The booming sound of artillery fire at the Verdun front.
Although it was a scorching afternoon, the smoke and dust from the artillery fire covered half of the sky, making it impossible to see any sunlight in Verdun. Inside the fortress, it was as dark as night.
Inside the fortress, a large map hung on the north wall of the command post. In the dim smoke, Petain was puffing on his pipe occasionally, his eyes moving across the map as if maneuvering troops in his mind.
(The above picture is of Henri Philippe Petain, aged 60. He was recently promoted to Major General and was known as the "Doctor of the Army" for opposing the French Army's blind offensive strategy and advocating for a defensive strategy.)
Petain established his command post at Saint Michel Castle, the closest to Verdun City, just like Shire did.
The reason was that Petain believed the Battle of Verdun was not just an issue of defense but also a logistics problem:
