Chapter 382 Germany's Westward Advance and France's Eastward Advance

General Schlieffen was keenly aware that it was very necessary to quickly resolve the future war against France and Russia, whether from an economic point of view, or from the perspective of people's cultural conditions and the unbridled financial consumption required to maintain a large army.

Schlieffen pointed out that France must be regarded as a large fortress, especially the Verdun fortress on the German-French border, which was almost impregnable.

The weak link in France's defense is located on the border between northwest France and Belgium, which is the key point that directly pierces the heart of France.

This plan of passing through Belgium was proposed by General Schlieffen.

According to the famous Schlieffen Plan, General Schlieffen focused Germany's war against France and Russia on the Western Front, and it was expected to deploy 78 divisions to attack France with all its strength.

The Western Front battlefield followed the principle of light on the left and heavy on the right, with eight divisions deployed on the left wing to launch the attack first and contain the main force of the French army.

The right wing was the focus of the attack, and it was necessary to stockpile at least 70 divisions and pass through the territories of neutral countries such as Luxembourg and Belgium to directly penetrate the heart of France.

To the west of Paris, go around to the southwest of Paris, carry out a large-scale encirclement movement, force the French army to the east, and then the German army on the east and west lines will encircle and annihilate the French army.

The entire war on the Western Front is expected to end within 6 to 8 weeks. As long as the war against France can be won, the remaining Russia will naturally have no power to resist.

On the Eastern Front, General Schlieffen proposed to deploy only nine divisions to contain the Russian army.

Because the Russian army's combat effectiveness is weak, and the German army has the cooperation of the Austro-Hungarian army, it is enough to hold on until the Western Front achieves complete victory and then turn east.

Although this Schlieffen Plan correctly chooses the main assault direction, fully utilizes the strategic initiative and suddenness, and strives to take positive and resolute actions and fight quickly.

However, this plan underestimates the combat effectiveness of the French army. General Schlieffen overestimates the combat effectiveness of the German army and underestimates the combat effectiveness of the French army. This plan is also extremely risky.

As Schlieffen's successor, the current German Chief of Staff Moltke (Moltke the Younger), is the nephew of Marshal Moltke the Old.

Moltke the Younger was personally selected by William II. If you have to ask why, the surname Moltke was the main reason why William II chose Moltke the Younger.

After taking office as the German Chief of Staff, Moltke the Younger inherited Schlieffen's strategic thinking and made some modifications according to the specific situation.

But overall, it was a change of soup but not of medicine. The Germans were very confident in their military strength, which was also caused by the nationalism of the Germanic people.

From August 7th after the war, all railway transportation in Germany was handed over to the army for management.

Germany's extremely developed railway network can support 660 military trains and transport 20 divisions within 24 hours.

If the Germans are willing, it only takes about ten days to send all the troops on the Western Front to the designated location.

Because of Germany's offensive plan, Germany declared war on France and Belgium at the same time, and the army arrived at the border of the two countries at the same time as declaring war.

In order to capture the Liege Fortress in Belgium, after several days of mobilization by the German army, four Big Bertha mortars were successfully transported to several kilometers away from the Liege Fortress and launched artillery fire on the solid Liege Fortress.

The Big Bertha mortar was designed at the request of the German General Staff and is specifically aimed at solid fortresses such as Verdun and Liege Fortress.

With a caliber of up to 420 mm and a range of more than ten kilometers, this giant cannon has become a secret weapon in Germany and the key to Germany's confidence in being able to solve the Liege Fortress.

The Big Bertha mortar weighs up to 120 tons, and a total of nearly 300 people are needed to use this cannon.

The shells of such a big guy are naturally not small. A Big Bertha mortar shell weighs 820 kilograms, and at least 200 kilograms of gunpowder are required for each launch.

This is not over yet. Every time it is launched, no one can be within 300 meters around, otherwise it is easy to cause accidental injuries.

After all, the power of 200 kilograms of gunpowder explosion is not small. The shock wave of the explosion that drives the bomb to launch is enough to injure or even kill people nearby.

Unlike other artillery, the firing speed of almost all German artillery is calculated in minutes.

Some can fire dozens of rounds a minute, while others can fire several or even more than ten rounds a minute.

But the Big Bertha mortar is different. The firing speed of such a big guy is calculated in hours.

If everything goes well during the firing process, its firing speed can reach about eight shells per hour, with an average of one shell fired every 7.5 minutes.

As for the power of such a big guy, after William II visited its test firing, he was very satisfied and praised all the experts who developed this cannon.

However, William II also ordered to continue to improve this cannon. Apart from anything else, the weight of 120 tons made it a very difficult problem to transport this cannon.

The assembly of the Big Bertha mortar took a certain amount of time, but when all four cannons were assembled, it was a huge torture for the Belgian army in the Liege Fortress.

The damage done by the Big Bertha mortar to the fortress was enormous. The four cannons fired continuously for more than two hours, firing at least 50 shells in total, which not only destroyed most of the artillery positions of the Liege Fortress, but also destroyed a very important material warehouse in the Liege Fortress.

There was also an ammunition depot, which should have stored a lot of ammunition and shells.

After the shells exploded, there were several more explosions with significantly smaller waves. I wonder if any of them accidentally injured the Belgians themselves.

In addition to using artillery for bombing, the Germans also used psychological tactics, which was to persuade the defenders of the Liege Fortress to surrender.

The German army claimed that the war between Germany and Belgium was unnecessary. Germany's main and only goal was France. As long as the Belgian army was willing to surrender, Belgium would be protected from war.

But the commander of the Liege Fortress was also a ruthless man. He rejected Germany's persuasion to surrender and replied directly: "I would rather live and die with the fortress."

However, even though the Belgians held on to the Liege Fortress for more than ten days, they were finally successfully broken by the German army on August 19.

There was no way. Heavy weapons such as the Big Bertha mortar were too buggy and could cause great damage to the extremely strong Liege Fortress.

After several days of bombardment by four cannons, even the Liege Fortress, which was as strong as steel, had to bow its head to the German artillery.

But for France, this is good news. The Belgians used their casualties to buy more than ten days for France.

The Germans originally planned to solve France in 6 to 8 weeks, but they wasted more than ten days in Belgium, and a quarter of the planned time was wasted.

It was during these ten days that the French army quickly assembled and deployed all to the eastern border.

Moreover, the French were not idle during these ten days and planned a counterattack against Germany.

The German army was dragged to the Liege Fortress, which gave rise to an idea within the French army, that is, to directly attack the hinterland of Germany from Alsace and Lorraine.

This has to mention the importance of Alsace and Lorraine. This area once belonged to France, but was forced to cede it in the previous Franco-Prussian War.

The German Empire was also established after the Franco-Prussian War, and was crowned emperor in the Palace of Versailles, which is very important to the French, and became the emperor of the German Empire.

For the French, this is a deep hatred that they can never forget.

Therefore, when the German army was dragged in Belgium, the French General Staff immediately formulated a plan to quickly recover the Alsace and Lorraine regions.

After many discussions and considerations, a plan called the Recovering Lost Territory was officially launched.

According to the plan of the French General Staff, the French army took advantage of the German army being dragged in Belgium to mobilize part of the army to directly attack Alsace and Lorraine, and then bypass Cologne to directly surround the German army from the rear.

In this way, the French and Belgian armies directly surrounded the German army.

The German army was like a turtle in a jar, and could only wait to be captured.

France's plan to recover lost territory was the 17th plan proposed by the French General Staff during this period, so it was also called Plan No. 17.

When Germany attacked the Liege Fortress, the French Chief of Staff and the French Commander-in-Chief during the war, Joffre, also launched the implementation of Plan No. 17.

The main core of Plan No. 17 was to recover Alsace and Lorraine, which were taken away by Germany, to boost the morale of the French army and increase the support of the people for the war.

But in addition to this core plan, Plan 17 also has a flank attack direction, that is, the left wing, the Third Army commanded by General Rufus and the Fifth Army commanded by General Lanrezac, with a total of 887,000 people, attacking the German troops in Metz and the Ardennes Forest respectively from Verdun to Namur in the north.

The Fourth Army commanded by General Carry has a total of 190,000 people, as a reserve force for Plan 17, ready to support various offensive forces at any time.

However, although the French army mobilized by Plan 17 is as high as 1.7 million, only a few hundred thousand can actually attack at the border.

A large number of troops are still located behind the border, either because of the terrain or because of various other reasons, they are destined not to participate in this war at the same time.

Under the propaganda of the French army, French soldiers set foot on the homeland of Alsace, and their patriotic feelings arose spontaneously. They couldn't help but raise their guns to salute, and pulled out the boundary stakes set by the Germans and threw them aside.

Under the influence of this patriotic sentiment, the French army showed their fearless spirit and launched a fierce attack on the German army in Alsace and Lorraine.

If you are on the battlefield, you can see that under the call of the commander, one French soldier after another bravely moves forward, even if comrades fall around them, although they cannot stop the French soldiers from moving forward.

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