Second phase, 6 March – 15 April Battle of Verdun

before offensive, falkenhayn had expected french artillery on west bank suppressed counter-battery fire had failed. germans set specialist artillery force counter french artillery-fire west bank failed reduce german infantry casualties. 5th army asked more troops in late february falkenhayn refused, due rapid advance achieved on east bank , because needed rest of ohl reserve offensive elsewhere, once attack @ verdun had attracted , consumed french reserves. pause in german advance on 27 february led falkenhayn have second thoughts decide between terminating offensive or reinforcing it. on 29 february, knobelsdorf, 5th army chief of staff, prised 2 divisions ohl reserve, assurance once heights on west bank had been occupied, offensive on east bank completed. vi reserve corps reinforced x reserve corps, capture line south of avocourt côte 304 north of esnes, mort-homme, bois des cumières , côte 205, french artillery on west bank destroyed.

the artillery of two-corps assault group on west bank reinforced 25 heavy artillery batteries, artillery command centralised under 1 officer , arrangements made artillery on east bank fire in support. attack planned general heinrich von gossler in 2 parts, on mort-homme , côte 265 on 6 march, followed attacks on avocourt , côte 304 on 9 march. german bombardment reduced top of côte 304 height of 304 m (997 ft) 300 m (980 ft); mort-homme sheltered batteries of french field guns, hindered german progress towards verdun on right bank; hills provided commanding views of left bank. after storming bois des corbeaux , losing french counter-attack, germans launched assault on mort-homme on 9 march, direction of béthincourt north-west. bois des corbeaux captured again @ great cost in casualties, before germans took parts of mort-homme, côte 304, cumières , chattancourt on 14 march.

11 march – 9 april

after week, german attack had reached first-day objectives, find french guns behind côte de marre , bois borrous still operational , inflicting many casualties among germans on east bank. german artillery moved côte 265, subjected systematic artillery-fire french, left germans needing implement second part of west bank offensive, protect gains of first phase. german attacks changed large operations on broad fronts, narrow-front attacks limited objectives. on 14 march german attack captured côte 265 @ west end of mort-homme french 75th infantry brigade managed hold côte 295 @ east end. on 20 march, after bombardment 13,000 trench mortar rounds, 11th bavarian , 11th reserve divisions attacked bois d avocourt , bois de malancourt , reached initial objectives easily. gossler ordered pause in attack, consolidate captured ground , prepare big bombardment next day. on 22 march, 2 divisions attacked termite hill near côte 304 met mass of artillery-fire, fell on assembly points , german lines of communication, ending german advance.

the limited german success had been costly , french artillery inflicted more casualties german infantry tried dig in. 30 march, gossler had captured bois de malancourt had lost 20,000 casualties , germans still short of côte 304. on 30 march, xxii reserve corps arrived reinforcements , general max von gallwitz took command of new angriffsgruppe west. malancourt village captured on 31 march, haucourt fell on 5 april , béthincourt on 8 april. on east bank, german attacks near vaux reached bois caillette , vaux–fleury railway driven french 5th division. attack made on wider front along both banks germans @ noon on 9 april, 5 divisions on left bank repulsed except @ mort-homme, french 42nd division forced north-east face. on right bank attack on côte-du-poivre failed.

in march german attacks had no advantage of surprise , faced determined , well-supplied adversary in superior defensive positions. german artillery still devastate french defensive positions not prevent french artillery-fire inflicting many casualties on german infantry , isolating them supplies. massed artillery fire enable german infantry make small advances massed french artillery-fire same french infantry when counter-attacked, repulsed german infantry , subjected them constant losses, when captured ground held. german effort on west bank showed capturing vital point not sufficient, because found overlooked terrain feature, had captured ensure defence of original point, made impossible germans terminate attacks, unless willing retire original front line of february 1916.

by end of march offensive had cost germans 81,607 casualties , falkenhayn began think of ending offensive, lest become costly , indecisive engagement similar first battle of ypres in late 1914. 5th army staff requested more reinforcements falkenhayn on 31 march optimistic report claiming french close exhaustion , incapable of big offensive. 5th army command wanted continue east bank offensive until line ouvrage de thiaumont, fleury, fort souville , fort de tavannes had been reached, while on west bank french destroyed own counter-attacks. on 4 april, falkenhayn replied french had retained considerable reserve , german resources limited , not sufficient replace continuously men , munitions. if resumed offensive on east bank failed reach meuse heights, falkenhayn willing accept offensive had failed , end it.