Chapter 990 It's finally France's turn to change the commander-in-chief
In 1915, the total length of the Western Front exceeded 500 kilometers, and the total number of troops on the Western Front of both parties involved in the war was close to 10 million.
With so many people crowded into such a small area, tactics such as outflanking and flanking attacks were out of the question. The only way to defeat the enemy was a frontal assault.
Frontal assault was the tactic that Rock was least willing to use. In the third year of the World War, the British, French and German forces were improving by leaps and bounds in digging trenches. The protective capabilities of the trenches were becoming more and more perfect. To break through the position, they could only forcefully use human lives.
To pile up, so there will be an endless stream of "butchers" on the Western Front.
Joffre and Haig of the British and French allied forces were called butchers. Crown Prince William, who commanded the Battle of Verdun on the German side, was not much better. However, because Crown Prince William was a member of the royal family, the German newspapers were merciful. But then
It does not change the fact that the German army also suffered heavy casualties.
Roque's biggest advantage is that he does not stick to the rules like Joffre or Haig, and has a higher degree of freedom in commanding operations. If Haig directs the attack in Belgium, then the expeditionary force's attack in Belgium will probably evolve again.
Like another Verdun or the Somme, even if Haig found an opportunity, he would probably not send troops to land behind the German defense lines.
Multi-arms joint operations require close cooperation among the arms and require high quality of commanders.
The current British army has not even learned the most basic infantry and artillery coordination. To let them perform beach landing missions is to risk their lives. Looking at the performance of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force in the early stages of the Dardanelles Battle, it is simply appalling.
In another time and space, during the World War, the Allies and Central Powers combined had only one successful amphibious landing operation.
This time and space is much better. The British Expeditionary Force alone has successfully carried out two amphibious landings.
In the Battle of the Dardanelles, although the amphibious landing did not play a decisive role, it did serve to contain the Ottoman Fifth Army on the Garibaldi Peninsula. In this sense, the amphibious landing in the Battle of the Dardanelles was also a success.
of.
Hindenburg, who had just assumed the post of Commander-in-Chief of the German Army, and Ludendorff, who had become the Chief of General Staff of the German Army, never expected that the British Expeditionary Force would attack so fiercely after changing its commanders. Belgium was home to Germany's First Army. When the World War broke out
The commander of the First Army was Alexander Crook. Because he missed the opportunity to capture Paris during the Battle of the Marne, Alexander Crook was dismissed after the Battle of the Marne. The new commander-in-chief was Duke Albrecht.
In the First Battle of Ypres, it was precisely because of Duke Albrecht's outstanding performance that the German army was able to withstand the attack of the British and French forces with a group of reserve recruits who had just joined the army.
After Rock took over as Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, he launched a new offensive in Belgium. The German army was completely defeated. Someone must be responsible for this.
Strictly speaking, the defeat of the German army had nothing to do with Duke Albrecht. The tanks made a splash when they first appeared on the battlefield. If Ludendorff and Hindenburg, who had performed well on the Eastern Front, commanded the German First Army, they could not stop Ludendorff.
K's attack.
After the 2nd Cavalry Division captured the port of Zeebrugge, Duke Albrecht was dismissed and replaced by Crown Prince Ruprecht of Bavaria, Roque's old rival.
The occupation of Zeebrugge Port is of great significance. Zeebrugge Port is the last German port in the English Channel. Without Zeebrugge Port, the German submarines will have no home and will no longer be as elusive as before.
After occupying the port of Zeebrugge, the 2nd Cavalry Division joined forces with the 13th and 15th Divisions to capture Bruges, posing a threat to the flanks and rear of Ghent.
Ruprecht had to order the German troops defending the port of Zeebrugge to withdraw voluntarily, leaving only an empty city for the expeditionary force.
The Expeditionary Force was not satisfied. On October 3rd, the Expeditionary Force continued to launch attacks on Antwerp and Brussels at the same time. This attack involved more tanks. The second batch of tanks purchased by the British government was finally sent to France. This batch of tanks totaled
500 vehicles, but they are not yet fully functioning.
The current problem of the British Expeditionary Force is that it has tanks, but not enough tank crews. The tank crews in southern Africa have been transferred to France, so the expeditionary force has to train its own tank crews.
Germany's industrial strength is indeed strong. Just over a month after tanks appeared on the battlefield, the German army has developed a 76mm anti-tank gun.
The 76mm anti-tank gun was improved on the basis of the 76mm field gun. German engineers only improved the gun mount structure, and the field gun directly became an anti-tank direct-fire gun.
After the anti-tank guns were equipped with troops, the losses of the armored troops skyrocketed. By October 15th, Rock had to stop the offensive. The desperate resistance of the German army was an important reason. Another reason was the increasingly cold weather.
This year, it has been snowing in Belgium since early October. By October 15th, the snow in Brussels was already one meter deep. It took more than half an hour for the tanks to warm up, and the casualties among the troops were increasing.
As the British Expeditionary Force stopped attacking, the French army's offensive was also forced to stop. The Battle of the Somme, which lasted for nearly a year, finally ended. The British Expeditionary Force suffered 450,000 casualties in the entire battle, the French army suffered 340,000 casualties, and the German Army
540,000 casualties.
If Rock had not been commanding the latter part of the Battle of the Somme, the casualties of the British Expeditionary Force would have further increased, and the German casualties would have been even less.
Of course, the above figures are official data given by various countries. In addition to these figures, the Allied Powers and the Central Powers also released some data. The British government claimed that 150,000 people died on the Western Front in 1915. France announced the number of sacrifices.
It was 260,000. Germany published the lowest data. In the whole year of 1915, only 143,000 people died in Germany on the Western Front.
The Battle of Verdun and the Battle of the Somme both broke out in 1915. The Battle of Verdun lasted from January to November, and the Battle of the Somme also broke out in January, but it only lasted until October when Rock took the initiative to stop the attack.
, the German army lost 433,000 people at Verdun alone, how could it be possible that only 143,000 people died in battle.
Germany does not have as many experienced doctors and nurses as the British Expeditionary Force, nor does it have a field hospital with complete facilities and sufficient supplies.
In fact, the data released by the British are also discounted. From what Rock learned, the total number of British officers and soldiers who died in 1915 should be about 300,000.
This data cannot be released, otherwise Winston will step down immediately and Britain will withdraw from the war. Democracy and freedom are no joke.
By the way, according to the British government's propaganda, about 890,000 German soldiers died in battle in 1915. If the wounded are included, this number would be ten times higher.
The media in this day and age is so ridiculous.
The key is that there are still people who believe such ridiculous data, which makes Rock really dumbfounded.
In this wave of publicity, The Times played an important role. With the support of Rock's large sums of money, the sales of The Times have now surpassed that of the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph, becoming
The UK's largest domestic newspaper by circulation.
Miraculously, even though editors and reporters are talking nonsense in the newspaper, The Times still maintains a fair and objective image and is known as the "conscience" of the British newspaper industry.
By November, all battlefields gradually fell into silence. The Battle of Verdun ended. The French army lost 543,000 people and the German army lost 433,000. Verdun became the largest battle in human history, lasting for a whole year.
, France and Germany both suffered heavy losses. The German side directly led to the resignation of Falkenhayn, Hindenburg and Ludendorff came to power, and the French side did not stop. During the Battle of Verdun, the French government did not dare to settle accounts with Joffre for fear of the impact.
The morale of the army was reduced, and now that the Battle of Verdun was finally over, the French government immediately asked Joffre to resign. The new commander-in-chief of the French army was Robert Nievelle, who performed outstandingly in the Battle of Verdun.
The reason why Robert Nivele performed well has little to do with Robert Nivelle's ability. If the British Expeditionary Force had not launched the Battle of the Somme in time, which greatly restrained the German forces, then the Battle of Verdun would have happened in a few days.
It ended months ago.
There were many factors that affected the outcome of the Battle of Verdun. Brusinov's attack in Galicia was also one of the reasons. In order to help the Austro-Hungarian Empire defend, Falkenhayn transferred the troops originally planned to be sent to Verdun to Galicia.
Lycia, which directly led to Falkenhayn's dismissal.
Wilhelm II did not have the patience of French President Paingarai. Before the Battle of Verdun was over, Falkenhayn was dismissed and sent directly to Romania. The high-level German army was in turmoil, which also affected the morale of the front-line troops.
If this alone is not enough for Robert Niweiler to shine, Robert Niweiler must definitely thank Roque for his help. It was precisely because Roque started a new offensive in Belgium that Hindenburg had to start from
Verdun mobilized troops to reinforce Belgium, which directly caused the German army to fall into the dilemma of insufficient troops in Verdun.
That's why the German army voluntarily abandoned its positions many times and returned all the land on the east bank of the Meuse River to the French army.
This is all considered to be the work of Robert Nievelle.
In early November, the ninth Battle of the Isonzo River ended. The farce was staged again on the banks of the Isonzo River. The performance of the participating troops was like a joke. Throughout 1915, the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire fought in a series of Battles of the Isonzo River.
A total of 140,000 people died in the war.
On November 14, Robert Nievelle succeeded Joffre as the new commander-in-chief of the French army. After the Battle of Verdun, Mangin launched several more attacks in Verdun.
These several attacks failed to break through the German defense line. After Ludendorff became the German Chief of Staff, the German army's civil engineering work also made rapid progress. Before the end of 1916, Mangin launched a total of four attacks, and the only result was to inflict damage on France.
An additional 45,000 people were added to the casualty list in 1915.
Look at their efficiency, and then look at the Kingdom of Italy and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They don't even concentrate on killing people. They really should be expelled from the camp.