Originally posted by Dawson
I think that it's a bit stretched and the text needs some work. And real pictures are better to use, imho. I've got some great non-copyright golden eagle and bald eagle pictures if you'd like them; took the bald eagle ones myself. -proud-Any chance I could convince you to get on MSN?
No, I'm about to go game at a friends house. Besides I like my sig
At 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. Armies under German generals Alexander von Kluck and Karl von Bülow attacked Belgium on 4 August 1914. Luxembourg had been occupied without opposition on 2 August. The first battle in Belgium was the Siege of Liège, which lasted from 5 August to 16 August. Liège was well fortified and surprised the German army under von Bülow with its level of resistance. Following the fall of Liège, most of the Belgian army retreated to Antwerp and Namur. Although the German army bypassed Antwerp, it remained a threat to their flank. Another siege followed at Namur, lasting from about the 20 August until 23 August.[1]
French bayonet charge.
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French bayonet charge.
The pre-war French offensive plan, Plan XVII, was intended to capture Alsace-Lorraine following the outbreak of hostilities. The main offensive was launched on 14 August with attacks on Sarrebourg in Lorraine and Mulhouse in Alsace. In keeping with the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans withdrew slowly while inflicting maximum losses upon the French. The French advanced toward the Sarre River and attempted to capture Sarrebourg before being driven back.[2] The French had captured Mulhouse but abandoned it to reinforce the greatly weakened forces in Lorraine.
After 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. A series of engagements known as the Battles of the Frontiers ensued. Key battles included the Battle of Charleroi and the Battle of Mons. A general Allied retreat followed, resulting in more clashes such as the Battle of Le Cateau, the Siege of Maubeuge and the Battle of Guise.
The German army came within 70 km of Paris, but at the First Battle of the Marne (6 September –12 September), French and British troops were able to force a German retreat, ending their advance into France. The German army retreated north of the Aisne River and dug in there, establishing the beginnings of a static western front that was to last for the next three years. Following this German setback, the opposing forces tried to outflank each other in the Race for the Sea, and quickly extended their trench systems from the English Channel to the Swiss frontier.[3]
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1915 – Stalemate
Map of the Western Front, 1915–16
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Map of the Western Front, 1915–16
Between the coast and the Vosges was an outward bulge in the trench line, named the Noyon salient for the captured French town at the maximum point of advance near Compiègne. Joffre's plan of attack for 1915 was to attack this salient on both flanks in order to cut it off.[4] The British would form the northern attack force by pressing eastward in Artois, while the French attacked in Champagne.
On 10 March, as part of what was intended as a larger offensive in the Artois region, the British and Canadian army attacked at Neuve Chapelle in an effort to capture the Aubers Ridge. The assault was made by four divisions along a 3 km (2 mile) front. Preceded by a concentrated bombardment lasting 35 minutes, the initial assault made rapid progress, and the village was captured within four hours. However, the assault slowed because of problems with logistics and communications. The Germans then brought up reserves and counter-attacked, forestalling the attempt to capture the ridge. Since the British had used about one-third of their total supply of artillery shells,[5] General Sir John French blamed the failure on the shortage of shells, despite the success of the initial attack.[6]
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Gas warfare
An artist's rendition of Canadian troops at the Second Battle of Ypres.
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An artist's rendition of Canadian troops at the Second Battle of Ypres.
Main article: Poison gas in World War I
Despite the German plans to maintain the stalemate with the French and British, German commanders planned an offensive at the Belgian town of Ypres, which the British had captured in November 1914 during the First Battle of Ypres. This was in order to divert attention away from major offensives in the Eastern Front while disrupting Franco-British planning and to test a new weapon. After a two-day bombardment, on 22 April, the Germans released chlorine gas onto the battlefield which drifted into the British trenches.[7] The green-yellow cloud asphyxiated the defenders and those in the rear fled in panic creating an undefended four-mile-wide gap in the Allied line. However, the Germans were unprepared for the level of their success and lacked sufficient reserves to exploit the opening. Canadian troops quickly arrived and drove back the German advance. This Second Battle of Ypres marked the first large-scale use of chemical weapons, where 170 tonnes were dropped on the allied lines, resulting in the deaths of 5,000 men within minutes, despite being prohibited by the Hague Convention of 1899.
The gas attack was repeated two days later and caused a three-mile withdrawal of the Franco-British line. But the opportunity had been lost. The success of this attack would not be repeated, as the Allies countered by introducing gas masks and other countermeasures. An example of the success of these measures came a year later, on 27 April, when forty km to the south of Ypres, at the Battle of Hulluch, the 16th (Irish) Division's troops were able to withstand determined German gas attacks.
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Air warfare
This year also saw the introduction of airplanes specifically modified for aerial combat. While planes had already been used in the war for scouting, on April 1 the French pilot Roland Garros became the first to shoot down an enemy plane utilizing machine guns firing forward through the propeller blades. This was achieved by crudely reinforcing the blades so bullets which hit them were deflected away.
Several weeks late Garros was forced to land behind German lines. His plane was captured and sent to the German engineer Anthony Fokker, who soon developed a significant improvement, the interrupter gear, in which the machine gun is synchronized with the propellor so that it shoots rounds when the propellor isn't in the line of fire. This advance was quickly ushered into service, with Max Immelmann scoring the first kill with it on Aug. 1.
This started a back-and-forth arms race, as both sides developed improved weapons, better engines, etc., which would continue until the end of the war. It also inaugurated the cult of the ace, the most famous being The Red Baron.
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Continued Allied attacks
The ruins of Carency after it was recaptured by France.
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The ruins of Carency after it was recaptured by France.
The final Allied offensive of the spring was fought at Artois, with the goal of trying to capture the Vimy Ridge. The French 10th Army attacked on 9 May after a six-day bombardment and advanced 5 km (3 miles). However, they retreated as they had come into sights of machine gun nests and the Germans reinforcements fired artillery at the attackers. By 15 May the offensive had ground to a halt.
During autumn of 1915, the "Fokker Scourge" began to have an effect on the battlefront as Allied spotter planes were nearly driven from the skies. These reconnaissance planes were used to direct gunnery and photograph enemy fortifications, but now the Allies were nearly blinded by the German fighters employing guns that could fire through the propeller arc.[8]
In September 1915 the Allies launched major offensives with the French attacking at Champagne and the British at Loos. The French had spent the summer preparing for this action, with the British assuming control of more of the front in order to free up French troops. The bombardment had been carefully targeted by means of aerial photography,[9] began on 22 September. The main assault was launched on 25 September and, at least at first, made good progress in spite of surviving wire entanglements and machine gun posts. However, forseeing this attack, the Germans had developed defensive lines 3 and 6 km (2 and 4 miles) behind the front lines and were able to defend against the French attack which lasted into November.
Also on 25 September, the British began their assault at Loos, which was meant to supplement the larger Champagne attack. The attack was preceded by a four-day artillery bombardment of 250,000 shells and a release of 5,100 cylinders of chlorine gas. The attack involved two corps in the main assault and two more corps performing diversionary attacks at Ypres. The British suffered heavy losses, especially due to machine gun fire, during the attack and made only limited gains before they ran out of shells. A renewal of the attack on 13 October fared little better. In December, British General John French was replaced by Douglas Haig as commander of the British forces.
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1916 – Artillery duels and attrition
The German Chief of Staff, Erich von Falkenhayn, believed that a breakthrough might no longer be possible, and instead focused on forcing a French capitulation by inflicting massive casualties.[10] His new goal was to "bleed France white".
As such, he adopted two new strategies. The first was the use of unrestricted submarine warfare to cut off Allied supplies arriving from overseas. The second would be targeted, high-casualty attacks against the French ground troops. To inflict the maximum possible casualties, he planned to attack a position from which the French could not retreat for reason of both strategic positions and national pride and thus trap the French.
I DID IT!!!