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The Battle of Verdun was fought from February 21 - December 18, 1916 during WWI on the Western Front between the German and French armies, on hills north of Verdun-sur-Meuse in north-eastern France. The concentration of so much fighting in such a small area devastated the land, resulting in miserable conditions for troops on both sides. Rain combined with the constant tearing up of the ground turned the clay of the area to a wasteland of mud full of human remains. Shell craters became filled with a liquid ooze, becoming so slippery that troops who fell into them or took cover in them could drown. Minenwerfer (mine launcher) is the German name for a class of short range mortars used extensively during WWI by the German Army. The weapons were intended to be used by engineers to clear obstacles including bunkers and barbed wire, that longer range artillery would not be able to accurately target. The minenwerfer was cheaper, costing only one seventh as much as the artillery gun. A variety of explosives that would usually be unsuitable for use in artillery were used to fill the shells. Recognizing the numerous advantages of the minenwerfer in trench warfare, production was stepped up.
