The Western Front of the First World War: fighting

Even before the war began, it was safe to assume that the Western Front would take many lives. Here there were two great civilizations - French and German. In 1871 Bismarck took Alsace and Lorraine from Napoleon III. A new generation of neighbors yearned for revenge.

Invasion of Germany

According to the Schlieffen plan, the German troops were to strike a quick blow to their main rival in the region - France. In order to build a convenient route to Paris, it was planned to seize Luxembourg and Belgium. The tiny principality was occupied on August 2, 1914. It was on him that the first blow was made. The Western Front was opened. Two days later, under the attack was Belgium, which refused to let the troops of the aggressor through its territory.

The key battle of the first days of the war is the siege of the fortress of Liège. It was the key point of crossing the Meuse River. The military operation was held from 5 to 16 August. Defenders (36 thousand reservists) had at their disposal 12 forts and about 400 guns. The Maa army of the attackers was almost twice as large (almost 60,000 soldiers and officers).

The city was considered an impregnable fortress, but it fell as soon as the Germans drove the siege artillery (August 12). Following Liege on August 20, the capital of the country - Brussels, and August 23 - Namur fell. At the same time, the French army tried unsuccessfully to invade and consolidate itself in Alsace and Lorraine. The outcome of the siege was the implementation of a rapid offensive by German troops. At the same time, after the August fighting, it became clear that the reinforcements of the old type are not capable of restraining troops equipped with new weapons of the 20th century.

Little Belgium quickly left behind, and battles were carried to the line with France, where the Western Front stopped. 1914 is also a series of battles in late August (the Ardennes operation, the battle of Charleroi and Mons). The total number of troops on both sides exceeded 2 million. Despite the fact that several British divisions were helping the French 5th Army, the Kaiser's troops reached the Marne River by September 5.

The Battle of the Marne

The plans of the Berlin command were surrounded by Paris. This goal seemed achievable, because in the first days of September, individual detachments were already at a distance of 40 kilometers from the French capital. In that year the Western Front seemed to be the forge of the unconditional success of the Kaiser and his General Staff.

It was at this moment that the Entente troops launched a counteroffensive. The battles stretched out over a huge square. At a critical moment, the Moroccan division arrived to help the French. Soldiers arrived not only by rail, but even by taxi. This was the first time in history when cars used cars as vehicles. Communications of the German army were stretched all over Belgium, and replenishment of manpower ceased. In addition, all the same 5th French army broke through the enemy's defenses and withdrew to the rear when many German soldiers were transferred to East Prussia, where Russia opened the North-Western Front. Seeing this situation, General Alexander von Kluk gave the order to retreat.

Soldiers of the Triple Alliance received a strong psychological blow. The irremovability of the personnel led to the fact that the sleeping ordinary soldiers were taken prisoner. However, France and England could not take advantage of their victory. The persecution was sluggish and slow. The Allies failed to cut off the fleeing enemies and fill the gaps in their defense.

By October, active fighting moved north, closer to the coast. Infantry from both sides tried to get around the enemy from the flank. Success was variable, until the end of the year no one was able to deal a decisive blow. On Christmas Eve, some divisions unofficially agreed to cease fire. Each such case received the name of a "Christmas truce".

Trench warfare

After the events on the Marne, the Western Front of the First World War changed the nature of the confrontation. Now the opponents strengthened their positions, and the war became positional throughout the whole of 1915. The plan for a blitzkrieg, which had been hatched in Berlin before, failed.

Single attempts of the parties to move forward turned into disasters. So, after the attack in Champagne, the Allies lost at least 50 thousand people, advancing only by half a kilometer. In a similar scenario, the battle developed in the village of Nev-Chapelle, where the British lost more than 10,000 soldiers, advancing only 2 kilometers. The Western Front of the First World War turned into the largest meat grinder in history.

With the same success came the Germans. In April-May, the Battle of Ypres was fought, which became tragically known and thanks to the use of poison gases. Unprepared for this turn of events, the infantry was dying, the losses were estimated in the thousands. After the first attack, gas masks were urgently delivered to the battlefield, which helped to survive the reuse of gas weapons by the German army. In total, the losses of the Entente amounted to 70,000 men under the Yprim (the German Empire had half the size). The success of the offensive was limited and, despite mass casualties, the line of defense was never broken.

The fighting of the Western Front continued under Artois. Here the Allies tried to develop the offensive twice - in the spring and in the autumn. Both operations failed, not least thanks to the use of machine guns by the Reich.

The Battle of Verdun

The approaching spring of 1916, the Western Front of World War I met with large-scale military operations in the area of the city of Verdun. Unlike previous operations, the peculiarity of the next plan of the German generals was the calculation of the attack on a narrow stretch of land. By this time - after a series of bloody battles - the German army simply did not have sufficient resources to attack a large area, as it was, for example, on the Marne in 1914.

An important part of the attack was artillery shelling, destroying the fortified positions of the subjects of the Third Republic. After the bombing, the destroyed fortifications were occupied by infantry. In addition, such innovative weapons as flamethrowers were used. With the beginning of the throw, the troops of the Triple Alliance received a strategic initiative.

At this time, Russia continued to harass its North-Western Front. At the height of the Verdene events, the Naroch operation began. The Russian army committed a diversionary maneuver in the area of the modern Minsk region, after which the Reich command decided to transfer some of the forces to the east, since in Berlin it was considered that a general offensive had begun there. This was a mistake, because Russia inflicted its main blow towards Austria-Hungary (Brusilovsky breakthrough).

Anyway, a precedent was created. The Western and Eastern Front simultaneously depleted the Kaiser's armies. In October, after a series of local failures, the French units took positions that occupied in February before the beginning of the enemy offensive. Germany has not achieved any strategic results. In total, losses on both sides reached more than 600 thousand people (about 300 thousand were killed).

Battle of the Somme

In July 1916, when the fighting at Verdun dragged on, the Allied formations began their own offensive on another sector of the front. Operation on the Somme River began with artillery preparation, which was conducted for a week. After the planned destruction of the enemy's infrastructure, the infantry began its movement.

As it was before, in 1916 the Western Front was shaken by protracted and protracted fighting. However, the events under the Somme were remembered in history by several features. Firstly, tanks were used for the first time here. They were invented by the British and differed in technical imperfection: they quickly fell into disrepair and broke down. Nevertheless, this did not stop the novelty from inflicting a serious psychological blow on the enemy's infantry. The soldiers ran away in horror at the mere sight of strange equipment. Such success gave a serious impetus to the development of tank building. Secondly, aerial photography, which was conducted with a view to reconnoitering enemy positions, confirmed its usefulness.

The fighting went to exhaustion and took a long-term character. By September, it became clear that Germany had no fresh forces. As a result, in the first days of autumn, the Allies advanced deep into enemy positions for several tens of kilometers. On September 25, heights were occupied, which were of strategic importance in the region.

The western front of the First World War blew up the German units, who already fought with several opponents alone. They lost important and fortified positions. Somme and Verdun led Antanta to seize the strategic advantage and could now impose the war on the Kaiser and his staff.

Hindenburg Line

The vector of events changed - the Western Front retreated backward. The first world entered a new phase. The Imperial army was recalled for the Hindenburg line. It was a system of defensive structures of great length. It began to be erected during the events on the Somme in accordance with the instructions of Paul von Hindenburg, after which it was named. The General-Field Marshal was transferred to France from the Eastern Theater of Action, where he successfully waged war against the Russian Empire. His decisions were supported by another military leader - Erich Ludendorff, who in the future supported the Nazi party that was raising its head.

The line was built throughout the winter of 1916-1917. It was divided into 5 boundaries, which received the names of the characters of the Germanic epic. The western front of World War I was generally remembered for kilometers of trenches and barbed wire. The army finally relocated in February 1917. The retreat was accompanied by the destruction of cities, roads and other infrastructure (scorched earth tactics).

Nivel's offensive

What first of all did the First World War remember? The Western Front is a symbol of the meaninglessness of human sacrifices. "Meat mincer Nivella" has become one of the biggest tragedies in the history of this conflict.

The operation on the side of the Entente was attended by more than 4 million people, while Germany had only 2.7 million. However, this advantage was not used. Shortly before the launch, the Germans captured a French soldier who carried a plan for carrying out the operation in writing. So, it became known about the impending distracting strike being prepared by Great Britain. As a result, his benefits were reduced to zero.

The offensive itself choked, and the Allies failed to break through the enemy's defenses. The losses on both sides exceeded half a million people. After the failure in France strikes and discontent among the population began.

It is also remarkable that in the notorious offensive the Russian army participated. The Russian Expeditionary Corps was formed specially for sending to Western Europe. After numerous losses in April-May 1917, he was disbanded, and the remaining soldiers were sent to a camp near Limoges. In the autumn, soldiers who were in a foreign land mutinied, and after the October Revolution struck, someone returned to the battlefields, others found themselves in factories in the rear, and some went to Algeria and the Balkans. Later, many officers returned to their homeland and died in the Civil War.

Paschendale and Cambrai

The summer of 1917 passed under the sign of the third battle of Iprom, which is also known by the name of a small village of Paschendale. This time, the British command decided to break through the Western Front. The first world made us remember the resources of the numerous colonies of the Empire. It was here that parts from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa fought. The expeditionary corpses were the first to receive massive losses because of the enemy using new gas weapons. It was mustard gas, or mustard gas, which hit the respiratory system, destroyed cells, disrupted carbohydrate metabolism in the body. Marshals of Field Marshal Douglas Haig perished in the thousands.

The natural conditions also affected. Local swamps were drowned in torrential rains, and they had to move around impassable mud. The British lost a total of 500,000 people killed and wounded. It was only a few kilometers ahead. Nobody knew when the World 1 would end. The Western Front continued to blaze.

Another important initiative of the British is the offensive at Cambrai (November-December 1917), where tanks with unprecedented success have been used. They managed to pass the Hindenburg line. However, the reverse side of luck was the backwardness of the infantry and, as a result, the stretching of communications. The enemy took advantage of this, having conducted a competent counterattack and throwing the British back to their original positions.

End of campaign

As in 1914, until the last months of the war, the Western Front practically did not change its location. The situation remained stable exactly until the moment when the power of the Bolsheviks was established in Russia, and Lenin decided to stop the "imperialist war". The world was postponed several times because of the throwing of a delegation led by Trotsky, but after the next German offensive the treaty was still signed on March 3, 1918 in Brest. After this, 44 divisions were rushed from the east in a hurry.

And on March 21 the so-called Spring Offensive began, which was the last serious attempt of the Wilhelm II army to impose its course of war. The result of several operations was the crossing of the Marne River. However, after the crossing, it was only six kilometers ahead, after which in July the Allies launched a decisive counter-offensive, called the Stodnevnym. In the interval between August 8 and November 11, the Amiens and Saint-Mijel protrusions were successively eliminated. In September, a general attack began from the North Sea to Verdun.

In Germany, an economic and humanitarian catastrophe began. Demoralized soldiers massively surrendered. The defeat was aggravated by the fact that the United States joined the Entente. American divisions were well trained and full of strength, unlike those who were on the other side of the trenches, which rolled back 80 kilometers. By November, fighting was already in Belgium. On the 11th in Berlin, a revolution took place that destroyed the power of Wilhelm. The new government concluded a truce. The fighting stopped.

Results

Officially, the war ceased only on June 28, 1919, when a corresponding treaty was concluded at the Palace of Versailles. The authorities in Berlin pledged to pay huge indemnities, give away a tenth of the country's territory, and demilitarize. For several years, the country's economy plunged into chaos. Mark has depreciated.

How many lives did the First World War take? The Western Front became the main battleground during all the years of conflict. On both sides, several million people died, many were injured, concussions, or went insane. The use of new types of weapons has devalued human life more than ever. New technology was obtained by exploration. The Western Front, the first blow at which was as terrible as the attacks after 4 years, remained an unhealed scar in the history of Europe. Despite the fact that the bloody battles were going on in other regions, they did not have such strategic importance. It was on the Belgian and French land that the German army suffered the most serious losses.

These events were reflected in the culture: the books of Remarque, Junger, Oldington and others. Here was the young corporal Adolf Hitler. His generation was embittered by the unfair results of the war. This led to the growth of chauvinist sentiments in the Weimar Republic, the coming to power of the Nazis and the unleashing of World War II.