On August 4th, Germany began to attack the Fortress of the Sun in Belgium.
In 1905, the then German Chief of Staff Alfred von Schlieffen formulated an extremely top-secret combat plan, which was the famous "Schlieffen Plan".
In Alfred von Schlieffen's vision, even if Germany fought side by side with Austria-Hungary, it would not be able to support a two-front war against France and Russia at the same time.
Considering Russia's inefficient mobilization capabilities, Germany must defeat France before Russia completes its mobilization and its troops have offensive capabilities, and then returns to the Eastern Front to deal with Russia.
France has built a large-scale and well-equipped fortress group on the German-French border. Although it has not yet reached the point of the "Maginot Line" in the future, a direct attack will have to pay a huge price, so Belgium has become Germany's best way to bypass the French defense line.
Good channel.
At this time, the status of the Liege Fortress was highlighted to an unprecedented degree. If Germany wanted to attack France via Belgium, it must first capture the Liege Fortress.
General Gerard Lehmann, who was responsible for guarding the Liege Fortress, had 8,000 fortress garrison troops, as well as a mobile force consisting of 24,000 infantry, 500 cavalry, and 72 field guns.
Liege Fortress is located at the confluence of the Meuse and Ourte rivers, bordering the Dutch border to the north and the Ardennes Forest to the south. With the Meuse River as the center, there are six fortresses facing Germany on the east bank, and six fortresses protecting the rear on the west bank.
Fortresses, each fortress is six kilometers away from the scorching sun, and the distance between fortresses is also six kilometers, evenly distributed in a radial pattern between the borders of Germany and Belgium.
Before the German troops launched an attack on the Liege Fortress, the current German Chief of General Staff Moltke modified Schlieffen's plan. As many as 500,000 troops would pass through the Liege Fortress. Such a large number of troops were distributed in a total width of less than 12 miles.
The level of crowding on the front can be imagined.
In order to conquer the Liege Fortress, Germany formed a 30,000-strong siege force. This force was well-trained and equipped with large-caliber howitzers. It had been deployed to the Derby border in advance. The commander of one of the brigade of this force was about to be
The brilliant Ludendorff.
Ludendorff once served as Alfred von Schlieffen's staff and participated in the formulation of the "Schlieffen Plan". He was very familiar with the key nodes in the "Schlieffen Plan". When formulating the "Schlieffen Plan", Ludendorff
I once went to Liege Fortress for inspection and I know the Liege Fortress very well.
To attack the fortress of Liege, one must first cross the Meuse River near the Derby border.
After Germany issued an ultimatum to Belgium, Belgium had blown up all the bridges on the Maas River, so the German army could only use boat bridges to forcibly cross the river.
The Meuse River was already within the artillery range of Liege Fortress. The Belgian defenders had accurately measured the terrain around Liege Fortress early, so the Belgian artillery fire was very precise. The German troops crossing the river suffered heavy losses. Western Front Commander Emich mobilized
More than 200 artillery pieces focused on bombarding the Liege Fortress, but they were unable to break through the fortress's defenses, and the artillery units also suffered heavy losses. On this day, the German army only made a certain breakthrough in the lower reaches of the Meuse River, and made no progress in the middle and upper reaches.
Later that day, Britain officially declared war on Germany. At eight o'clock in the evening, the Ministry of Defense of Southern Africa received an order from the Ministry of War to immediately launch an attack on Southwest Africa.
The Ministry of Defense in Pretoria has been extremely busy since the war mobilization.
This is a huge complex of six buildings located on General Street in Pretoria. The six departments of the Ministry of Defense share a three-story office building with each two departments and a defense minister. Roque's office
Building No. 6 is located in the center of the entire Ministry of Defense.
From the outside, the entire Ministry of National Defense is a huge fortress. There are hidden underground passages and material warehouses under the gardens between the office buildings, as well as 120 rooms with different functions. If southern Africa is invaded by foreign enemies, Bill
If Tolia is attacked, then the Ministry of Defense is the last bastion.
According to the staff plan, Southern Africa has entered a state of war. Both Roark and Derek Dodd-Martin are going to work in the underground office. Dodd is about to go to Nyasaland, Martin is preparing to lead his army to Europe, and Roark does not want to get involved.
He went underground to be a rat, so Rock is still in Office Building No. 6.
"Not yet. I will go to Congress tomorrow to explain the Department of Defense's war plan and postpone the attack on Southwest Africa." Roque is not in a hurry. Although Roque has been looking forward to the attack order for a long time, Roque has more important things.
To do.
There are still many hidden dangers in southern Africa. Roque wants to release the news of attacking southwest Africa and see how many people will take the bait.
"How do you respond from London?" Derek Dodd hesitated. The army preparing to attack Southwest Africa was also the army planned to go to Europe to support. Rock had to occupy Southwest Africa first before he could support Europe.
On the contrary, the attack on Tanganyika will begin soon, for which reason Roque is already prepared.
"Just say that we need more time to prepare. It is almost winter, and our troops are short of cotton-padded clothes and blankets." Rock could easily find a lot of reasons. In the early days of the war, the British and French allied forces suffered heavy casualties, and the German and Austrian allied forces were advancing with great success.
At this time, sending troops to Europe will not improve your performance at all, it is simply sending cannon fodder.
"Lord, Britain still needs to order blankets from southern Africa -" Derek Dodd was a shameless person and felt that he couldn't explain such a reason.
"What's wrong? The Johannesburg Textile Company is a private enterprise, and our Ministry of National Defense has no money and cannot afford it." The excuse of free trade is really useful, and the federal government cannot requisition materials at will.
"Lord, Whale Bay was attacked by the Southwest African Army -" Patton came in a hurry to report, but he didn't expect the Germans to move so quickly. They were able to launch an attack not long after they declared war, and they must have planned it for a long time.
"Where do the people of Southwest Africa get their courage?" Derek Dodd shook his head and sighed.
"Even if they don't attack Whale Bay, we won't let them go." Rock knew that the Germans had a sense of adventure, but he didn't know that they were so adventurous. However, this also reminded Rock: "Ordering troops to attack along the railway, at least
We must ensure the safety of the Walvis Bay Railway.”
The attack on Walvis Bay was not serious. There were about two divisions besieging Walvis Bay. These were the only two divisions in Southwest Africa. Only one of them was a real German army and the other was a colonial servant army formed by the Germans.
Roque's pre-war deployment worked. There are also two African divisions on standby in Whale Bay. Although these two divisions only have white officers, their combat effectiveness is comparable to the two divisions in Southwest Africa.
"We have repelled two enemy attacks and killed at least 500 German soldiers. The combat effectiveness of the German troops does not look very good." Richard Brown, commander of the 103rd Division, is less than 40 years old this year.
He is a bit thin and wears a pair of very high prescription glasses, which gives him a very urbane look.
The African divisions preparing to go to Europe for reinforcements are all three-digit numbers starting with "1".
"Don't be careless. This is Germany's colonial army. They are not fully trained and lack artillery. That's why we can persist in not retreating. The real German army will not be defeated so easily." Ford Lu is not proud, the commander of the 105th Division.
He is a senior soldier with service experience in the British Army, participated in the Second Boer War, and briefly studied at the Army Academy.
"If we can attack, I feel we can fight all the way to Windhoek." Richard Brown was a little regretful. These are military merits that can be knighted.
"Enjoy the relaxation now. When we go to Europe, I'm afraid we won't even have time to sleep." Ford Lu was very awake. He and Richard Brown's mission had been clear, and they would go all out after arriving in Europe.
It doesn't matter if the troops are depleted. The Ministry of National Defense will not hold them accountable and will replenish troops and rebuild the troops. Only those who fail to show the bravery and tenacity of the southern African army will be punished.
To put it bluntly, being cannon fodder is not that easy. It takes not only cold-bloodedness to line up soldiers to die, but also discipline and courage.
"General, Mr. Humphrey's car has arrived." Brown's chief of staff was dressed in formal attire. Ever since the 103rd and 105th divisions arrived at Walvis Bay, there had been singing and dancing in Walvis Bay every night, and Brown's chief of staff was also invited.
"Not today, we can't go to the banquet." Brown still had a bottom line, the battle was going on, and Howard Humphrey was really big-hearted.
On the front line five kilometers away from the headquarters of Richard Brown and Ford Lew, the battle was ongoing.
Although the equipment of the African divisions is rudimentary, one shot per man can still be guaranteed. These African divisions have been established for more than two years. The training of the troops is very strict, the quality of the soldiers is pretty good, the trenches are dug in a systematic way, and the foxholes and communication trenches are
Machine gun positions were all available, and barbed wire and mines were placed in front of the positions. The attacking German troops suffered heavy casualties.
The defending troops are two regiments of the 2nd Brigade of the 103rd Division. These troops were reorganized this summer. Different from the British army, the African Division uses the standard three-three infantry division, with one division and three brigades.
A brigade has three regiments, and then a battalion and company are arranged in squads. They are all three units. The most basic squad is 12 people. The company plus non-combatants are about 120 people. The battalion will add a machine gun company equipped with twelve mounting triangles.
A general-purpose machine gun is mounted. At the regiment level, there is a company responsible for logistics and transportation, plus a unit responsible for communications and medical engineering. The standard establishment of each regiment is 1,765 people, and the standard establishment of each division is 1,765 people.
In addition to the establishment, the African Division continues to use place names as unit names. The two regiments of the 103rd Division are the Bunia Infantry Regiment and the Mancayane Infantry Regiment. This can clearly indicate the origin of the soldiers.
If the troops are exhausted, they will continue to be replenished from these two places.