Video: 'The Battle of Verdun (WW1 Documentary)'

(Sunday, February 21, 1916, 7:12 a.m. Central European Time; during the Battle of Verdun, part of the Western Front of World War I) — The Battle of Verdun, one of the largest battles of the First World War on the Western Front between the German and French armies, began this morning when a 10-hour German artillery bombardment by 808 guns was launched in the hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse in northeastern France.

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The battle would last for 302 days, one of the longest and costliest in human history.

Video: 'World War I: Battle of Verdun' (Feb. 21, 1916, at 7:34; 4 videos)

In 2000, Hannes Heer and Klaus Naumann calculated that the French suffered 377,231 casualties and the Germans 337,000, a total of 714,231 and an average of 70,000 a month.

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In 2014, William Philpott wrote of 714,000 casualties suffered by both sides during the Battle of Verdun in 1916 and that about 1,250,000 casualties were suffered in the vicinity of Verdun in the war.

Video: 'The Battle Of Verdun' (Feb. 21, 1916, at 14:00)

In France, the battle came to symbolize the determination of the French Army and the destructiveness of the war.

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