VERDUN BATTLE WINNER SERIES

VERDUN BATTLE WINNER SERIES

A series of engagements known as the Battles of the Frontiers ensued. The French had captured Mülhausen but abandoned it to reinforce the greatly weakened forces in Lorraine.Īfter marching through Belgium, Luxembourg and the Ardennes forest, the German army advanced, in the latter half of August, into northern France where they met both the French army, under Joseph Joffre, and the initial divisions of the British Expeditionary Force, under Sir John French. The French advanced toward the Saar River and attempted to capture Saarburg before being driven back. In keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting maximum losses upon the French. The main offensive was launched on 14 August with attacks on Saarburg in Lorraine and Mülhausen in Alsace. The pre-war French offensive plan, Plan XVII, was intended to capture Alsace-Lorraine following the outbreak of hostilities. Another siege followed at Namur, lasting from about the 20 August until 23 August. Although the German army bypassed Antwerp, it remained a threat to their flank. Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian army retreated to Antwerp and Namur. Liège was well fortified and surprised the German army under von Bülow with its level of resistance.

The first battle in Belgium was the Siege of Liège, which lasted from 5 August to 16 August. Luxembourg had been occupied without opposition on 2 August. Armies under German generals Alexander von Kluck and Karl von Bülow attacked Belgium on 4 August 1914. The inexorable advance of the Allied armies in 1918 persuaded the German commanders that defeat was inevitable, and the government was forced to sue for conditions of an armistice.ġ914 - German invasion of France and BelgiumĪt the outbreak of the First World War, the German army executed a modified version of the Schlieffen Plan, designed to quickly attack France through Belgium before turning southwards to encircle the French army on the German border. In spite of the generally stagnant nature of this front, this theatre would prove decisive. But it was only after the adoption of improved tactics that some degree of mobility was restored. In an effort to break the deadlock, this front saw the introduction of new military technology, including poison gas, aircraft, and tanks. As a result, no significant advances were made. However, a combination of entrenchments, machine gun nests, barbed wire, and artillery repeatedly inflicted severe casualties on the attackers and counter attacking defenders. The attacks employed massive artillery bombardments and massed infantry advances. This line remained essentially unchanged for most of the war.īetween 19 there were several major offensives along this front. Both sides then dug in along a meandering line of fortified trenches, stretching from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier with France.

The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne. Moltke -> Falkenhayn -> Hindenburg and Ludendorff -> Hindenburg and Groenerįrontiers – Liège – Antwerp – Great Retreat – Race to the Sea – Neuve Chapelle – 2nd Ypres – 2nd Artois – Hill 70 – 3rd Artois – Loos – Verdun – Hulluch – Somme – Arras – Vimy Ridge – 2nd Aisne – Messines – Passchendaele – Cambrai – Lys – 3rd Aisne – Belleau Wood – 2nd Marne – Château-Thierry – Hamel – Hundred Daysįollowing the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, the German army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. No unified command until 1918, then Maréchal Ferdinand Foch But Falkenhayn's plan for an attack that would economise on German resources failed to work out as he expected.For most of World War I, Allied and German Forces were stalled in trench warfare along the Western Front.The two campaigns together should have brought France and Britain to terms Falkenhayn hoped to combine the Verdun offensive with a U-boat offensive against British shipping.General Erich von Falkenhayn, the Chief of the General Staff and Germany's principal strategist, targeted Verdun because of its position on the Allied line and its sentimental value to French people.At the end of the bloodshed, France emerged as the victor, by December 1916 winning back nearly all the territory it had lost in February.Verdun - a strong point on the long frontline dividing the French and German armies - was the longest battle of World War One.

Verdun battle winner