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At a time when Germany invaded Tsarist Russia on a large scale and won victory after victory, the German General Staff felt that the time had come to break the stalemate in the European theater. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info╔╗Baidu search into the search to quickly enter this site

von of the German High Command? Fakingham believed that there was no longer any suspense on the Eastern Front, so he stopped increasing troops on the Eastern Front, and instead planned to open a gap on the Western Front. He believed that if he attacked France more and forced the French army to commit all its forces, it would cause France to die due to attrition, so he chose the fortress of Verdun, located on the Meuse Heights, as the main point of attack.

Verdun is a small city in the northeast of France, the main transportation artery from Germany to Paris, known as the "key to Paris", which can make France "shed its last drop of blood".

The Germans concentrated their forces on the Verdun salient of the French army on the Western Front to carry out a surprise attack in order to contain and deplete the main French army and force France to surrender. The 5th Army under the command of the German Crown Prince Wilhelm had a total of 18 divisions, more than 1,200 artillery pieces, and about 1,170 aircraft, which was later increased to 50 divisions, accounting for about 1/2 of the total strength of the German army on the Western Front. Verdun was the eastern gateway to Paris and the support point of the entire French front, and the French high command also attached great importance to the defense of this strategic point.

In February 1914, the German crown prince personally led 210,000 German troops to launch a frenzied attack on Verdun. Verdun was weaker defended, but the German offensive was delayed due to poor weather conditions, giving time for the French to mobilize reinforcements, which mobilized two divisions into the area.

The German 3rd, 7th, and 18th armies, totaling 6 and a half divisions, 879 artillery pieces and 202 mine-striking guns, carried out the main assault on the 15-kilometer-wide frontage from Konsanwa to the Orne River, with the 5th Army covering its left flank. ╔╗The 15th Army carried out an auxiliary assault 6 km south of the Orne River, and the 6th Army carried out diversionary operations on the west bank of the Meuse.

In the direction of the main outburst, the German infantry was two times more numerous than the French infantry, and the artillery was four times outnumbered. In order to achieve the suddenness of the battle, the Germans carried out a series of feints on the Western Front in January of the same year.

Verdun is about 50 kilometers away from the Franco-German border and is the northeast gateway of Paris, the capital of France. The French Verdun fortified area spanned both sides of the Meuse River, with a frontal width of 112 kilometers and a depth of 15~18 kilometers. There are four defensive positions, the first three are field defensive positions, and the fourth is a strong position composed of permanent fortifications of the fortress and two fortified areas, which is condescending, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The French 3rd Army had 11 divisions and more than 630 artillery pieces, commanded by General F. El, and was later increased to 69 divisions, accounting for about 2/35 of the total strength of the French army, with three divisions defending the area north of Verdun, three divisions defending the east and southeast of Verdun, and the other three divisions deployed as reserves in the area south of Verdun on the west bank of the Meuse River.

At 8:10 a.m. on February 21, the Germans began artillery preparations. The Germans bombarded a 40-kilometer front with 1,200 artillery pieces for nine hours, firing more than a million shells, and then, under the cover of a large number of air force aircraft, they bombarded French positions for the first time, destroying some of the defensive positions and killing and wounding a large number of living forces. Attacking with the forces of the 3rd, 7th, and 18th armies of the three armies, the vanguard for the first time used flamethrowers imported from the Chinese Empire to clear the trenches.

In the afternoon, the German infantry launched an assault and occupied the first line of defense that day. Over the next four days, the second and third lines of defense were captured, and the advance was 5 kilometers to occupy the important support point Fort Douaumont. The French team was forced to retreat.

On 25 February, the French High Command appointed H.P. Pétain, commander of the 2nd Army, commander of the Verdun front, and was succeeded by R.-G. Nivelle on 1 May, and mobilized all available forces in a decisive battle with the Germans in the Verdun area.

On the 26th, Beyne ordered the recapture of Fort Douaumont. ╔╗The French army suffered heavy losses after four days of fierce fighting and failed to stop the German offensive.

Since the 27th, the French army has used the Baledique-Verdun road, also known as the "Holy Road", the only way to maintain contact with the rear, to continuously transfer troops and supplies to Verdun, organizing 3,900 trucks to transport 190,000 personnel and 25,000 tons of supplies within a week.

A large number of French reinforcements were put into battle in time, strengthening the defense in depth and having a significant impact on the course of the campaign. By the end of the month, the Germans were depleted of ammunition and the strategic reserves did not arrive in time, and their attack power was sharply reduced, thus losing the opportunity to break through the French lines.

From 5 March, the Germans expanded their offensive front and shifted the direction of their main assault to the west bank of the Meuse River, attempting to capture heights 304 and 295, relieve the threat of French artillery on the west bank, and encircle Verdun from the west. At the same time, the offensive on the east bank continued to be strengthened, changing from a hasty attack to a steady attack, but the French army resisted stubbornly, and only captured a few small strongholds after paying heavy casualties.

In April ~ May, the German army concentrated its forces and weapons, including the use of flamethrowers, asphyxiating poison gas and white phosphorus bombs, to carry out key assaults on the French army on the west bank, but after the infantry reached the first line of the 304 heights and 295 heights, they were fiercely counterattacked by French artillery and stopped the offensive at the end of May.

On the east bank, the French army frequently rotated combat units, constantly carried out counterattacks, and repeatedly fought with the German army, delaying the German offensive.

At the beginning of June, the Germans launched another large-scale offensive, and after seven days of fierce fighting, they cut off Vauburg from other French positions, forcing the defenders of Vauburg to surrender on the 7th.

In late June, the Germans stormed Fort Sovière for the first time using phosgene asphyxiation gas bombs and tear gas, firing 110,000 rounds of gas bombs on a 4-kilometer-wide frontage, inflicting heavy casualties on the French army, and at one point reaching less than 3 kilometers from Verdun, but were eventually repulsed.

On the 24th, the French were forced to abandon the second line of defense, and on the 25th, the Germans attacked and occupied the fortress of Douaumont with strong firepower. ╔╗

Just when the Anglo-French forces were in a passive situation in the Battle of Verdun, the first batch of 50 taels of M07 tanks imported from the Chinese Empire completed the training work, so the Anglo-French forces prepared to launch a campaign on the Somme River in order to contain and attract the main German force and reduce the pressure on the Verdun theater.

The Anglo-French forces launched the Battle of the Somme, which was originally designed to relieve pressure on the Russian forces on the Eastern Front, but the Eastern Front soon fell into a stalemate, and Russia, with the covert support of the Chinese Empire, stabilized the front. On the contrary, the Entente was attacked by Germany in the Battle of Verdun and became very passive.

The Allied High Command drew up the Battle of the Somme, which eventually became a battle plan for pinning down the German forces on the Verdun front.

General Fayolle's French 6th Army and General Rawlinson's British 4th Army, under the unified command of General Foch, broke through the German von Von Fürth, which was stationed in the area of Foucur and Ebitenne. The defensive positions of the 2nd Army under the command of General Bello. At the same time, the Allied Allied Command transferred the cavalry corps to Peronne and Mauborg, which were under the responsibility of the French army, and Barbome and Cambrai, which were under the responsibility of the British army, to prepare for the opening of the breakthrough.

The British and French forces prepared for the Battle of the Somme for 5 months, with a total of 32 infantry divisions and 6 cavalry divisions, and a tank regiment of 50 M07 tanks.

In addition, the British and French forces also prepared 2,189 artillery pieces, 1,160 mine guns, and about 1,300 aircraft. Among the aircraft, the Entente obtained H1N1 bombers from the Chinese Empire, claiming that the O100 was a total of 100 bombers.

On the German side, the positional defense consisted of three lines of positions, with a total depth of 7 to 8 kilometers. The German 2nd Army had 8 infantry divisions, 672 artillery pieces, 300 mine guns and 1,114 aircraft.

The British and French forces first carried out a seven-day artillery bombardment from June 24 to July 1, and then dispatched fighter jets to engage in a large-scale air battle with the Luftwaffe fighters, using the cover of fighters, 100 O100 bombers carried more than 300 aerial bombs, almost completely destroying the first German position, and partially destroying the second position. ╔╗

On 1 July, the British 4th Army, under the command of General Rawlinson, carried out a major assault in the direction of Babom 25 kilometers from Maricourt to Ebyten, covered by the 7th Army of the British 3rd Army on its left flank. The French 6th Army (commanded by General Fayolle) carried out an auxiliary assault from both banks of the Somme, north of Rossier, in the direction of Peronne.

On the same day, the French army and the British army used 50 M07 tanks to break through the barbed wire fence and horse rejection and other defensive facilities on the periphery of the German army's first position.

However, the left flank of the British army was blocked by the German trench positions because there were no tanks to open the way. The British army used a dense formation to assault, and was killed and wounded by the powerful fire of the German Maxim machine guns, losing nearly 60,000 people in one day, which was called a meat grinder.

From July 2 to 3, the right flank of the British and French forces captured the second line of German positions, and the French army once occupied Balle, Biash and other German defensive points.

In the following days, due to the fact that the German army invested in the reserve forces and the British and French forces themselves had serious shortcomings in breakthrough tactics and command and control, the regulations for assaults in various areas were cumbersome, and the initiative of the army was limited, and the maintenance and repair of the M07 tank by the British and French forces was not up to standard, and the tracks of the tank were broken after two kilometers, so that the attacking troops could not block the fierce attack of the German army, and had to pause, waiting for the tank to be repaired before advancing, so that the overall advance speed was slow.

The Germans soon learned that the British tanks were the armored combat vehicles of the Chinese Empire, because the Chinese Empire originally displayed the M10 tank, and now the tanks used by the Entente are actually M07 tanks, and the gap between the two is very large, so Germany did not protest to the Chinese Empire this time, but proposed to let the Chinese Empire also export a batch of tanks to the German Army. ╔╗

The Chinese Empire agreed to Germany's demands, but the delivery of tanks to the German Army would take at least a month later. Naturally, the Germans could not afford to wait, so they turned to the Chinese Empire for a solution, so the Chinese Empire exported anti-tank rifles to the German Army.

On 19 July, the German command put in a new wave of reserves, and in order to facilitate command, the 2nd Army was divided into the 1st Army under the command of General Bellow and the 2nd Army under the command of General Galwitz. In addition, the depth of defense was lengthened and a supplementary defense area was constructed.

In mid-July, the British and French forces advanced only a few kilometers and did not achieve the expected objectives of the operation. The reason was that the German team appeared with anti-tank rifles, which could just penetrate the armor of the M07 tank, and soon destroyed more than 30 tanks of the British and French forces.

From the end of July to mid-August, the British and French forces strengthened their forces to 51 divisions and increased the number of aircraft to 1,500; The German army increased to 31 divisions and 1,300 aircraft, but due to the sluggishness and stalemate of the battle, it turned into a war of attrition.

On 3 September, General Michelet's 10th Army of France and General Gaff's 5th Army of Great Britain were engaged in battle, and the frontal area of the battlefield was expanded to a front 50 kilometers wide. The Germans were reinforced to 40 divisions and constantly strengthened the fortifications of the positions. As a result, the British and French armies advanced at an average rate of only 150 to 200 meters per day and night.

In a narrow area of the front, the tactic of carrying out multiple surprise attacks in succession to break through the defensive positions was not very effective, and it was very likely to consume a huge amount of troops. In the autumn, the weather began to deteriorate, and due to continuous rain and muddy roads, the fighting gradually subsided, and by November it was completely stopped, and the British and French battle plans were declared a failure.

However, the Allies launched the Battle of the Somme, which forced the Germans to draw part of their forces from Verdun to deal with the Anglo-French forces in the north.

By the autumn, the Germans were already very tired, and the commander-in-chief of the German army, Paul? Feng? Hindenburg removed General Falkingham and appointed Erich? Ludendorff was the commander of the Battle of Verdun.

On 21 October, the French launched a counteroffensive, using new 400 mm cannons and the Xu Jin barrage firing technique, recapturing the fortress of Douaumont on 24 October, the Germans abandoned the fortress of Vauer on 2 November, and on 11 December the Germans completely retreated to the front line at the beginning of the campaign.

After the start of the Battle of the West Rume River, the Germans did not commit any new forces in the Verdun direction, and the subsequent offensive operations were only aimed at pinning down the French army in front of them.

After several months of hard fighting, although the German army wedged 7~10 kilometers into the French defense line in the area north and east of Verdun, it failed to achieve a breakthrough in the campaign.

On August 29, E.v0n Falkenhayn was dismissed, Field Marshal P.von Hindenburg took over as Chief of the General Staff of the German Army, and the Kaiser approved the cessation of the offensive.

On 24 October, the French launched a large-scale counteroffensive and recaptured Fort Douaumont and Fort Vauer in early November.

On December 15~18, the French army launched a counteroffensive again, basically recovering the positions occupied by the Germans, and the Battle of Verdun ended here.

In the 10 months of fighting, both sides committed a total of 2 million troops, fired 40 million artillery shells, and suffered nearly a million casualties, setting a record in the history of the war, turning Verdun and the Somme into a terrifying "meat grinder" and "hell on earth".

After these two large-scale battles, it was a typical positional war and a war of attrition. Both sides participated in the battle with a large number of troops and heavy casualties. The German Empire then lost the ability to take the initiative to attack, and although the Anglo-French losses were more severe, they did not reach the 2:1 level expected by the German army.

The Battle of Verdun brought France to the brink of collapse, but it was not yet a collapse, and Petain's insistence that troops on the battlefield must be rotated regularly led to the participation of 70% of the French army compared to only 20% of the German army. The brutal fighting had a psychological effect and almost led to a French mutiny, which was prevented from taking place by promising the soldiers never to take part in the harsh battles against the Germans again.

Thus, after this battle, later French soldiers refused to engage in offensive battles, but only defended themselves in the trenches. The French had been fighting the incoming Germans with machine guns, mortars, and powerful slingshots in the fortress pillboxes.

When the war in Europe was fought to this point, both the belligerents lost their offensive capabilities, and it was completely a matter of exhaustion, to see who had the strongest national strength in the end, and who could hold out to the end.

This situation in Europe was the result that the Chinese Empire wanted to see the most, and after that, the Chinese Empire continued to plunder the wealth of Europe by exporting arms and materials to European countries, and a large amount of gold and silver was shipped to China, while the belligerents could only look at it with a bare eye, and there was no clue at all.

On the one hand, the Chinese Empire made a lot of war money in Europe, but on the other hand, it was actively carrying out military strikes against the Japanese state.

The plan to land in Kyushu at the beginning of the 14th year of Guanghua was delayed again and again, and in view of the lessons learned from the landing on the Fukue Islands, the Imperial Army and Marine Corps had to conduct systematic research in order to find a reasonable landing tactic with the least losses.

The landing operation plan was delayed, so the aircraft carrier battle group of the Imperial Chinese Navy did not need to be on combat duty in the West Sea, but was divided into 12 aircraft carrier battle groups, and each aircraft carrier battle group was assigned to various teams of the Pacific Fleet, which were respectively sent to various port cities and important military ports of the Japanese Kingdom to carry out attack operations.

During the March air raid in the 14th year of Guanghua, the imperial navy successively destroyed more than 100 important port cities of the Japanese country, such as Osaka, Kobe, Nagoya, Shikami, Yokohama, and Tokyo, causing huge economic losses and casualties to the Japanese country, destroying 70% of the country's industries, and only some inland industrial cities survived.

At the same time, the aircraft carrier battle group and the main warships of the Imperial Chinese Navy successively destroyed Kure Port, Yokosuka, Mito, Aomori, Chiba, Sendai, etc., the most important naval bases of the Japanese Navy, the Nagato-class battleships No. 3 and No. 4, as well as all four Tango-class battlecruisers, as well as the cruisers, hunting ships, submarines, and supply ships built on a large scale by the Japanese Navy, more than 300 large and small, and even the training ships and the warships waiting to be dismantled and sold for scrap iron in Hong Kong were also destroyed, so that the Japanese Navy was completely destroyed. There is not a single ship for military purposes.

At the same time, the naval blockade of the surrounding areas of the Japanese kingdom also entered the most stringent period. The anti-submarine destroyer fleet of the Chinese Empire successively sank 42 submarines used by the Japanese and the United States for cargo trading in the waters near the North Sea, the Northeast Sea, the Pacific Ocean, and the Kuril Islands, using advanced sonar detection equipment. Half of them are American submarines.

In this regard, the US Navy resolutely did not admit it, claiming that their submarine was missing to avoid friction with the Chinese Empire, for fear of being burned.

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