Editing Battle of Verdun (section)

===Morale===
Fighting in such a small area devastated the land, resulting in miserable conditions for troops on both sides. Rain and the constant artillery bombardments turned the clayey soil into a wasteland of mud full of debris and human remains; shell craters filled with water and soldiers risked drowning in them. Forests were reduced to tangled piles of wood by artillery fire and eventually obliterated.{{sfn|Clayton|2003|pp=120–121}} The effect of the battle on many soldiers was profound and accounts of men breaking down with insanity and [[shell shock]] were common.<!--not unique to Verdun or the Great War--> Some French soldiers tried to desert to Spain and faced [[court-martial]] and execution if captured; on 20 March, French deserters disclosed details of French defences to the Germans, who were able to surround {{nowrap|2,000 men}} and force them to surrender.{{sfn|Clayton|2003|pp=120–121}}

A French lieutenant wrote,
{{quote|Humanity is mad. It must be mad to do what it is doing. What a massacre! What scenes of horror and carnage! I cannot find words to translate my impressions. Hell cannot be so terrible. Men are mad!| (Diary 23 May 1916){{sfn|Horne|2007|p=236}}}}

Discontent began to spread among French troops at Verdun; after the promotion of Pétain from the Second Army on 1 June and his replacement by Nivelle, five infantry regiments were affected by episodes of "collective indiscipline"; Lieutenants Henri Herduin and Pierre Millant were [[summary execution|summarily shot]] on 11 June and Nivelle published an Order of the Day forbidding surrender.{{sfn|Mason|2000|p=160}} In 1926, after an inquiry into the [[cause célèbre]], Herduin and Millant were exonerated and their military records expunged.{{sfn|Clayton|2003|p=122}}