The United States' participation in the war was inevitable. Li Ningyu had been prepared for this. However, the United States did not directly declare war on the Far East, which surprised Li Ningyu. Therefore, after the first land battle between the United States and Mexico started, the Far East Army began a full-scale attack on the United States.
declare war.
Both sides knew the existence of the other side and the opponent's purpose, but no one made it public. The European land war also started for the last time. After the preliminary agreement between Li Ningyu and William II was reached, the Far East Army stationed in Siberia began to attack frequently.
The main purpose of this activity was to create a false impression for the Tsarist Russian Empire and to help William II hold back the Eastern Front. However, the French Army on the Eastern Front had to be dealt with by the Allied Powers themselves.
With the end of the Battle of Jutland in March, the Far East Navy entered the North Sea region of Europe, adding another layer between the British and German sides who were originally at war. At the same time, the British Navy's home fleet was no longer able to resist the Far East Navy, and finally simply retreated.
In the home waters, the Far East Navy aircraft carrier battle group does not attack, but quietly anchors in the North Sea of Europe, standing there like a door god.
The British-German sea battle was no longer possible, so the two sides naturally began to prepare for another land confrontation. As the First World War entered the middle and late stages, a large number of British and French allied forces gathered in Soleil in northern France.
In the Mu River area, it seems that they are preparing to launch an offensive against the German positions.
This battle started on June 24, 1906 and lasted until mid-November. In this battle, casualties on both sides once again surged. Both sides caused a total of more than 1.3 million casualties, and 300,000 people were killed.
It was also the most brutal positional battle in World War I. It was also the first time in the history of European wars that Land Tiger tanks were put into actual combat in large numbers.
This was also the first time that the British and French forces took an active offensive. Its main purpose was to break through the German defenses in France, so that the British and French forces could directly switch to mobile warfare after victory, and at the same time reduce the pressure on the French army from the large number of German troops in the Verdun area.
The front line of this battle was more than 50 kilometers long from south to north, directly crossing the Somme River area, but here the German army built what was known as the strongest defense line, including 3 positions and some intermediate positions, a large number of positions
There are tunnel fortifications, and there are multiple layers of barbed wire in front of the position. The German 2nd Army is responsible for the defense. The entire frontal width of the defense reaches 58 kilometers. The first line of defense is 9 German army divisions, and the reserve force also has 4 divisions.
After the battle started, the German army increased its strength to 67 army divisions. At that time, the British and French coalition forces originally planned to have the French army be the main attacker. However, due to the large number of French army troops used in the Battle of Verdun, the British army was finally changed to the British army.
The British and French Allied Forces initially invested 39 divisions. However, during the battle, the number of British and French Allied Forces increased to 86 divisions, of which the British Army had only 25 divisions. The British 4th Army was the main force, and the British 3rd Army was the main force.
Auxiliary, the attack was mainly launched in the Carnot area on the north bank of the Somme River, with a frontal width of 25 kilometers.
The 14 divisions of the French 6th Group Army directly crossed the Somme River to launch an attack on the right side of the British army. The frontal width of the position was about 15 kilometers. In this battle, the artillery and air force of the British and French coalition forces all played a decisive role.
It played a big role and had an absolute advantage. Just when the British and French coalition forces were preparing to adopt a strategy of attacking limited targets one after another, a large number of tanks appeared in the German defense positions. This made the British and French coalition forces' attempt to break through the German defense lines through a war of attrition failed to achieve their goal.
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A new situation emerged, and the British and French forces once again coordinated military operations. This time they stipulated the arrival line for each attack and could not exceed it on their own.
And starting from July 1st, the British and French coalition forces made artillery preparations to bombard the German positions for seven days. In the early morning of July 1st, the semi-armored infantry, supported by artillery fire from the British and French coalition forces, began to launch the first full-scale attack.
, so on that day, both the French and British troops broke through the German first line of defense, but then the British left wing made no progress.
The British army had no choice but to continue advancing in a dense formation, but was severely damaged by German machine gun and artillery fire. On the first day alone, the British and French forces suffered nearly 60,000 casualties. However, the war continued. On July 3, the British right wing
The troops and the French army occupied the second German position. However, the German army finally took advantage of the lull in the attacks of the British and French forces to quickly mobilize and deploy troops, strengthened its defense in depth, and carried out small counterattacks in some areas.
Although this week-long offensive finally succeeded in breaking through two German positions, the British and French forces suffered more than 130,000 casualties, while the Germans suffered very few casualties except for the loss of positions.
Therefore, the British and French forces were unwilling to launch another large-scale offensive in mid-to-late July. Finally, the French army on the south bank directly occupied the third German position, but in the end it failed to develop into an important breakthrough in the entire campaign. Among them, the main
More than 300 tanks and seven army divisions were mobilized for the German army.
However, after the German tanks appeared, 32 British army divisions and 26 French divisions began their third offensive. However, after 12 days passed, the British and French allied forces advanced 4 depth into the German defenses.
kilometers, so on August 15th, the British army mobilized a large number of tanks. In the subsequent attack, the two sides used tanks for the first time in a decisive battle. However, since the British and French forces only dispatched a total of 49 tanks, in terms of number, the actual number was
Only about 10 tanks participated in the battle, so facing hundreds of German tanks, the attack speed of the British and French infantry was greatly reduced. Therefore, in more than ten days of fighting, the British and French forces only occupied a few areas of the German third line of defense.
Just a key point.
This was the first time in the history of the world war that the two warring parties used tanks to fight, so both sides were half-assed, and no one took advantage. However, faced with the sudden appearance of hundreds of tanks by the German army, the British quickly discovered the problem, because
According to their intelligence, Germany does not have so many tanks at all, so there is only one possibility, that is, the Far East Army is helping the German army from behind.
As a result, the British and French forces did not dare to pause any longer. You must know that the reputation of the Far East Army is not inferior to that of the Far East Navy. Therefore, from September to November 1906, the British and French forces launched fifteen large-scale attacks.
The British and French allied forces used tanks many times, but in the end the results were not great because of the small number. On the contrary, the German army had a large number and gained a lot.
The Battle of the Somme may be regarded as the largest land battle in World War I, because both sides suffered casualties of about 1.34 million people, including more than 800,000 British and French troops and more than 500,000 German troops.
However, under such huge casualties, the British and French forces failed to achieve the tactical purpose of breaking through the German defense line. However, they successfully restrained the German army. The continuous attack on the Verdun area further weakened the German army's strength. However, for
In this most brutal positional battle, Li Ningyu had a different point of view.
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