Editing Battle of Verdun (section)

===Second phase, 6 March – 15 April===

====6–11 March====

[[File:Mort Homme and Cote 304, Verdun, 1917.png|thumb|{{centre|[[Mort Homme]] and Côte 304}}]]
Before the offensive, Falkenhayn had expected that French artillery on the west bank would be suppressed by counter-battery fire but this had failed. The Germans set up a specialist artillery force to counter French artillery fire from the west bank but this also failed to reduce German infantry casualties. The 5th Army asked for more troops in late February but Falkenhayn refused, due to the rapid advance already achieved on the east bank and because he needed the rest of the OHL reserve for an offensive elsewhere, once the attack at Verdun had attracted and consumed French reserves. The pause in the German advance on 27 February led Falkenhayn to have second thoughts to decide between terminating the offensive or reinforcing it. On 29 February, Knobelsdorf, the 5th Army Chief of Staff, prised two divisions from the OHL reserve, with the assurance that once the heights on the west bank had been occupied, the offensive on the east bank could be completed. The VI Reserve Corps was reinforced with the X Reserve Corps, to capture a line from the south of [[Avocourt]] to Côte 304 north of Esnes, [[Le Mort Homme]], Bois des Cumières and Côte 205, from which the French artillery on the west bank could be destroyed.{{sfn|Foley|2007|p=223}}

The artillery of the two-corps assault group on the west bank was reinforced by {{nowrap|25 heavy}} artillery batteries, artillery command was centralised under one officer and arrangements were made for the artillery on the east bank to fire in support. The attack was planned by General [[Heinrich von Gossler]] in two parts, on Mort-Homme and Côte 265 on 6 March, followed by attacks on Avocourt and Côte 304 on 9 March. The German bombardment reduced the top of Côte 304 from a height of {{cvt|304|m|order=flip}} to {{cvt|300|m|order=flip}}; Mort-Homme sheltered batteries of French field guns, which hindered German progress towards Verdun on the right bank; the hills also provided commanding views of the left bank.{{sfn|Foley|2007|pp=224–225}} After storming the {{lang|fr|Bois des Corbeaux}} and then losing it to a French counter-attack, the Germans launched another assault on Mort-Homme on 9 March, from the direction of [[Béthincourt]] to the north-west. {{lang|fr|Bois des Corbeaux}} was captured again at great cost in casualties, before the Germans took parts of Mort-Homme, Côte 304, Cumières and [[Chattancourt]] on 14 March.{{sfn|Foley|2007|pp=225–226}}

====11 March – 9 April====
[[File:German dispositions at Verdun, 31 March 1916.png|thumb|{{centre|German dispositions, Verdun, 31 March 1916}}]]
After a week, the German attack had reached the first-day objectives, to find that French guns behind Côte de Marre and Bois Bourrus were still operational and inflicting many casualties among the Germans on the east bank. German artillery moved to Côte 265, was subjected to systematic artillery fire by the French, which left the Germans needing to implement the second part of the west bank offensive, to protect the gains of the first phase. German attacks changed from large operations on broad fronts, to narrow-front attacks with limited objectives.{{sfn|Doughty|2005|p=283}}

On 14 March a German attack captured Côte 265 at the west end of Mort-Homme but the French 75th Infantry Brigade managed to hold Côte 295 at the east end.{{sfn|Michelin|1919|p=29}} On 20 March, after a bombardment by {{nowrap|13,000 trench}} mortar rounds, the 11th Bavarian and 11th Reserve divisions attacked {{lang|fr|Bois d'Avocourt}} and {{lang|fr|Bois de Malancourt}} and reached their initial objectives easily. Gossler ordered a pause in the attack, to consolidate the captured ground and to prepare another big bombardment for the next day. On 22 March, two divisions attacked "Termite Hill" near Côte 304 but were met by a mass of artillery fire, which also fell on assembly points and the German lines of communication, ending the German advance.{{sfn|Foley|2007|p=226}}

The limited German success had been costly and French artillery inflicted more casualties as the German infantry tried to dig in. By 30 March, Gossler had captured {{lang|fr|Bois de Malancourt}} at a cost of {{nowrap|20,000 casualties}} and the Germans were still short of Côte 304. On 30 March, the XXII Reserve Corps arrived as reinforcements and General [[Max von Gallwitz]] took command of a new Attack Group West ({{lang|de|Angriffsgruppe West}}). Malancourt village was captured on 31 March, Haucourt fell on 5 April and Béthincourt on 8 April. On the east bank, German attacks near Vaux reached {{lang|fr|Bois Caillette}} and the Vaux–Fleury railway but were then driven back by the French 5th Division. An attack was made on a wider front along both banks by the Germans at noon on 9 April, with five divisions on the left bank but this was repulsed except at Mort-Homme, where the French 42nd Division was forced back from the north-east face. On the right bank an attack on {{lang|fr|Côte-du-Poivre}} failed.{{sfn|Michelin|1919|p=29}}

[[File:Verdun 15 03 1914 Toter Mann 296.jpg|thumb|left|{{center|German soldiers attack Le mort homme}}]]
In March the German attacks had no advantage of surprise and faced a determined and well-supplied adversary in superior defensive positions. German artillery could still devastate the French positions but could not prevent French artillery fire from inflicting many casualties on German infantry and isolating them from their supplies. Massed artillery fire could enable German infantry to make small advances but massed French artillery fire could do the same for French infantry when they counter-attacked, which often repulsed the German infantry and subjected them to constant losses, even when captured ground was held. The German effort on the west bank also showed that capturing a vital point was not sufficient, because it would be found to be overlooked by another terrain feature, which had to be captured to ensure the defence of the original point, which made it impossible for the Germans to terminate their attacks, unless they were willing to retire to the original front line of February 1916.{{sfn|Foley|2007|pp=226–227}}

By the end of March the offensive had cost the Germans {{nowrap|81,607 casualties}} and Falkenhayn began to think of ending the offensive, lest it become another costly and indecisive engagement similar to the First Battle of Ypres in late 1914. The 5th Army staff requested more reinforcements from Falkenhayn on 31 March with an optimistic report claiming that the French were close to exhaustion and incapable of a big offensive. The 5th Army command wanted to continue the east bank offensive until a line from Ouvrage de Thiaumont, to Fleury, Fort Souville and Fort de Tavannes had been reached, while on the west bank the French would be destroyed by their own counter-attacks. On 4 April, Falkenhayn replied that the French had retained a considerable reserve and that German resources were limited and not sufficient to replace continuously men and munitions. If the resumed offensive on the east bank failed to reach the Meuse Heights, Falkenhayn was willing to accept that the offensive had failed and end it.{{sfn|Foley|2007|p=228}}