The Battle of Verdun. As the name suggests, this battle was like Rosen on the Eastern Front, with France and Germany repeatedly taking and retaking specific points.
Being located in the center of the Western Front, more than half of the French Central Army Group (GAC) forces were deployed there.
What made this battle different from previous ones was that while both sides alternated between offense and defense with bombardment-attack-occupation-counterattack-recapture cycles, Germany was generally on the offensive while France was mainly defensive.
This was quite different from last year's pattern of France reclaiming territory and Germany defending.
"Counterattack at all costs! Don't stop the offensive until we recapture all fortresses near Verdun!"
"Deploy the entire GAC there! Push them back somehow!"
French Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre sent Philippe Pétain, who had risen from colonel to general in just one year.
