After the Battle of the Marne, the Germans were forced to retreat. The German-Austrian alliance and the Allies confronted each other by digging trenches in a 600-kilometer-long no-man's land from the Vosges Mountains to the North Sea. By the beginning of 19 16, the German-Austrian coalition forces had overwhelmed the Serbian army in the Balkans, and the Eastern Front had defeated Tsar Nikolai. Now, the Germans can make a comeback to attack France again and realize their ambition of unifying the European continent. Under the careful planning of the new German Chief of Staff Falkenhayn, the Battle of Verdun started. On Christmas Eve of 19 15, the new German Chief of Staff, General Falcken Hein, was drafting a memorandum to the Kaiser at his desk. He advocated concentrating on attacking France on the grounds that if France did not exist, Britain would lose Europe. Falcken Hain stated his strategy to the Kaiser: instead of making a large-scale breakthrough, he only chose an area that was regarded as sacred by the French, where France would bleed to death. This bleeding is Verdun! Verdun is a small town with a population of only 10000. It is located in the northwest of Paris, 0/35 miles away from Paris/kloc-0. The town is guarded by a large fortress building group that broke into the German defense line. The Kaiser approved the campaign plan code-named "execution place", and Falcken Hain issued the order of "attacking Verdun and Meuse region" to General Knobelsdorff, Chief of Staff, and Wilhelm von Preu?en, 5th Army. The reinforcements of the three armies joined the Fifth Army of Wilhelm von Preu?en, bringing the frontline troops to 13 divisions. The crown prince retains the nominal command, while 80-year-old Marshal von Hessler and General Knobelsdorff hold the real power. 1, more than 400 cannons are arranged on a front less than eight miles long, and there are 500 ferocious and terrible mine throwers, which can emit 1 pounds of high-explosive and metal fragments, which can destroy the entire trench system of the French army. When French intelligence officials reported the information of the enemy invasion to General Fei Xia of the French Command, Fei Xia was absorbed in the upcoming Battle of the Somme and ignored the imminent war. Instead of supporting Verdun to become the strongest fortress in France, the headquarters of the French Army withdrew more than 4,000 cannons from the fortress, actually dismantling all the defensive measures in Verdun. And in Verdun, General Du Baier, who commanded the French Army Group on the Eastern Front, assured * * * that the defense of the fortress system was sufficient. General Kutanso, the military leader of Verdun, held the opposite opinion and was dismissed by Fei Xia. 19 15 At the end of this year, French parliamentarian and military analyst Adrian presented an investigation report to General Galliani, who is already the Minister of the Army, stressing the urgent need to provide assistance to Verdun. This report, which was confirmed by Galliani, was later handed over to Fei Xia, who was furious: My soldiers went beyond the level and complained that they had given it to * * *, which was a deliberate violation of military discipline. 1965438+ In the early morning of February 2, 2006/KLOC-0, along the front line of Liuli, the concealed German artillery group poured shells at the Verdun Fort complex at the speed of 65438+10,000 rounds per hour. More than two million shells landed densely in the triangle of 14 square mile, and the front trenches of the French army were blown flat. The French army fought bravely for two days under the disadvantage of artillery 7: 65,438+0 and 3: 65,438+0, and the outstanding military analyst Major Drian also died in the front. On February 24th, the Germans broke through the main line of defense, and the rolling German artillery leveled the trenches, blew up the bunkers, blew up the forest into a sea of fire, and 10,000 French troops became prisoners. The fierce German attack and-15 degree cold made French soldiers numb and fragile. The African infantry company recruited by Algeria in the heat froze to death, and all the commanders froze to death. The French army is on the verge of collapse. General de Castenot, chief of staff of the French army, was surprised by the deepening crisis. He went to Fei Xia and asked him to take immediate measures. Fei Xia appointed General Henry Betan to command Verdun's defense. Petain took office on February 25th, and when he took office, he received the 1 report, which was the hope of Verdun's entire defense system-Dumont battery had been captured. Under the indiscriminate bombardment of 1.2 million shells, Dumont Castle was captured by the Germans, and a French infantry division that dug trenches was annihilated in the snow-filled smoke. Germany * * * trumpeted the victory of capturing Dumont fortress, and the cheerful Kaiser awarded the highest medal of the German Empire "Meritorious" to the frontline commander. The French army heavily reinforced Verdun, but it was quite difficult to provide military supplies to Verdun. All the main roads in Verdun were cut off by German artillery fire. Petain organized thousands of soldiers and civilians to widen the only secondary road with pickaxes and shovels. Petain divided the front line into several areas and distributed heavy guns, bullets and other materials. Every 24 hours, 6,000 trucks transport arms to the front line through the widened road, which has won the title of Holy Road. Patten's success in logistics reform enabled more than 500,000 troops and 6.5438+0.7 million towed animals to reach the front line in time through the holy road, which made a qualitative change in the strength comparison between the French army and the German army. The German Fifth Army launched an attack on the west bank of the Moss River on March 5, and was effectively resisted by Petain's superior forces. This line of defense happens to be the most fully replenished and well-equipped defensive zone he has recently. Now the German vanguard is under fierce fire from the flank of the French army on the other side of the Meuse River, and the heavy losses of the German army have to extend the front line along the east bank of the river. Among them, in the struggle for the dangerous beach known as the "dead", the two sides launched a bloody battle, and dense high-explosive bombs shocked the earth. People's limbs, equipment and debris danced in the sky like fragments, the heat wave melted the ice and snow, and countless wounded soldiers drowned in craters filled with water. A French gunner accidentally hit the German ammunition depot with 450,000 large-caliber shells, which caused the biggest explosion in this war. This accidental success became one of the factors that ultimately defeated the Germans. German artillery, which could not get enough ammunition, became a living target of the French army. In less than a month, almost all the German frontier 15 inch and 16 inch half guns were destroyed by French artillery. /kloc-in may, 2000, petain, who contained the german attack, was transferred to command the central army group, and general Neville, who succeeded him, was an offensive general. His slogan is: Don't leave the Germans alone. Because the Battle of the Somme broke out at this time, Verdun fell into a rare calm. 10/0/On October 24th, France concentrated170,000 troops, more than 700 incendiary bombs and 150 aircraft to carry out a large-scale counterattack and recapture Dumont Castle. The proud General Neville came to the reclaimed battery to inspect the French army. The Germans then made several counter-attacks and failed. In the brutal battle of 10 month, the two sides * * * fired more than 40 million shells and countless bullets. The fighting continued until 12, and the exhausted German army finally returned Verdun to the French army. In order to defend their territory, the French almost shed their blood and suffered heavy casualties. The number of people captured and missing reached 550,000, and countless tombstones were erected on the hills near Verdun. Falcken Hain's bloody tactics also made the Germans bleed into a river. 450,000 Germans spilled blood on the scorched earth of Verdun, and the Kaiser forced Falcken Hain to resign as Chief of Staff. If the Battle of Stalingrad was the turning point of World War II, then the Battle of Verdun was the turning point of World War I ... Germany failed in its strategic goal of killing France and completely lost its military offensive capability. The lost manpower and material resources cannot be replenished in time. The failure of this war means that Germany's military offensive ability has fallen to the altar, and the initiative of World War I has slowly shifted to the hands of the Allies, and the balance of war has begun to tilt!