While Romania was busy with the birth of a large number of new lives, the breath of early spring had also arrived in France. Here the German army was preparing for a battle against the French army in an effort to knock France out of the war.
The German army's strategy in 1915 was a great success. On the eastern front, Russia was pushed back to Lithuania, Belarus, and Ukraine. Now Russia had no threat to Germany's eastern territory. Serbia, which had been resisting the Austro-Hungarian army on the southern front, also
It was completely occupied this year and even brought a new member to the Allies. As for the Ottoman Turkey, it also repelled the Allied attack with the help of the German advisory group. So in 1915, the Allies had the upper hand.
Although the Allied Powers were at a disadvantage to the Allied Powers in terms of land forces, it was another story in terms of naval ships. The Allied Powers' naval ships were suppressed by the fleets of Britain, France, Italy and other countries and were unable to move in the North Sea and the Adriatic Sea. Although the Allied Powers' navy relied on outstanding generals
, harassed the Allied shipping lines on the ocean, but were quickly eliminated.
Now the German army is focusing its main efforts on France, and the biggest pusher is General Falkenhayn, the Chief of General Staff. He became the Prussian Minister of War in 1913. On September 14, 1914, the German army suffered a setback in the First Battle of the Marne.
, the Schlieffen Plan failed. Falkenhayn took over as the German Chief of Staff and planned the "March to the Sea" operation with the intention of seizing the northern French ports and cutting off direct connections between Britain and France. However, he failed in the First Battle of Cambrai and failed.
Do your best.
He advocated that Germany should focus its strategy on the Western Front, which conflicted with the Eastern Front strategy of General Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. However, because he served as Chief of the General Staff, he forced
Passed the Battle of Verdun.
According to General Falkenhayn's plan, he chose to attract the main force of the French army to Verdun and annihilate the main force of the French army to make the French government surrender. To this end, he also made confusing arrangements.
In early January 1916, Falkenhayn quietly gathered troops to prepare for the attack on Verdun. At the same time, Germany blatantly sent more troops to Champagne, making a gesture of launching an offensive in Champagne. As expected, French Commander-in-Chief Joffre
They were fooled. After the German army was unable to capture Verdun in 1914 and shifted its attack direction, the French believed that the Verdun Fortress was outdated, and Joffre stopped strengthening the fortress in 1915.
At this time, the movement of the German army towards Champagne made Joffre extremely vigilant. He believed that the German army would attack Champagne and then march to Paris from here. The Germans were continuing to quietly gather troops in the direction of Verdun.
As the signs of the build-up gradually became apparent and exposed, the British and French forces finally figured out the true intentions of the German army.
Verdun is the northeastern gateway of Paris and the support point of the entire French army's front. Once it is lost, the capital Paris will directly face the German attack. At this time, Joffre panicked and quickly ordered more troops to Verdun.
Fortunately, due to poor weather conditions, the German attack was delayed, providing time for France to mobilize reinforcements. France mobilized two divisions into the area.
On this day, the German army began to attack Verdun. The force responsible for the offensive mission was the 5th Army commanded by the German Crown Prince Wilhelm (which consisted of 7 corps, a total of 18 divisions, more than 1,200 artillery pieces, and about 170 aircraft.
A total of more than 210,000 people.)
Its 7th, 18th and 3rd Corps (6 and a half divisions, 879 artillery pieces, 202 mortars) carried out the main assault on a 15-kilometer wide front from Kongsangwa to the Orne River, and the 5th Corps covered its left flank.
The 15th Army carried out a auxiliary assault 6 kilometers south of the Orne River, and the 6th Army took diversionary actions on the west bank of the Meuse River. In the direction of the main assault, the German infantry was twice as many as the French infantry and 3.5 times more artillery. In order to complete the campaign
Suddenly, the German army carried out a series of feints on the Western Front in January of the same year.
In fact, as the commander-in-chief of France, Jiafei had the opportunity to respond immediately, but because of his own bad habits, the defenders of Verdun were in an extremely critical situation. Jiafei was not allowed to be disturbed when sleeping. He believed that
A commander needs to have enough sleep to have the energy to deal with the ever-changing battlefield situation. So when the battle broke out that night, the French commander-in-chief Joffre was asleep, and the messenger who delivered the battle report waited dryly all night.
It wasn't until the next morning that the yawning Jiafei realized that Verdun was already in dire straits.
Such a slow response had serious consequences. In less than four days, the German army completely broke through the Verdun position, and more than 13,000 French troops became prisoners of war. By February 25, nine German soldiers did not fire a single shot.
, and easily boarded the Montfort, the northern stronghold of Verdun. The strategically vital Verdun Fortress was about to collapse. Not far away, Paris was furious, and even the French government was preparing to move again.
The description in the newspaper at that time said: "It is exactly the same as before the last defeat (Franco-Prussian War)."
But the real consequences will inevitably be worse: if Germany takes another step forward and successfully controls the main highlands of Verdun, France will either watch the fall of Verdun and open the door to Paris, or it will throw its elite troops into it, like a sheep in a tiger's mouth.
Destroyed by Germany!
At this time, Joffre made the most correct choice. He assigned a new commander to Verdun, a major general named Pétain.
Pétain, a poor boy from a single-parent peasant family, joined the army angrily at the age of fifteen due to the disastrous defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. From then on, he became a stubborn character among French army officers: he always spoke straight and clear, and he loved to go against his superiors. At the age of 58,
At that time, that is, on the eve of the outbreak of World War I, I finally stumbled to the rank of colonel. Pétain himself also laughed at himself at the time: I can already thank God that I can still get the pension of a colonel.
But the sudden outbreak of World War I allowed Pétain to finally show his talents. After the war, he made many military exploits and was promoted to major general. When Verdun was turned into a mess, he was decisively transferred by his superiors to fill the hole. Read it
After seeing the terrible battle situation on the Verdun front, Pétain suffered an acute pneumonia attack and immediately fell down with black eyes. After being rescued and waking up, he forced himself to issue the first combat order: draw a supervisory line on the existing position.
, the French army, regardless of soldiers or officers, whoever wants to retreat beyond this line will be shot with machine guns!
Pétain's next order shocked all the officers: a repair team must be organized to quickly widen the only simple road in Verdun that was not blocked by German artillery fire within two days of the incident, and it must be guaranteed to start on the 27th.
From the 1st onwards, this road can pass a truck every fourteen seconds, continuously supplying blood to the Verdun front line!
I would like to mention here that there is a fleet of transportation companies from Le Havre that transports personnel and supplies to France. During the blood transfusion process for Verdun, 27 of its 58 Dongfeng trucks were damaged due to various reasons.
After the battle, his boss Le Havre was awarded the Legion of Honor (Commander level) by the French government. He was one of the few civilians to receive this level of medal.
After 190,000 reinforcements and 25,000 tons of supplies finally arrived in Verdun as soon as possible, Pétain's cross-fire tactics began to shine, and he actually faced off against the powerful German army. By April,
, Pétain, who fought to the death, even got lucky: a French artillery shell accidentally hit the German army's secret ammunition depot in the Spancourt Forest, and all 450,000 German large-caliber heavy artillery shells exploded in an instant.
All were wiped out. The German army's best forty-two caliber cannon was bombed, and all their martial arts skills were abolished.
The Germans' well-planned "bloodletting" battle was turned into a brutal tug-of-war by the tough Pétain. Pétain, who had made extraordinary achievements, was promoted to commander of the front in May, while the French and German armies at Verdun continued to increase their casualties.
Knock, a brutal battle began around the Verdun position. The division- and brigade-level troops were almost wiped out in just a few rounds of artillery fire.
The bloody battle lasted until December. The French army finally switched from defense to offense and hastily abandoned the German troops in the Verdun position. In the end, the French army lost 650,000 people, but the German army also paid 450,000 casualties.
The ten most elite divisions on the Western Front were all wiped out.
