In early 1916, the German and French armies faced each other in what appeared to be a stalemate. The German commander-in-chief, Erich von Falkenhayn, conceived one of the most cold-hearted plans in military history. Fall Gericht, which translates as “Place of Execution,” would bleed France white by a simple battle of attrition, without regard to the suffering of his own soldiers.

For ten months, the German Fifth Army hurled itself against the old fortress city, its commander kept in the dark about the offensive’s true goal. The French Second Army stood firm, commanded by Henri Petain, who issued the famous order, “They shall not pass.”

Verdun’s defenders refused to break.