The Battle of Verdun was one of the deadliest in human history. It began on February 21 and ended on December 18, 1916. During all these months the French and Germans fought fiercely with attacks followed by counter-attacks and the dead piling up in the dead zone.
The battle started with a German attack and the aim was to "kill" the French army. If the Germans had continued like this they probably would have prevailed. But their initial successes "whet their appetite" with disastrous, for them, consequences. The French initially stopped the German advance and eventually recaptured the lost ground.
After so many years the losses of the combatants are not exactly known. Most sources speak of 377,231 French casualties to 337,000 for the Germans. However, newer studies speak of 976,000 – 1,250,000 total losses. It was an unprecedented slaughter in which artillery played a catalytic role.