This new and enthralling study is the first detailed work in English of a largely unknown period of the Battle of Verdun. It considers the background to the battle and casts light on the first three critical months of fighting there. It explains the decision to change the original German plan for the Verdun offensive and extend the action to the Left Bank of the River Meuse. Using only original French and German sources the author describes the fighting on the Left Bank and follows the German offensive as it slowly pushed forward, taking three terrible months to reach its objectives, the two hills known as Cote 304 and the Mort-Homme, or Dead Man. The reasons why the German offensive did not go as planned, and the problems that they had to overcome in order to reach their objectives, are fully explained. The French defence of the Left Bank hills, described by Germans themselves as outstanding, is also covered in great detail. Having spent twenty years walking the battlefield of
