3 Major Land Battles prior to US involvement
First Battle of the Marne
Germany had three armies moving south towards Paris near the end of August in 1914. The German general ordered the German 1st Army to circle around Paris. By September 3rd, the French government and half a million French civilians thought that Germany was going to take over so they left.
The French armies decided to attack German forces along the River Seine. This attack was on September 6th and it split the two German armies. This created a gap for the British and French armies to go through.
The German armies weren’t able to defeat the Allied forces. The German generals ordered their armies to retreat on September 9th. The Battle of the Marne was over by night the next day.
I think that this is an important battle because the French and British armies stopped Germany from going into Paris. They did this quickly, which is also an advantage. There was also a disadvantage. Because Germany wasn’t defeated, they only retreated, the war wasn’t going to be quick.
Battle of Verdun
German General Erich von Falkenhayn and the German army attacked the French town of Verdun. He knew that he wouldn’t be able to go through this area of the Western Front, but he wanted to “bleed the French army white”. The attack began on February 21, 1916. The French, which only had 200,000 defenders, had to retreat multiple times because the German army had a million troops.
The French General, Henri-Philippe Petain, ordered the armies that they couldn’t retreat any more. He called for every extra soldier to be sent to this battle right outside of Verdun.
The Germans gained control of Fort Vaux, 5 km from Verdun, at the beginning of March. In summer and early autumn, more attacks occurred but they weren’t as big. The Germans had to send some of their troops to fight at the Somme. Because the Germans had less troops, the French was able to regain control of the two forts that were captured by German forces, Douaumont and Vaux on November 2, 1916.
I think that this is an important battle because it was the longest battle of WWI and although the French didn’t have nearly as much troops as Germany, they still had control of Verdun.
Gallipoli Campaign
The French bombarded Turkish forts on February 19, 1915. Some forts were abandoned so minesweepers could clear mines and allow the use of the strait to advance further. Admiral Sackville Carden wouldn’t continue going through the Dardanelles Straits and was on the verge of a breakdown so he was replaced by Sir John de Robeck, who wanted to send the Allied forces through the straits right away. Eighteen battleships traveled through the straits. This fleet had to retreat because 3 of the ships had been sunk and another 3 were damaged. Because this plan had failed, Lord Kitchener sent 70,000 troops to Gallipoli and when the Turkish commander found out about it, he sent his troops, too. A landing on the peninsula happened on August 6, 1915. General Hamilton’s army failed to get across the peninsula. In October, Hamilton was replaced by a general that suggested we withdraw from the area. This withdrawal started in December and all of the troops were out by January.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWbattles.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verdun
Comments
Well done Becky!