Editing Battle of Verdun (section)

==={{lang|fr|Région Fortifiée de Verdun}}===
[[Image:Verdun and Vincinity - Map.jpg|thumb|{{centre|Map of the battlefield}}]]
For centuries, Verdun, on the [[Meuse (river)|Meuse]] river, had played an important role in the defence of the French [[hinterland]]. [[Attila the Hun]] failed to seize the town in the fifth century and when the empire of [[Charlemagne]] was divided under the [[Treaty of Verdun]] (843), the town became part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]; the [[Peace of Westphalia]] of 1648 awarded Verdun to France. At the heart of the city was a citadel built by [[Vauban]] in the 17th century.{{sfn|Holstein|2010|p=20}} A double ring of {{nowrap|28 forts}} and smaller works ({{lang|fr|ouvrages}}) had been built around Verdun on commanding ground, at least {{cvt|150|m|order=flip}} above the river valley, {{cvt|2.5|–|8|km|order=flip}} from the citadel. A programme had been devised by [[Séré de Rivières system|Séré de Rivières]] in the 1870s to build two lines of fortresses from [[Belfort]] to [[Épinal]] and from Verdun to [[Toul]] as defensive screens and to enclose towns intended to be the bases for counter-attacks.{{sfn|Le Hallé|1998|p=15}}{{efn|Forts in the outer ring were (clockwise) Douaumont, Vaux, Moulainville, Le Rozelier, Haudainville, Dugny, Regret and Marre. The inner ring included Souville, Tavannes, Belrupt and Belleville.{{sfn|Holstein|2010|p=32}}}}

Many of the Verdun forts had been modernised and made more resistant to artillery, with a reconstruction programme begun at Douaumont in the 1880s. A sand cushion and thick, steel-reinforced concrete tops up to {{cvt|2.5|m|order=flip}} thick, buried under {{cvt|1|–|4|m|order=flip}} of earth, were added. The forts and {{lang|fr|ouvrages}} were sited to overlook each other for mutual support and the outer ring had a circumference of {{cvt|45|km|order=flip}}. The outer forts had {{nowrap|79 guns}} in shellproof turrets and more than {{nowrap|200 light guns}} and machine-guns to protect the ditches around the forts. Six forts had {{nowrap|155 mm guns}} in retractable turrets and fourteen had retractable twin {{nowrap|75 mm turrets}}.{{sfn|Holstein|2010|pp=31–32}}

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 102-00153, Westfront, Bettungsgeschütz.jpg|thumb|{{centre|[[Langer Max|Long Max]] mounted on its combined railway and firing platform.}}]]
In 1903, Douaumont was equipped with a new concrete bunker ({{lang|fr|Casemate de Bourges}}), containing two [[canon de 75 modèle 1897|75 mm field guns]] to cover the south-western approach and the defensive works along the ridge to {{lang|fr|Ouvrage de Froideterre}}. More guns were added from 1903 to 1913 in four retractable steel turrets. The guns could rotate for all-round defence and two smaller versions, at the north-eastern and north-western corners of the fort, housed twin [[Hotchkiss M1909 Benet–Mercie machine gun|Hotchkiss machine-guns]]. On the east side of the fort, an armoured turret with a {{nowrap|155 mm short-barrelled}} gun faced north and north-east and another housed twin {{nowrap|75 mm guns}} at the north end, to cover the intervals between the neighbouring forts. The fort at Douaumont formed part of a complex of the village, fort, six {{lang|fr|ouvrages}}, five shelters, six concrete batteries, an underground infantry shelter, two ammunition depots and several concrete infantry trenches.{{sfn|Holstein|2010|pp=25–29}} The Verdun forts had a network of concrete infantry shelters, armoured observation posts, batteries, concrete trenches, command posts and underground shelters between the forts. The artillery comprised {{circa| 1,000 guns}}, with {{nowrap|250 in}} reserve; the forts and {{lang|fr|ouvrages}} were linked by telephone and telegraph, a narrow-gauge railway system and a road network; on mobilisation, the RFV had a garrison of {{nowrap|66,000 men}} and rations for six months.{{sfn|Holstein|2010|p=32}}{{efn|In September and December 1914, the {{nowrap|155 mm gun}} at Fort Douaumont bombarded German positions north of Verdun and a German observation post at the {{lang|fr|Jumelles d'Ornes}} (the Ornes binoculars). In February 1915, Douaumont was bombarded by a {{nowrap|420 mm mortar}} known as [[Big Bertha (howitzer)|Big Bertha]] and [[38 cm SK L/45 "Max"|Long Max]], a {{nowrap|380 mm naval}} gun.{{sfn|Holstein|2010|pp=33–34}}}}