So then would it be accurate to say that the French counterattacks suffered significantly less casualties than the Germans anticipated?
Certainly. Bear in mind that by the time the French counter-attacked the battle of the Somme was ongoing, so the German high command's attention was elsewhere. Also, the French were able to gain air superiority over Verdun, so German reconnaissance aircraft didn't spot the troop build-up there until it was too late.
Nivelle came up with a cunning plan for the start of the battle. His artillery launched a standard preparatory bombardment followed by a rolling barrage. The Germans, assuming the French infantry were crossing No Man's Land just behind the barrage, opened fire with all of their own artillery. But it was a trick: none of the French soldiers had left their trenches. Instead the French air force, using its air superiority, flew reconnaissance flights over the German lines to spot the muzzle flashes and pin-point the exact location of each German artillery battery. Over the next two days, French long-range artillery attacked and destroyed almost half of the German artillery in the sector, and forced most of the rest to withdraw out of range. When the real French infantry attack began, it suffered few casualties because there were so few German cannons left to fire at them. The French were also using new tactics, with light machine guns and grenadiers integrated directly with their riflemen.
Nivelle was hailed as a genius for this triumph — the most significant French military victory since the Marne two years earlier. The problem was that it made him over-confident; the trouble with winning victories by trickery is that your opponent won't always do what you want him to do.
