4. The Germans launched observation aircraft to examine the French positions
For five hours the French troops huddled in their cold positions, under a ferocious pounding by the German guns, until they ceased just after noon. It was followed by German aircraft overflying the French positions to identify survivors of the barrage. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, the German infantry moved forward, including flamethrowers, to mop up the French positions. The troops which had survived the bombardment did engage the advancing Germans, but by late afternoon of the following day, the Germans had advanced over three miles into the RFV. By the end of the second day, the French High Command grasped the size of the German assault.
On February 24, as heavy fighting continued in around the woods on both sides of the Meuse, French commander Noel de Castelnau requested the French 2nd Army be sent to reinforce the men fighting in the RFV. By February 26 the French fort at Douaumont was in German hands, and a French counterattack to retake it was bloodily repulsed. Petain ordered no further attempts to recapture the fort, the remaining forts within the RFV garrisoned, and consolidation of the French defensive positions. At that time, after less than a week of fighting, combined casualties of the contending armies exceeded 50,000 men, about equal on both sides.