In the past, the outbreak of war was often determined by the two sides first declaring war, then mobilizing and assembling troops, then the battle of wits and courage of the commanders of the two armies, and the degree of heroism, weapons and equipment, and the amount of supplies of the officers and men of the two sides.

Among them, it takes a long time to mobilize and assemble troops, often a month after the declaration of war, and it is purely normal that the two sides have not yet fought each other.

However, this time there was something different, because from the first moment the war broke out, the two sides were inseparable. On the northern part of the Western Front, after declaring war on Belgium, Germany immediately sent troops to take the fortress of Liège, which would lead to Brussels and the French border.

However, this Liege fortress was not easy to fight, and the German vanguard under the leadership of General Emich pounced on Liege. But they soon had a difficult problem with how to cross the Meuse, because the Belgians had already taken away the bridges and boats on the river.

At this time, the Germans could only cross the river by boat bridge, and at this time they did not know that the large-caliber artillery of the fortress of Liège had already been prepared. After a burst of heavy artillery bombardment, the German efforts were in vain.

Not only that, but the vanguard that was preparing to launch the first wave of the attack suffered heavy casualties, and was kneaded by the 210, 170, and 120 mm guns of the fortress.

Seeing that the fortress artillery was bullying his own infantry, Admiral Emich immediately ordered the various field guns he was carrying to return fire. Although the guns carried by the Germans were not low-caliber, ranging from 105 to 210 mm, these field guns were not too powerful because of the problem of mobility. It did not destroy the dry guns inside the battery, except for adding some bullet marks to the outside of the battery.

Not only that, but the artillery of the battery also relied on solid protection to recklessly counterattack the German artillery, which caused the loss of more than 30 German artillery.

Seeing that the artillery battle was not taking advantage, Admiral Emich could only rely on the infantry to storm this road. Unfortunately, the large number of machine guns around the battery made it impossible for the attacking German soldiers to reach the edge of the battery.

In just three days (the time set by Schlieffen's plan to capture the fortress of Liège), Admiral Emich tried all means to get close to the fort. On the contrary, the Germans lost 31,000 men.

Faced with the situation that the German vanguard could not conquer the fortress of Liège for a long time, General Moltke Jr., as the commander-in-chief, immediately sent Ludendorff with reinforcements, and Ludendorff went to the fortress of Liège and found the reason why it was difficult to overcome. At his request, several giant siege guns were urgently transferred to the front line of Liège.

The gun is a giant howitzer secretly developed by Krupp, the caliber of which reaches an unprecedented caliber of 420 mm (there is no larger caliber than it), its shell weighs 1 ton, and its maximum range is 15.5 kilometers.

Such a huge heavy cannon could only be transported by rail, and its assembly time took 5 hours.

But the wait was worth it, and on October 10, after the four Great Beta cannons had been assembled, the countdown to the destruction of the fortress of Liège had already begun.

420-mm shells were not something that could be withstood by the batteries of the Liege Fortress, and in the bombardment of 420-mm shells, the batteries of the Liege Fortress were annihilated one by one.

During this period, Ludendorff once sent someone to persuade General Lyman, who commanded the defenders of the fortress of Liège, to surrender, but he refused.

Finally, on October 14, General Lyman fulfilled his promise to live and die with the fortress. So far, the fortress of Liège, which had stopped the Germans for 9 days, was finally overcome.

However, although the fortress of Liège was breached, it held back the German army for as long as 8 days, which was the time that Belgium bought for France.

And what is the French military doing at this time, the French army is now carrying out an operational plan called No. 17.

Since the Franco-Prussian War, the dignity of France has been trampled on by Prussia, its king has been sworn in as Emperor of Germany at Versailles, and France has ceded Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. In this war, which lost face, there was a resentment in France. In order to save face, but also to recover the lost Alsace and Lorraine regions. After several revisions, the French military finally came up with an operational plan known as No. 17.

The French army, on the other hand, launched an attack on Alsace and Lorraine as planned.

When the news of the German attack on Belgium reached Paris, the French army was overjoyed. Because in the eyes of the French army, this is the German army giving itself a chance, and only needs to break through the weak German defense line in Alsace and Lorraine, then the French army can penetrate directly into Cologne, Bonn and other places, cut off the rear route of the German army attacking Belgium, and then annihilate it all in Belgium.

Planning-wise, it's a good plan. But no matter how good the plan is, it needs the soldiers to carry it out.

The French were very confident in this, believing that their army was no worse than the Germans, and that their secret weapon, the 75-mm rapid-fire gun, was enough to tear apart the German defenses.

Guided by this ideology, the French army sang the Marseillaise and stormed the German army in Alsace and Lorraine.

It should be said here that the French army at this time believed in the bayonet theory, believing that the high morale was enough for the French soldiers to endure huge casualties and rush to the enemy's position to fight them hand-to-hand.

Therefore, in the attack on Alsace and Lorraine, we can often see groups of French troops shouting and launching a battalion or even divisional charge.

The dense charge of the French soldiers was very shocking, especially when they saw their comrades constantly falling, they also fearlessly continued to charge, so that they were enough to show the bravery of the French army.

But the times are different, and this charge was enough for the Germans to drink a pot if it was during the Franco-Prussian War. But now this is an era when defense is greater than offense, and the rapid-fire weapons represented by Makqin are enough to prove that flesh can't fight steel.

So the charging French officers and soldiers were mercilessly knocked down, and the heavy rain of bullets from the Maxim machine guns made them look like wheat being harvested.

Every time a German position was captured, it was at the cost of high casualties. However, for the French military leadership, this must be endured, as long as the frontal line of defense is penetrated, then the vast interior of Germany will be left to the French army.

With such anticipation, the French army stormed for a week. In the course of a week, the French captured most of Lorraine and Alsace at the cost of nearly 200,000 casualties, but they still failed to break through the German defenses.

However, at this time, a piece of news made it impossible for the French army to continue the attack. Because of the fall of the fortress of Liège, Belgium was in no danger to defend, and the same was true of the empty northern part of France.

In addition to this, there was also news that the French military could not go on the offensive any further. That's when the Italians also got their hands dirty.

On the Franco-Italian border, they launched a massive offensive, and this offensive in the north and south made the French army have to stop their steps and think about the next battle.