9. The French recaptured Douaumont only to surrender it back to the Germans
Throughout the month of May the intense artillery duel between the two armies continued unabated, and the German infantry, exposed for the most part, suffered the worst of the pounding. A French attack against the defenses erected by the Germans around Douaumont was launched in the third week of May, and after intense fighting French troops entered the shattered fort on the night of May 22, though they did not fully secure the facility. Sporadic fighting within Douaumont continued throughout the night. In the morning the French 34th division was sent to reinforce the troops within the fort and fully secure it, prepared to defend it from the Germans.
The French reinforcements were pushed back by German artillery and small arms fire, and failed to reach the fort. German troops managed to surround Douaumont and the French forces inside the fort, which the French had intended to abandon and destroy just three months earlier, were forced to surrender to the Germans. The French lost over 5,600 men attempting to retake the fort, including 1,000 lost to the Germans as prisoners of war. The Germans lost about 4,500 men defending it from the French attack, adding another 10,000 casualties to Verdun’s brutal cost to the armies of both sides.