Dead Man's Hill
an elevation near Verdun, on the Meuse, called Le Mort Homme, which was the scene of fierce fighting during the German effort, from February to July, 1916, to take Verdun. During the entire attack the French held with extraordinary bravery to the northern slopes of the hill, to which on the first surprise they had been driven. Three hundred thousand Germans are held to have been killed or wounded as the price of the gains made in the vicinity. Positions did not change much during the greater part of 1917, though there was much fighting. In August, however, the French by a quick thrust took Le Mort Homme (Dead Man's Hill), Avocourt Wood, Corbeaux and Cumières Woods and other territory with 19,000 prisoners. By the middle of September the French had recovered 100 of the 120 square miles around the hill, seized by the Germans in 1916.