Eight hundred and seventieth chapters French defeat
On March 30, the German army's long-awaited siege weapon finally arrived at the Liege Fortress. This giant siege weapon was a giant mortar called the "Big Bell Tower". The "Big Bell Tower" cannon was 7 meters long.
It weighs 42 tons and has a caliber of 42! mm. Each shell weighs 1 ton. It can penetrate hard reinforced concrete buildings and is extremely powerful. In order to transport it to the front line, it must first be transported to the railway by train.
At the end of the line, a special road was laid, and then 36 strong horses were used to drag it to the German positions near Liege. At that time, the German army only had 5 guns of this kind, and Moltke immediately allocated 4 guns to Ludendorff. At the same time,
The heavy artillery of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was also in place. The M11 super heavy artillery was made for Skoda and had a caliber of 5mm. The two competed for the first time in Liege, which is known as the strongest fortress in the world.
What greatly pleased the German and Austrian armies and shocked the Belgian army was that the 12-door Grand Bell Tower and the M.
The Type 11 super heavy artillery tore the so-called weak reinforced concrete defense line into pieces in just four days.
At 18:30 in the afternoon, Ludendorff ordered the "Grand Bell Tower" to fire first at the Freiron Fort, the strongest of the forts in Liege. The gunners filled the cannonballs and retreated to the protective trench 300 meters away from the cannon.
Inside, plug your ears with earplugs, then ignite the cannon. Just listen to a loud roar that shakes the earth, and a giant cannonball rushes straight into the room.
It climbed to an altitude of 3,000 meters, and then landed in a parabola shape just meters in front of Fort Freiron. Immediately, a large crater tens of meters square was blown out of the ground, and sand and dust splashed all over the sky. "Big Bell Tower"
"The astonishing power of the cannon not only frightened the Belgian defenders, but also stunned the attacking German troops. After that,"
"Plump Besha" fired continuously, and the German observers in the airship kept correcting the coordinates of the bombardment. Finally, the eighth shell hit the top of the Frelon fort. The giant shell penetrated the top of the fort, went straight into the central tunnel, and exploded.
The interior was immediately filled with fireworks, and the Belgian defenders were blown to pieces. The other three German cannons also
After calibrating the coordinates and firing continuously, the Freiron fort was shaking as if it were sitting on the crater of a volcano. Reinforced concrete, broken limbs, guns and supplies were flying everywhere, and the fire reflected half of the sky. When everything
After a moment of silence, the German infantry rushed forward. The large Fort Freiron was reduced to rubble, and no defenders survived.
"Haha! The Belgian fortress finally couldn't withstand it!" Seeing the fortress of Liège fortress being blown into ruins, Ludendorff showed a victorious smile on his face. The depression on his face for several days was finally gone.
And empty!
"Congratulations! Germany has such heavy artillery. There are no fortresses or fortresses that can resist the advance of the German army!" General Zhao Bowen also sighed. The power of the Big Bell Tower's heavy artillery also shocked him. As Vice President of China
Chief of Staff, he is also very clear about the equipment of the Imperial Army. The Chinese Army is also equipped with some heavy artillery, but mainly 210 mm
The meter heavy gun and the 305mm heavy gun were both dismantled and modified from retired naval battleships. Compared with the German Big Bertha heavy gun, there is still a big gap. However, the Empire class battleships being built by the Navy
, will also be equipped with a 406mm naval gun. If converted into a train gun, the power will definitely not be worse than the German Big Bert!
On July 31st, the "Grand Bert Tower" cannon destroyed two forts of the Belgian defenders. The remaining forts still resisted and refused to surrender. Ludendorff ordered the four "Grand Bert Tower" cannons to be divided into
Group 2 swept away the remaining forts along both sides of the Maas River. As a result, there were constant loud noises on the battlefield every day, and each fort successively
It collapsed and turned into a huge iron furnace and crematorium. By August 1, 11 of the 12 forts had been destroyed, leaving only the Ronson Fort held by Lieutenant General Girard and Lehmann. Ludendorff
They tried to persuade them to surrender again, but Lieutenant General Gilad and Lieutenant Lehmann still refused. So four "Big Bell Tower" cannons fired a salvo at the Longson Fort, and the fort immediately burst into flames.
In the fire, the ammunition depot in the fort was also ignited, and a chain explosion occurred. The roof of the fort was lifted dozens of meters away, and the entire fort was completely destroyed. The German troops rushed up and saw burnt corpses and broken bodies everywhere.
The scene was horrific. Surprisingly, Lieutenant General Girard Lehmann himself was not killed, but was knocked unconscious. The German army
He was escorted to Ameh. Lieutenant General Gilad Lehmann handed over his saber to him and said: "I was captured after losing consciousness. Please be sure to state this in the report." Ameh.
He admired Li Man as a loyal soldier and returned the sword to him, then said: "Your military honor has not suffered any loss. Please keep this saber!"
The Battle of Liege finally ended with the German victory, but the German army suffered heavy casualties in front of the fortress, with losses exceeding 40,000 people. After that, the German army came to Brussels, and King Abel of Belgium saw that there was no way back, so he had to retreat to Antwerp. The German army
Easily mastered Belgium's complete railway network. Taking advantage of the convenient railways, millions of German troops rushed directly to the French border, and the door to northern France was opened!
On August 3, French Commander-in-Chief Joffre issued an order instructing General Luv's 3rd Army and General Dekari's 4th Army to prepare to attack the Ardennes area, and the 5th Army to attack north of the Thébre River.!
In Lorraine, on the morning of August 5, the French 1st Army and the 2nd Army were severely beaten when attacking the German defense lines at Sarbourg and Moranges. They attacked machine guns equipped with heavy artillery, barbed wire and hidden bunkers.
position, the shortcomings of the large-scale charge were immediately exposed. The French army
The assault tactics are based on the assumption that the infantry unit will sprint forward for 2 seconds and advance 50 meters before the opponent has time to pick up the gun, aim, and shoot. However, the subject that was practiced so hard during the exercise proved to be a fool's errand on the battlefield.
.German machine guns only needed BH′ bells to fire.
Despite the setback, the two French generals still ordered the troops to move forward. The German counterattack began, and the fierce artillery fire shattered the French army. The French 2nd Army was forced to retreat, leaving the 1st Army's right wing without cover. Joffre had to order the 3rd
The 1st Army Group retreated together. The next day, the heavy artillery of the German 6th Army roared like thousands of horses galloping, day and night. The French army retreated to the Charme Gap between the Toul Defense Area and the Erbinal Defense Area in France.
On August 8, the German 67th Army launched a majestic attack towards the Charme Gap, and in the following days fell into a fierce battle with the French 1st and 2nd Army. The failure of the Lorraine attack did not make Xia Xia
Fei was discouraged. On the contrary, he saw the fierce counterattack of the German 6th Army.
Having plunged the German left wing into a quagmire of fierce fighting, it was now a good time for him to attack the German center, so he issued an order to attack in the Ardennes area. While the French 3rd and 4th Army entered the mountainous area, the French 5th Army
Cross the Sambre River to attack the enemy's right flank.
The terrain in the Ardennes area was not suitable for an attack. It was densely wooded and crisscrossed by streams. Despite this, it was chosen as a breakthrough point by the French. They believed that the German troops here were the weakest.
The German troops guarding here are the 5th Army led by Crown Prince William and the 4th Army led by the Duke of Württemberg. According to the plan, the German 4th Army will attack Navchato through the northern part of the Ardennes region, and the 5th Army will pass through the southern part of the mountainous area.
Attacking Verton and the two French fortresses of Longwy and Montmedy, Crown Prince William's headquarters was located at Thionville.
Confronting Crown Prince William was the French 3rd Army commanded by Rueuf. Rueue's task was to drive the German troops back from Metz to Thionville, surround them there, and at the same time recover the Brière area during the advance.
While he is encircling the right wing of the German center, the neighboring 4th Army will encircle the German left wing in the center. These two French armies will fight their way out of the center and cut off the arm of the German right wing from the shoulder.
On August 7, large-scale fighting began. In Virton and Tantini, in Rossignol and Naftosya, on various battlefields, artillery roared.
Before the attack, the French soldiers had bayonets installed on their guns, and countless flags were fluttering in the wind. The drum and bugle band of the regiment played "Marseillaise" passionately. Officers wearing white gloves, in the band 20
Before marching forward, stepping on the syllables of the trumpet, they marched neatly and quickly, with great momentum and spectacularness, just like a National Day military parade. When the French infantry advanced, their vanguard's pace was neat and their formation was also neat.
, even in gun
When they fell down in the sound of artillery, they were also very neat. They were like rabbits one by one. After falling, they could not get up again, but they were always brave and were not afraid of this. The officers of the vanguard were at the front of the team.
With their heads held high, the vanguard fell down in small groups, and then followed up in small groups. They kept falling and kept moving forward. The position where the subsequent troops fell was never more than 50 meters in front of the first place where they fell.
of.
In Rossignol, France.
The civilian division was surrounded by the 6th Army of the German 5th Army. After six hours of fighting, there was not much left of the division and the division commander was killed. In Werton, the battlefield after the fierce battle was an incredible scene. Thousands of dead people were still standing.
He was lying down, leaning on a 60-degree slope formed by batches of corpses.
On August 8, it became clear that the French offensive had failed. The French army did not "split the German army in half." The French army summoned up the courage they were proud of, waved their sabers, shouted "Forward", and marched towards the trenches.
The German troops who stood firm and used machine guns and artillery launched attacks again and again, but the opponent's terrifying firepower defeated their courage. The French army began to fully withdraw from the Ardennes area. The 3rd Army retreated to Verdun, and the 4th Army withdrew to Verdun.
Steney and Sedan.
The German-French border battle is over. The French army suffered more than 140,000 casualties in these four days, while the German casualties were minimal. The German-French border is full of broken walls, and the streets and alleys exude the smell of blood, medicine, horse manure and corpses.
The stench was mixed together. Among the corpses, discarded scraps with the words "French Army" printed on them could be seen scattered here and there.
From now on, attack should be the only law, and only attack can produce positive results." The dazzling fragments of the French army's field regulations. The border has been breached, the door of France has been opened, and all French army units have retreated. On August 10, the entire battle situation
It was already clear that the German army began to advance in a straight line.