Warfare

Attrition

A strategy of wearing down the enemy's men and resources faster than he can replace them. Falkenhayn later described his aim at Verdun in these terms, and the Somme and Passchendaele are often called battles of attrition.

Mentioned in

• Chapter IV Deadlock §1 Why the Trenches? Firepower and the Shell Crisis
• Chapter V The Year of Attrition Overview§2 Verdun I: Falkenhayn's Mill§3 Verdun II: The Sacred Way and the Long Grind
• Chapter VII The Last Gamble §4 Georgette, the Marne, and Why It Failed
• Chapter IX In the Trenches §2 A Day in the Line: Stand-To, Rum and Relief
• Chapter XI War on Waves and Wings §1 The Balance of 1914: Dreadnoughts and the Fleet in Being