WOBLD WAR 424 WORIiD WAR later described — and continued to throt- tle Germany's sea-borne trade with their naval cordon. The credit side of the Allies' record was also augmented by the fact that their armies were still in being, and adding to their strength, except Serbia's. On the other hand there was a disquieting situation on most of the war fronts. In the west only a few miles had been recovered from the Ger- mans and at a heavy cost. On the Russian front and in the Balkans the situation was worse. Nearly all Galicia and Poland and Courland had fallen to the Germans, and the Serbian army had virtually been wiped out. On the ad- jacent front — the Austro-Italian line — Italy had made little headway. Further east the British had failed against the Turks in the Dardanelles and were balked in their advance on Bagdad. On the western front the Germans early in the year launched a great offen- sive against Verdun with the object of so crippling France that she would cease to count as a factor in the war. Verdun was girdled by forts and woods, the outer positions of which the French held more or less securely in face of the menace from two formidable natural barriers which had been won by the Ger- mans — Forges Wood on the French left, and a strong- post on a sort of island that overlooked the Woevre Plain on the French right. The first line defenses, some miles north of the town, were strong, but the second and third had been neglected. The line was held by less than two army corps of territorials, while there was a lack of railroads to replace those cut by the Germans. Under these disadvantages the French commanders set out to defend the fortress, and from that defense came the world-famous phase: "They shall not pass." The at- tack began before dawn on February 21, 1916, on the French left. The outer positions in Haumont, Caures and La Ville woods crumbled, despite a brave de- fense, and the surviving French retired. Other outposts — Consenvoye Wood, Herbebois, Wayrille and Brabant — also fell to the assailants. On February 24 the German advance broke through the French resistance round Fosses Wood, Beaumont, Le Chaume Wood and Les Chamrettes. The French situation thus became serious by the loss of a group of outposts that jeopardized the retention of the inner positions, on to which the Germans advanced. The latter, however, were temporarily checked by French counterattacks after the fighting had continued without cessation for four days and nights. Louvemont fell, and then the Germans tui'ned their attention to Douaumont fort and village, the next point in the line of attack on the outer rim of the old permanent fortifications. On February 27 the struggle there was marked by ruthless hand-to-hand fight- ing and bayonet charges, which forced the Germans to retreat with heavy losses. A renewed attempt had the same result; then came a two day's respite. On March 2 the Germans returned to the attack with an avalanche of shells and advanced in almost solid formation. They succeeded, despite the French de- fense, in entering Douaumont, only to be ousted the following night, but the next morning they recovered it by bringing heavy re-enforcements. To even the line reached by the possession of Douaumont, the Germans, on March 6, attacked the French positions on the left — Dead Man Hill, Cumieres and Bethincourt. These points were west of the Meuse, where the German operations were menaced by French artillery. Cumieres and Bethin- court and the lesser of the two summits forming Dead Man Hill (numbered re- spectively Hills 265 and 295) were cap- tured, while the higher summit remained in French hands. Terrible fighting en- sued to obtain complete possession of the double hill. The Germans enlarged their front to outflank the defenders and threw in a fresh division against the new point of attack — Avocourt Wood and Hill 304. They captured the wood, but suffered appalling losses in attempting to take the hill, forcing them to pause to reorganize their hard-hit forces. The next day the attack changed to Douau- mont against the French line there and also against a neighboring position— Vaux fort and village. The first attacks failed; the second (March 11) was equally fruitless, so skillfully had the French planned their defenses. After four days of the most sanguinary fight- ing the Germans had not succeeded in reaching even the nearest entanglements round the hilly position of Vaux. On March 16 they made five attacks on Vaux without breaking down the sorely tried defenders; tv/o days later they attacked six times, and still the French held their ground. It was not until March 31 that they succeeded in occupying the western end' of Vaux village, the overlooking fort remaining in French hands. Meantime (March 20) the Germans returned to their outflanking operations to obtain Dead Man Hill on the northwest. The struggle for this hill and Hill 304 devel- oped into one of the most notable battles in the defense of Verdun. The battles round Douaumont and Vaux were also remarkable for the tenacity of purpose of both sides. At the beginning of May,
