedient necessary to boost production from the wholly inadequate prewar production estimates. Such shells tended to burst Gun barrels with alarming frequency - at several points in the War's early years, losses to burst gun tubes exceeded those to enemy action. The shell also had less room inside for shrapnel or HE or gas because they had to have thicker walls even to meet a reduced standard.

The initial German Barrage was a mirror of the tactics to be used successfully in 1918, that is, it was a hurricane barrage of hours, rather than days, duration, though a reduced level of fire was continued throughout the day.

For the attack, 2,500,000 round had been stockpiled; a six day supply for a four hour barrage (at 100,000 shells per hour) with some left over for continuing fire. While later battles were to use more rounds, the Verdun bombardment was unique in the concentration in a small area and the high proportion of heavy shell rounds (even later in the war, the Allies usually had at least a 2-1 ratio of light guns; at Verdun the Gerinans began the battle with a 4-1 ratio of medium and heavy guns to light guns). Though this initial bombardment did not wipe out the defenders, it did produce a considerable demoralization and a complete breakdown in communication and supply. French defenders went for days without food or wine (they didn't drink water), and their artillery was unable to give any effective fire support, even wiping out their own units on several occasions.

The French artillery owed much to General Petain, who believed in its importance and rushed many Guns to the area, as well as reestablishing a viable supply system. He also helped to improve coordination between the French Artillery and Infantry, which did much to boost morale. (Nothing hurts more than to be shelled by your own guns.)

Several new things were tried out at Verdun. In June, when the Germans renewed their offensive, they initiated the massive use of "green cross" gas (phosgene - called green cross because of the distinguishing marks on the shells) which while it did not cause extensive casualties, did completely neutralize the French Artillery and cause much demorization.

Another innovative technique the Germans tried was the use of "dummy" shells -- shells whose fuses had been removed -- these were used to keep the defenders (who assumed that the barrage was continuing, and that the shells were "duds") pinned down while the assault force (who knew better) stormed the position.

The French, near the end of the battle, introduced the "Creeping Barrage", where the barrage advances at a fixed rate (hopefully) just ahead of the advancing troops, thus giving the defenders no time to man their defenses. This barrage was dandy when it worked but a disaster when it didn't. As was mentioned earlier, the Germans also used "intermittent" fire, both with Artillery and with their Giant Minethrowers. The use of "Intermittent" Fire also reflected another barrage handicap -- once it had started, all observation ceased due to the smoke and dust unless it stopped for a while to let the observers observe. Also, planes were all but banned from the area when a barrage was ongoing because the high-trajectory shells made the airspace untenable - the 420's, for example, peaked out at about 16,000 feet - above the operational ceiling of most of the aircraft of the time.

Verdun: The Situation

Introduction
Artillery
Other Weapons
Barrages
Observation
Forts and Terrain
Infantry

Verdun Game Variants

Introduction
Initial Order of Battle
Forts
Artillery CRT Variation
Observation
Use of the Artillery Shell Table