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On 30 July, the Germans' long-awaited siege weapons finally arrived at the fortress of Liège. This giant siege weapon is a giant mortar with the name "Big Berta". The "Big Belta" cannon is 7 meters long, weighs 42 tons, has a caliber of 420 millimeters, and each shell weighs 1 ton, which can penetrate hard reinforced concrete buildings, and is extremely powerful. In order to transport it to the front, it was first transported by train to the end of the railway line, then a special road was laid, and then it was hauled by 36 healthy horses to the German positions near Liège. At that time, the Germans only had 5 guns of this kind, and Moltke Jr. allocated 4 to Ludendorff at once. At the same time, the Austro-Hungarian heavy artillery was also in place, and the M11 super heavy gun, made for Skoda, was not weak in caliber, with a caliber of 305 mm, and the two competed for the first time in the scorching sun, which claims to have the strongest fortress in the world. To the great relief of the German and Austrian armies and the consternation of the Belgian troops, 12 large Berta and M11 super heavy guns tore the so-called impregnable reinforced concrete defense line to shreds in just four days.

At 18:30 p.m., Ludendorff ordered the "Grand Berta" to fire first at the Fleiron battery, the strongest of the various batteries in Liège. The gunners filled the shells, retreated to the protective trench 300 meters away from the cannon, plugged their ears with earplugs, and then ignited the cannons. With an earth-shattering roar, a giant cannonball soared 3,000 meters into the air, and then landed in a parabolic shape 1,000 meters in front of the Freilon Battery. Immediately, a large crater dozens of meters square was blown out of the ground, and sand and dust were splashed all over the sky. The astonishing power of the "Big Berta" cannon not only frightened the Belgian defenders, but also stunned the attacking German troops. Thereafter. The "plump beza" fired a series of cannons, and the German observers in the airship kept correcting the shelling coordinates, and finally, the 8th shell hit the top cover of the Flelong battery. The huge shell penetrated the top of the battery and exploded into the central tunnel, and the inside of the battery was immediately filled with smoke and fire, and the Belgian defenders were blown to pieces. The other three German guns were also calibrated to the correct coordinates, and the Freilong battery shook as if it were sitting on a crater. Reinforced concrete, severed limbs, guns and materials were splashed everywhere, and the firelight reflected half of the sky. When the silence fell, the German infantry rushed forward. The large Fleiron Fort had been reduced to rubble, and none of the defenders survived.

"Haha! The Belgian fortress finally couldn't resist it! Watching the battery of the Liege Fortress being blown into ruins, Ludendorff had a triumphant smile on his face, and the depressed mood on his face for several days was finally swept away!

"Congratulations! With such heavy artillery in Germany, there were no more fortresses and fortresses that could withstand the advance of the German army! Admiral Zhao Bo also sighed. He was also shocked by the power of the Great Berta's heavy artillery, as China's deputy chief of the General Staff. He was also very clear about the assembly of the Imperial Army. The Chinese Army is also armed with some heavy artillery, but mainly 210 mm heavy guns and 305 mm heavy guns, both of which were dismantled and converted from decommissioned naval warships. Compared with the German Great Berta heavy artillery, there is still a big gap. But. The 'Imperial-class' battleships under construction by the Navy will also be equipped with 406mm naval guns, and if they are converted into train guns, they will definitely not be worse than the Germans' Big Berta!

July 31. The "Big Berta" cannon destroyed two of the Belgian defenders' batteries, and the rest of the batteries still resisted. Refusal to surrender. Ludendorff ordered the four "Big Berta" cannons to be divided into two groups and sweep the remaining batteries along both banks of the Maas River. As a result, the earth-shaking loud noises on the battlefield every day continued, and the various forts collapsed one after another, turning them into huge iron furnaces and crematoriums. By 1 August, 11 of the 12 batteries had been destroyed, leaving only the Ronsen battery, which was held by Lieutenant General Gilard Lehmann. Ludendorff again went to persuade him to surrender, but Lieutenant General Gilard Lehmann still refused. As a result, four "Big Berta" cannons fired a salvo at the Longsen Battery, and the battery immediately burst into flames, and the ammunition depot in the battery was also ignited, and a chain explosion occurred, and the top cover of the battery was lifted dozens of meters away, and the entire battery was completely destroyed. The Germans rushed forward, only to see charred corpses and broken guns everywhere, and the scene was terrible. It is amazing that Lieutenant General Gilard Lehmann was not killed, but stunned. The Germans escorted him to Emich, where Lieutenant General Gilard Lehmann handed him his saber and said: "I am captured after I am unconscious, please be sure to state this in your report." Amy admired Leman for being a dutiful soldier, returned the saber to him, and said, "Your military honor has not been compromised in any way, please keep this saber!" ”

The Battle of Liège finally ended with a German victory, but the Germans suffered heavy casualties in front of the fortress, losing more than 40,000 men. After that, the German army approached Brussels, and the Belgian king Abel saw that he was powerless to return to the sky, so he had to retreat to Antwerp, and the German army easily mastered the perfect railway network of Belgium. Taking advantage of the convenient railway, millions of German troops rushed straight to the French border, and the gateway to the north of France has been opened!

On 3 August, the French commander-in-chief, Chauffy, issued an order instructing General Luff's 3rd Army and General Decary's 4th Army to prepare for an attack on the Ardennes, and the 5th Army to attack north of the Sambre River.

In Lorraine, on the morning of 5 August, the French 1st and 2nd Armies were overwhelmed by an attack on the German lines at Salbul and Morange. For machine-gun positions equipped with heavy artillery, barbed wire, and concealed bunkers, the shortcomings of a massive charge were immediately exposed. The French assault tactics were based on the estimation that the emigrated infantry units would sprint forward for 20 seconds and advance 50 meters without the opponent having time to take their guns, aim and shoot. But the subjects that were painstakingly practiced during the exercise proved to be an unattainable stupidity on the battlefield. The German machine gun took only 8 seconds to fire. Despite the setback, the two French generals ordered their troops to move forward. The German counteroffensive began, and the French army was shattered by heavy artillery fire. The French 2nd Army was forced to retreat, leaving the right flank of the 1st Army without cover. Xia Fei had no choice but to order the 1st Army to retreat with him. The next day, the heavy artillery of the German 6th Army roared like a galloping horse, day and night. The French army retreated to the mouth of the Sharme Gorge between the French Turkish and Erbinar defense areas.

On 8 August, the German 6th and 7th armies launched a majestic offensive on the Sharmus Pass, and in the following days they were locked in fierce battles with the French 1st and 2nd armies. The defeat of the Lorraine offensive did not discourage Xia Fei, on the contrary, he saw that the fierce counteroffensive of the German 6th Army had plunged the German left flank into a fierce battle, and it was a good time for him to attack the German center, so he gave the order to attack in the Ardennes Mountains. While the French 3rd and 4th armies entered the mountains, the French 5th Army crossed the Sambre River to attack the enemy's right flank.

The Ardennes terrain was not suitable for attack, with its dense woods and streams, but it was chosen as the breakthrough point by the French, who considered it to be the weakest German army.

The German troops guarding the area were the 5th Army Corps led by Crown Prince Wilhelm and the 4th Army Corps led by the Duke of Württemberg. According to the plan, the German 4th Army was to attack Nafsciato in the northern part of the Guò Ardennes, and the 5th Army was to attack Verton and the two French fortresses of Longvi and Montmedy in the southern part of the Guò Mountains, with the headquarters of Crown Prince Wilhelm at Tionville.

Confronting Crown Prince Wilhelm was the French 3rd Army under the command of Lüf. Lüf's task was to drive the Germans back to the area from Metz to Theonville and encircle them, while recovering the Brière area as they advanced. While he was encircling the right flank of the German center, the friendly 4th Army was to encircle the German army on the left flank of the center. The two French armies were to fight their way out of the middle and cut off the arm of the German right flank from the shoulder.

On August 7, large-scale battles began. In Verton and Tantini, in Rossinhoor and Naftosia, on various battlefields, artillery roared.

Before the attack, the French soldiers had bayonets on their guns, and countless flags fluttered in the wind. The drum and bugle orchestra played the "Marseillaise" passionately. The officers wearing white gloves, 20 steps before the band, stepped on the syllables of the trumpet, and marched neatly and quickly, with a huge and spectacular sound, like a military parade at the National Day ceremony. When the French infantry advanced, their advance guard marched in a neat manner, in a neat formation, and even when they fell under the sound of gunfire, they were very neat. One by one, they were like rabbits, and when they fell, they could not get back up, but they were brave and did not fear it. The officers of the avant-garde strutted in front of the ranks, and the avant-garde fell one by one, and followed one by one, and kept falling and advancing, and the position where the follow-up troops fell never exceeded 50 meters in front of the first fall.

At Rossinhoor, the French 3rd Colonial Division was surrounded by the 6th Army of the German 5th Army Corps, and after 6 hours of fighting, there were few remnants of the division and the division commander was killed. In Verton, the battlefield after the fierce battle was an unbelievable sight, with thousands of dead still standing, leaning against a 60-degree slope made of piles of corpses.

On August 8, the failure of the French offensive was already clear, the French army did not "split the German army in half", the French army mustered up the courage of pride, brandished sabers, shouted "forward", and launched one attack after another against the German troops who held the trenches and used machine guns and artillery, but the opponent's terrifying firepower overcame their courage, and the French army began to fully retreat from the Ardennes, the 3rd Army retreated to Verdun, and the 4th Army withdrew to Stenet and Sedan.

The battle of the German-French border ended, and the French suffered more than 140,000 casualties in these four days, while the German casualties were negligible. The German-French border was littered with broken walls, and the streets and alleys smelled of blood, medicine, horse manure and corpses. Among the corpses, scattered with the words "The French army should take the offensive as the only law in the future, and only the offensive can produce positive results". The border had been breached, the gates of France were opened, and the French army units retreated. On 10 August, the whole battle was clear, and the Germans began to advance in a long drive.