To be honest, it would be too cruel to use a 420mm siege cannon to deal with the Liege Fortress, which is designed to only withstand 210mm artillery strikes. Under normal circumstances, the warhead of a 210mm artillery shell only weighs one
More than a hundred kilograms, and what the Belgians now have to face is a one-ton warhead. The huge warhead with a delayed fuse hit the reinforced concrete dome of the fort like a meteor flying from the sky, and then like a
Broken eggshells passed through this fragile layer of protection as easily as they could and landed inside the fort, followed immediately by a huge explosion like the sky was shattering. The terrifying power turned the Belgians' years of hard work into ruins in an instant.
Looking at the pile of debris that suddenly sprayed into the sky in the direction of the fort in the distance, Little Maoqi, who was holding a telescope, showed a reserved smile on his face, but he did not let his soldiers who were already on standby face the Maas River.
Launching an attack on the other side, as a commander with rich practical experience, he would not risk his life in such a unnecessary way. Before smashing open all the Belgian forts that could affect his erection of pontoon bridges, his soldiers only needed to wait.
Already.
The news that the German super cannon almost flattened one of the twelve forts in just the first round of shelling scared the Belgians to death. They really couldn't imagine that the Germans could actually create such terror.
Monster, this kind of cannonball not only destroyed a fort, but also their confidence and their hope. When the poor King of Belgium heard the news, his heart was almost broken.
Fortunately, although the German artillery is powerful, its rate of fire is very slow. It takes more than ten minutes to fire one shell. As for hitting the target in the first round of artillery, it is just bad luck on the part of Moltke. In fact, this kind of short-barreled
The accuracy of the howitzer was not high, and in the remaining hour or so of the first day, he was unable to destroy any fort.
But this is no longer important. All he needs is a little time. Although the Germans are tight on time, three or five days can still be endured.
On his side, he relaxed and slowly began to use giant siege guns to smash the Liege Fortress. The French over there were anxious. It was obvious that the German army's goal was to pass through Belgium and then go straight into Paris, and now the French army was on the Franco-Belgian border.
Not to mention being deserted, the defense was basically useless. The French government hurriedly mobilized troops from the German-French border and rushed to the French-Belgian border to set up defenses. At the same time, it sent reinforcements to Belgium without waiting for the Belgians to invite them. Obviously they wanted to
Keep the Germans in Belgium. After all, even if they are destroyed, they will not destroy the French territory.
At the same time, the United Kingdom was required to send troops as quickly as possible and join the war on the European continent as quickly as possible. However, the British Army is very small, with less than 300,000 people at present. After all, raising an army is very expensive. Everything has been going wrong in the British Empire in recent years.
Two inexplicable wars in succession caused the gold from the national treasury to leak out, but what was harvested was pitifully little. So far, Nigeria's oil fields have not been put into stable production. From time to time, guerrillas have gone over to blast. Last year, nothing came out.
to 200,000 tons.
In addition, it costs a lot to support the United States. Although buying the United States is a good move, it still requires money. In industry, although the United States, its former competitor, was abolished, it has risen again.
China, Germany, and Sweden are three more ferocious wolves. They cannot compete with China and Sweden when it comes to new technology. They cannot compete with Germany on an industrial scale. It can be said that the British economy has been deteriorating in recent years, and fiscal revenue has continued to decrease, and it has not even been able to rob it.
The place is up for grabs.
But they still had to fight desperately to engage in an arms race with the Germans. A battleship cost more than two million pounds, and even a destroyer cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. In recent years, the British Navy has added hundreds of new diesel-engine battleships, and the number of popular
All that goes out is money. Alas, the British Empire today is like a run-down aristocrat who pretends to be fat and has no money to hold on!
After maintaining maritime hegemony, it is inevitable to save money on land. It is not surprising that the number of the army is smaller. In fact, if it were not for the Nigerian war that just ended, the number of British army might be smaller. Fortunately, the Parliament
I feel that only maintaining an army of 200,000 is not enough.
And of the less than 300,000 British Army troops, a large part of them are in the colonies, whether it is South Africa or Nigeria, or even distant India and Singapore. These places must be protected by someone. Who makes the land of the Empire on which the sun never sets too
There are too many. Now the mainland can mobilize only hundreds of thousands of troops. Obviously, this small amount of troops is better than nothing.
Of course, something is better than nothing. The combat effectiveness of the British army is reassuring. After all, they fought two wars. Although one opponent was tens of thousands of farmers and the other was a nigger, they still had rich practical experience.
But the problem is that it takes time to mobilize troops. Whether it is the more than 70 French divisions on the German-French border or the newly formed British expeditionary force, if they want to travel hundreds of kilometers to the French-Belgian border or enter Belgium to fight, it will be difficult.
It will take time. Even if the French railway, canal and even road network are developed, it will not be deployed in a short time.
Not to mention 1905, even in 2005, the mobilization of millions of troops could not be completed in a short time. Therefore, the hope of the French had to be pinned on the Belgians being able to stop the German army. After all, they not only had
Liege Fortress and Namur Fortress!
The strength of this fortress is not inferior to that of Liege Fortress. In addition, with some blocking along the way, the French believe that half a month is enough for the Belgian army. During this period, both the French and British armies can mobilize
In the past, a certain number of troops were deployed to block the attack.
Of course, the French have another option, which is to deploy troops to defend the Franco-Belgian border and at the same time use the main force on the German-French border to launch a fierce attack on Alsace and Lorraine. In fact, up to now, the French have not been able to determine the Germans.
The real target of the Germans. Currently, only Moltke's Maas River Army has been put on the battlefield, with a total strength of less than 100,000. According to their intelligence on the Western Front, there are at least 600,000 German troops. If Moltke attacks Belgium
It was just a false shot. When the French army worked hard to wait for the German army at the Franco-Belgian border, what if the main force of the German army in front suddenly launched an attack?
If the strength of the two sides on the border is now about the same, then if the French army is greatly weakened, can it still block the German offensive? The French government must take this into consideration, so the main goal of the French is still to pin their hopes on the British
The army can quickly reinforce, even if there are only a few hundred thousand British troops, plus the Belgian army, it is barely enough.
If the German army continues to increase its strength by then, it can be determined that their main attack direction is Belgium, and even if the British-Belgian coalition cannot stop the main force of the German army, it will be enough to slow down their speed. At that time, the French army can safely mobilize a large number of troops into Belgium.
A decisive battle with the Germans in Belgium. If you lose, you still have a lot of room for maneuver. If you win, you can go straight to Germany. It will be Belgium, not France, that will be beaten to pieces.
If the Germans did not continue to increase their stakes, it would mean that their move was just an attack in the east and west, trying to trick the French army into transferring their main force to Belgium, and then concentrate their efforts on breaking through the front. As long as the main force of the French army did not move, their plan would naturally be
It failed. At that time, the Germans only gained two more enemies for themselves. It was considered that they had stolen the chicken but lost the rice.
After all, the French are still not vigilant enough about the speed of the German attack. They don't know how heavy a price they will pay for their indecision. Based on this mentality, the French General Staff, in addition to dispatching a group army to reinforce the French-Belgian border,
, the remaining four group armies launched an attack on the German army on the opposite side at the same time.
The 600,000 French troops foolishly climbed out of the trenches and fortresses, and just as Count Schlieffen was most looking forward to, they launched an attack on the German army. Under the cover of thousands of cannons, French soldiers carrying Lebel rifles led
Filled with national hatred, they rushed towards the German positions like a tide on the empty plains of Western Europe. What awaited them were countless flame-spraying machine gun muzzles. Their lives were instantly as humble as grass. Behind them, those in straight military uniforms with military uniforms were waiting for them.
The generals wearing snow-white gloves commanded Fang Qiuzhong to rot into winter mud.
On the first day of the offensive, 30,000 French troops fell to the guns of the Germans. This number stunned the entire world.
What the French didn't know was that there were less than 200,000 German troops facing them.
So far, Germany has mobilized an army of 1.2 million people. Thanks to the fact that the United States has been devastated by Yang Feng in recent years, and the United Kingdom has also been dragged down by the Boer War and the Nigeria War, Germany's industrial strength has now ranked first in the world.
position, and the income from foreign plunder has greatly increased the German treasury, allowing William to maintain a huge army second only to Russia while launching a maritime arms race with Britain. Before the Moroccan crisis, the number of German army
Nearly one million, and after the crisis broke out, the army expanded significantly.
Of the 1.2 million troops, 300,000 are on the Eastern Front, 100,000 are in the colonies, and the remaining 800,000 are all on the Western Front, not the 600,000 the French thought. For his right hook, Schlieffen left only
Two hundred thousand German troops at the German-French border. Those staff officers with rich combat experience told him that if there were no problems in transporting supplies, two hundred thousand German troops would be enough to block the French attack on the border. It seemed that his staff officers were not exaggerating.
The remaining 600,000 troops are all assembled at the Derby border. Now they are waiting for Moltke to open the Liège Fortress, and then the 600,000 troops will sweep across France like a flood that bursts its embankments. (To be continued, please search for Piaotian literature and novels.