German gains continued in June, but slowly and only after increasingly heavy losses on their side. On 7 June, following almost a week of bitter resistance, Fort Vaux fell to the Germans after a murderous hand-to-hand fight inside the fort itself. On 23 June, the Germans reached what would become the furthest point of their advance. The line was just in front of Fort Souville, the last stronghold before Verdun itself. Pétain was making plans to evacuate the right bank of the Meuse when the combined Anglo-French offensive on the Somme River was launched on 1 July, partly to relieve pressure on the French, although the first day was the bloodiest in the British Army's history. The Germans could no longer afford to continue their offensive at Verdun when they were needed so desperately on the Somme. At a cost of some 400,000 German casualties and a similar number of French, the attack was finally called off. Germany's intention to bleed France to death had failed.