#erich von falkenhayn

[italianiinguerra]

27 giugno 1916, si conclude la "spedizione punitiva"

Il 15 maggio 1916, l’esercito imperiale austro-ungarico al comando del feldmaresciallo Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf lanciava una possente offensiva, la prima sul fronte italiano, precisamente sugli altipiani vicentini nella terra di confine fra Veneto e Trentino. La battaglia è nota con il nome di Frühjahrsoffensive (Offensiva di primavera) o anche Maioffensive (Offensiva di Maggio) o…

[portablefrailty]

Verdun: First Days

I have always been fascinated by the macabre, otherworldly landscapes depicted in imagery from the Great War. This image is inspired by perhaps the signature cataclysm of that conflict. On February 21, 1916 German forces under General Erich von Falkenhayn unleashed an attack of unprecedented savagery on the fortified French positions in front of Verdun. The goal: to draw the French into a battle of attrition with no vital objective beyond killing as many of them as possible. During the first week of the battle alone, German heavy artillery fired 2 million shells on a stretch of ground only 19 miles long and three miles wide. 2 million! There's no way to properly grasp such devastation. No sense of proportion is possible, no basis of comparison. To see such a thing up close is to be consumed by it. Nevertheless, I submit a paltry best guest.

[daperdoe311]

The Battle of Verdun: A Saga of Valor and Horror

Introduction The air over Verdun hangs heavily with the stench of war as Germany, undeterred by previous offensives, aims to bleed France white. The French, steeled in resolve, stand ready to defend every inch of the River Muse amidst the grim realities of World War I.

Setting the Stage at Verdun Situated approximately 250 km northeast of Paris, Verdun held immense strategic importance for both France and Germany. The fortified region of Verdun, with its intricate network of forts, became the focal point of a harrowing saga of valor and horror.

The German Offensive and Strategic Significance As German forces pressed in from three sides, the German aim to capture Verdun was not only to demoralize the French army but also to gain a tactical advantage on the Western Front. Verdun's symbolic importance as a pathway to Paris made it a crucial battleground in the First World War.

The French Defense and Challenges Despite Verdun's historical significance, French leadership under Chief of Staff Joseph Joffre faced challenges in adequately fortifying the region. A lack of appreciation for the fortifications' importance led to undermanning and inadequate equipment, leaving the defenses vulnerable.

The German Assault and Leadership Dynamics Driven by a mix of motivations, Chief of General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn spearheaded the German assault on Verdun. The appointment of Crown Prince Wilhelm as the commander of the Fifth Army aimed to intertwine Royal prestige with military strategy in an effort to bolster German forces.

The Battle Unfolds The German offensive commenced in February 1916 and unfolded with relentless artillery bombardments and probing assaults. The subsequent months saw intense fighting, strategic shifts in leadership, and the ebb and flow of control over key positions such as Fort Douaumont and Fort V.

The French Counteroffensive and Victory In a dramatic turn of events, French forces launched successful offensives that saw them reclaim key positions lost earlier in the battle. By December 1916, the French had pushed German forces back, capturing thousands of prisoners and guns, marking a significant turning point in the battle.

Conclusion The Battle of Verdun, spanning nearly ten months, stood as one of the longest and most harrowing battles of World War I, with over 350,000 casualties on both sides. The valor and resilience displayed by both French and German forces amidst the horrors of war at Verdun underscored the enduring impact of this pivotal conflict.

[scrollwriter]

History of the First World War. II

General Erich von Falkenhayn would try to use a strategy of attrition in the first German offensive of 1916 on the western front This strategy dictated that a massive attack on the French city of Verdun, beginning on 21 February would draw the French to dispatch troops in to defend this city in the interest of national prestige and would destroy them there, in a second attempt to break French…

[gonzalo-obes]

IMAGENES Y DATOS INTERESANTES DEL DIA 18 DE DICIEMBRE DE 2022 Día Internacional del Migrante, Día Mundial de la Lengua Árabe, Día Nacional de la Esclerosis Múltiple, Comienzo del Janucá - Fiesta de las Luces, Año Internacional de la Pesca y la Acuicultura Artesanales, Año Internacional del Vidrio, Año Internacional del Desarrollo Sostenible de las Montañas y Año Internacional de las Ciencias Básicas para el Desarrollo Sostenible. San Auxencio, San Flavio y Virgen de la Macarena. Tal día como hoy en el año 1828: Ocurre un terremoto de magnitud 6,9 en Sanjo (Japón), que causa 1.559 muertos y destruye más de 10.000 viviendas. En 1859: El sacerdote Juan Bosco funda la Congregación Salesiana, en Italia. En 1892: El compositor ruso, Piotr Ilich Chaikovski, estrena su obra El cascanueces en San Petersburgo (Rusia), ante la presencia del zar Alejandro III. En 1908: El biólogo austriaco Karl Landsteiner y su ayudante Erwin Popper, exponen al público que han descubierto el virus que provoca la poliomielitis, en una conferencia médica celebrada en Viena (Austria). En 1916: En el marco de la Primera Guerra Mundia, concluye la batalla de Verdún, en la que las tropas francesas vencen a los invasores alemanes, bajo el mando de Erich von Falkenhayn, con más de 320.000 muertos. En 1969: En Reino Unido, el Parlamento aprueba la ley por la que queda abolida la pena de muerte. En 1996: Se inaugura en Japón el Aqualine Bahía de Tokio, un túnel submarino y un puente que unen dos extremos de la bahía de Tokio, siendo la autopista bajo el mar más larga del mundo. En 2010: Comienzan las protestas en Túnez contra el gobierno a raíz de que un joven se quemara a lo bonzo el día anterior (revolución tunecina), lo que marcará el comienzo de la Primavera Árabe. En 2011: Estados Unidos retira sus últimas tropas de Irak, lo que supone el fin de la Guerra de Irak, que había comenzado en 2003. Muchas más imágenes en http://obesia.com/miscelaneas

[tobbpenztazembereknek]

Erwin Rommel Munkásőr Szakasz, előre!

Ui.

A német–osztrák–magyar sereg élére Erich von Falkenhayn tábornokot nevezték ki, aki szeptember elején megindította az ellentámadást. Szeptember 10-én Hátszeg mellett legyőzte a román sereget, majd a sereg még aznap visszafoglalta Petrozsényt. Petrozsény visszafoglalásában nagy szerepe volt Maderspach Viktornak, aki partizánalakulatot szervezve zavarta a románok hadműveleteit. Szeptember 28-án a Falkenhayn vezette sereg győzött a kisbári és nagybári csatákban, aminek eredményeként visszafoglalták Nagyszebent. A Nagyszeben alól visszavonuló román hadosztályokat a Vöröstoronyi-szorosban teljesen megsemmisítették. Ezt követően szabadult fel a Székelyföld is. A 2. román hadsereg még megkísérelt egy offenzívát Brassónál október 4-én, de sikertelenül, a központi hatalmak csapatai teljesen kiszorították őket Erdélyből. A román fronton harcolt és sebesült meg a későbbi rendkívül sikeres hadvezér, Erwin Rommel is.

@tobbpenztazembereknek nézzed Áron, ez már konkrétan kommunista lett!

Csak kéne már beszélned vele!!!!

🤪🤪🤪

[quotesfrommyreading]

Everything known about Kaiser Wilhelm and his closest associates indicates that in early July they saw little possibility of a general European war. Falkenhayn's skepticism about whether Vienna would in the end actually do anything reflected widespread German doubt, based on much experience, about the Hapsburg empire's ability to take action to save itself. Recent experience also encouraged the Germans to be equally skeptical – scornful, perhaps – about Russia. Evidently it was all but inconceivable to them that this time, unlike 1908 or 1912 or 1913, the Russians would feel not only capable of taking military action but compelled to do so. Almost immediately after his talks with the Austrians, when Falkenhayn asked the kaiser if military preparations were necessary, Wilhelm said no. He soon returned to his boat-racing vacation off Norway, telling one of his admirals before departing that “I don't believe we are headed for a great war. In this case the tsar's views would not be on the side of the prince's [Franz Ferdinand's] murderer. Besides this, France and Russia are not ready for war.”

  —  A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 (G. J. Meyer)

[historyontheorientexpress]

Yıldırım Orduları Komutanı Erich von Falkenhayn ile Suriye ve Batı Arabistan Orduları Genel Komutanı Cemal Paşa, Küdus Tren Garı'nda - 1917.

[autodidact-adventures]

World War I (Part 44): Verdun Ends

By May, the French had suffered 133,000 casualties; the Germans 120,000.  Germany was still attacking towards Le Mort Homme, and gradually moving up the slopes.  At one point, they captured part of the crest, but were unable to keep their hold on it.

General Max von Gallwitz was a capable artillery commander, and had taken part in the conquest of Serbia.  Now he arrived to help the Germans, and took command of the west bank.  He decided that Le Mort Homme had to be taken, but in order to do that they would first have to clear the guns on an adjacent ridge called Côte 34 – these guns were protecting LMH.

So he ordered over 500 heavy guns along one mile (about 1.6km) of front – a concentration of firepower even greater than their earlier Verdun attacks.  On May 3rd, they opened fire.  This was the usual practice, in order to blow away the French defences so their own infantry could advance with little opposition.  However, it wasn't as successful as they wanted.

The opening barrage lasted through the night & day of May 3rd, and then the day of May 4th.  Thousands of French were killed, and many buried alive.  Those who survived cowered in their bunkers and trenches, without food or water (as it wasn't able to be got through to them).  The French defenders weren't wiped out, and the survivors didn't flee.

But Germany eventually managed to take Côte 304, after three days of close hand-to-hand fighting.  Because of the terrible smell of 10,000 rotting French corpses on the ridge, those who took it were given double tobacco rations.  However, LMH's guns were still in action, and they still had to take that ridge.  They were ordered to continue onwards.

On May 8th – before the Germans had even had a chance to celebrate their victory – Fort Douaumont suddenly blew up.  There had been complaints that the ammo wasn't being handled properly while being moved in and out of the fort.  The evidence suggests that a group of Bavarian soldiers sheltering inside the fort had opened up a hand grenade to get a few thimblefuls of explosive out, to use for heating their coffee up.  This caused a fire, which ignited a cache of grenades, which set off the fuel tanks of some flamethrowers – and these started a chain reaction among stacked artillery shells.

About 650 German soldiers were killed in the explosion (however, the fort was not entirely destroyed).  When the survivors emerged, their faces were blackened.  The German soldiers outside had no idea what had happened – they assumed that these survivors were Entente colonial units (from Africa) who had overrun the fort, and immediately shot them.

On May 13th, the German 5th Army staff met at the Crown Prince's headquarters.  They were there to discuss an east bank offensive that was supposed to have been launched by now, but had been delayed by a) weather, b) Nivelle & Mangin's constant attacks, and c) artillery fire from Le Mort Homme.

The CP had given up on Verdun, and urged Falkenhayn & the kaiser to call the whole campaign off.  Knobelsdorf (his Chief of Staff & mentor since August 1914) had been his tactics tutor before the war, and he was certain that they could still prevail.  He and Falkenhayn were optimistic partially because of the incorrect reports that by now the French had suffered over 200,000 casualties.  (The French had similarly incorrect reports of German casualties.)

But at the meeting, Knobelsdorf agreed with the CP, and promised to visit Falkenhayn that day and try and persuade him to stop.  But he did the opposite – he told Falkenhayn that France's guns at LMH would soon be cleared, and then they could safely resume the east bank offensive.  He probably found it easy to get Falkenhayn to agree.  In fact, the leading figures opposing the Verdun campaign were those who had opposed his appointment to Commander-in-Chief after Moltke was dismissed.

When the CP learned what Knobelsdorf had done, there was really nothing he could do.  He was heir to the throne, but his father had been disdainful to him all his life.  He had spent the last 1.5 years as an army commander, and had gradually become confident to stand up to Knobelsdorf; however, his father still kept him at a distance.

Falkenhayn encouraged Knobelsdorf to capture Verdun before the Entente offensive along the Somme that Joffre and the British were obviously preparing for, could begin.  The CP said that, “If Main Headquarters order it, I must not disobey, but I will not do it on my own responsibility.”

The Battle of Asiago

But meanwhile, the Austrians were causing problems again.

During his career, Franz Conrad had watched the new Kingdom of Italy take Austro-Hungarian territory to its north.  He hated the Italians, and was contemptuous of them – he called them “Dago dogs”.  Since late 1915, he'd been pestering Falkenhayn to help him launch an offensive southwards out of the Alps towards Italy.  If successful, he could destroy Italy's ability to fight, and regain the northern Italian plain.  But Falkenhayn's armies were outnumbered everywhere, and he was focused on Verdun.  He brushed Conrad's pestering aside, saying that the suggested campaign might please the Viennese government, but wouldn't help them win the war.

Falkenhayn was a rather cold person, and had no close friends even among his fellow Junkers.  He disliked & distrusted Conrad, and when he rejected his suggestion of the Italian offensive, he did so with unncessary curtness.  He'd kept the Verdun campaign secret from Conrad – it had been more of a surprise to the Austrians to the French.  It wasn't just Conrad he'd kept it a secret from, though – even the commanders of the German armies south & west of Verdun hadn't known exactly what was being prepared – but Conrad was still greatly offended.  And he decided to launch the offensive anyway, without telling the Germans.

Four battles had already taken place at the Isonzo, in northern Italy (i.e. on the Isonzo River).  Conrad decided to attack further west, in the mountainous Trentino region (north-east of Lake Garda).

Trento = Trentino.

He sent over 12 of his best divisions just north of the passes leading into Italy.  From there, they could attack Lombardy's farmlands and cities (this was land that Conrad believed truly belonged to Vienna).  Once they'd reached open country, they could then swing around and take the Italians at the Isonzo in the rear.

Six of these divisions were taken from Galicia, as Conrad believed there was no chance of major trouble there.  In late 1915, they'd been victorious over the Russians there (although mainly because of German troops that Falkenhayn had sent them from Verdun).  Also, the Russians' numerical advantage was the smallest there of all the places on the Eastern Front.  If Conrad knew of Brusilov's recent appointment as commander of the south-west front, he wouldn't have thought it was important.  He got approval from the Habsburg archduke (his official Commander-in-Chief), and took personal command of operations in Italy.

Conrad was not a good choice to be in charge of operations.  He was completely unrealistic, and was always deanding his troops to do things that were beyond their abilities.  He expected them to fight and defeat enemies even when spectacularly outnumbered.  His campaigns would begin brilliantly, with huge gains, and then fail & end in disaster (unless the Germans helped him out).

In 1915, Austria suffered over 200 million casualties, including 770,000 taken prisoner.  By early 1916, the Austro-Hungarian army had lost so many troops that they were basically unable to carry out independent operations.  This may have been one of Conrad's reasons for wanting to invade Italy – he may have known that he couldn't possibly achieve anything against Russia.

For the Battle of Asiago, Conrad's headquarters stayed at Silesia – about 965km from the battle – he didn't even bother to pay a visit to the region they were about to attack from.  He was happily settled there with a new wife and the comforts of a pre-war aristocratic life.  From his headquarters, he sent out detailed instructions, telling his commanders in the field exactly what the divisions at Trentino were to do.  He made marks on maps, showing the objectives each division had to reach each day, and that was that.  He ignored any questions or suggestions; and no deviation was allowed, even if it was far more sensible and achieved the same outcome – for example, if a division was ordered to climb over a mountain crest that was covered in deep snow, and going downhill through a valley would be easier and quicker, they still had to climb the mountain crest.  The Chief of Staff of the army group being formed at Trentino asked for permission to travel to Conrad's headquarters and talk with him, but was refused it.  Conrad wanted no discussion, and would not listen to others' ideas.

He wanted to begin in April (almost immediately) but the attempts to do so failed – his troops and supply trains couldn't get into position so quickly at that time of year, and hundreds of them either froze to death, or were buried in avalanches, in trying.

They attacked on May 15th – 157,000 Austrians against 117,000 Italians, and they easily pushed the enemy back.  For the first three weeks of the campaign, they made good progress, sweeping southwards on a broad front.  By the end of May, they'd taken 400,000 prisoners, and 380 guns.  The King of Italy begged the tsar for assistance.

Other Events

Everything seemed to be going well for the Central Powers.  North of Paris, the Germans carried out an attack that was mostly for the purpose of disrupting French & British preparations for their summer offensive.  They managed to drive the British out of their positions whence they were planning to take the Vimy Ridge (a massive strongpoint dominating the Artois plain to the west).  The French had taken great casualties in establishing those positions, and had handed them over to the British in March.  They had been assumed to be secure, and now they had lost them.  Joffre was shocked, and Haig was humiliated.  But Haig couldn't launch a counterattack, because so many of his troops & resources were being concentrated at the Somme.

On May 22nd, Mangin launched an attack at Fort Douaumont.  He'd spent the previous 5 days firing 1000 tonnes of explosives from 300 heavy guns, at the quarter of a spare mile (about 0.65km2) centred on the fort.  When the attack began, the French broke into the fort's inner chambers.  The Germans regrouped, and days of terrible close-quarters underground fighting followed, with the French eventually being driven out.

The fighting here was hideous, and Mangin was heedless of what was realistic.  So, too, were many of the troops.  A French staff officer would say later, “Even the wounded refuse to abandon the struggle.  As though possessed by devils, they fight on until they fall senseless from loss of blood.  A surgeon in a front-line post told me that, in a redoubt at a southern part of the fort, of 200 French dead, fully half had more than two wounds.  Those he was able to treat seemed utterly insane.  They kept shouting war cries and their eyes blazed, and, strangest of all, they appeared indifferent to pain.  At one moment anaesthetics ran out owing to the impossibility of bringing forward fresh supplies through the bombardment.  Arms, even legs, were amputated without a groan, and even afterward the men seemed not to have felt the shock.  They asked for a cigarette or inquired how the battle was going.”

Over 5,500 French troops had been killed or wounded, and 130 officers.  This failure was so great, and the casualties so high, that Mangin was (fortunately) dismissed.  Pétain said, “You did your duty and I cannot blame you.  You would not be the man you are if you had not acted in the way you did.”  Meanwhile, the Germans were forcing their way closer to Le Mort Homme, with fighting of almost equal intensity.

In Russia, General Mikhail Alexeyev was still the tsar's Chief of Staff, even though he'd been Polivanov's partner in reform.  However, because he was away at army headquarters, and far from the intrigues at Petrograd, he had managed to keep his position.  He was now asking his sector commanders when they could attack next.  Evert, as usual, said that he could do nothing.  Brusilov, however, said that his preparations were basically complete, and that his four armies were ready to go. (Even Alexeyev was surprised by this.)  The decision was made for Brusilov to attack at the beginning of June.  Evert's much larger forces were directly north of Brusilov's, and he was persuaded to attack on June 13th.  However, he was reluctant, even though he had a million troops, and 2/3 of Russia's heavy artillery.

On May 26th, Joffre met with Haig at Pétain's insistence.  He asked Haig to move the date of the planned Somme offensive from mid-August to earlier. Haig didn't like the idea, but Joffre told him that if he waited another 2.5 months, “the French army could cease to exist.”  So Haig agreed.

Only once in the Great War did the the dreadnoughts of British Grand Fleet and Germany's High Seas Fleet fight each other, and took place from May 31st to June 1st.  The German commander had worked out a plan to lure Britain's battle cruiser force southwards away from their dreadnoughts' protection, but the British had intercepted and decoded his radio messages, so they knew what he was planning.  On May 30th, a huge German force steamed into the North Sea – 16 dreadnoughts, 6 older battleships, 5 battle cruisers, 11 light cruisers, and 61 destroyers.  The British moved towards them with 150 ships, outnumbering him with every type of ship.

The Battle of Jutland ensued – the greatest naval battle in history, until WW2. (Jutland is the peninsula that comprises Denmark and part of northern Germany; this battle took place west of it.)  The battle had five stages, and the fleets separated, converged, and changed directions over and over.  Both sides made serious mistakes, and had moments of great ingenuity.

Germany lost 1 battleship, 1 battle cruiser, 4 light cruisers, 5 destroyers, and 2,500 men.  They withdrew to their home ports, and stayed there for the rest of the Great War.

Britain had greater losses – 3 battle cruisers, 3 cruisers, 8 destroyers, and 6,200 men.  The Battle of Jutland was overall a draw, and changed nothing in terms of strategy (although the British kept control of the North Sea).  John Jellicoe (the British fleet commander) returned home a hero, and the public were told it was a glorious victory. However, the Admiralty knew this was not true.

Around about the same time, Germany finally captured Le Mort Homme at Verdun.  Now, they could go on the defensive on the west bank, and begin the great east bank offensive that Knobelsdorf claimed would take them into Verdun.  By June 1st, the main force for this east bank offensive was still being organized & put into place.  German units made an exploratory attack up the final approaches towards Fort Vaux.  Fort Vaux was smaller than Fort Douaumont (but still a strong fort), and was the final major strongpoint between the Germans and the city of Verdun.  Everything seemed to be falling into place for them.  They were about to capture Verdun.

In Italy, the Austrians had advanced out of the Alps and were in open country; they were positioned to encircle the retreating Italians.  In Flanders (Belgium), the Germans captured Mont Sorel, a piece of high ground about 4km south of what used to be Ypres.

The Brusilov Offensive

On June 4th, Brusilov ordered his guns to open fire.  His preparations had been extensive, and unconventional in terms of Great War tactics up until now.  He focused on taking the Austrians by surprise on such a broad front that they wouldn't be able to react effectively.  He used air & ground reconnaissance to a degree greater than anything the Russian military had used so far, and identified the enemy's weak points with it.  He made great use of deception tactics, even painting imaginary trenches on the ground behind his lines.

His opening barrage lasted only a day.  Its purpose wasn't (as was usual) to destroy the Austrian defences, but to a) neutralize their artillery and b) clear away their barbed wire, and it succeeded on both points. The Russian infantry attacked on June 5th, and the Austrians were by then in confusion.

The Russian advance was on a front over 400km wide, and the Austrians were not expecting that.  Brusilov wanted to attack everywhere, and that they would definitely find some holes somewhere by doing that.  Therefore, he'd moved his small reserve forces close enough to the front that they could exploit these opportunities as soon as they found them.

Brusilov had ignored the usual tactics of the Great War – a short bombardment; his refusal to concentrate his troops on a narrow sector of front (even though Alexeyev had asked him to do so); attacking forces numerically equal to his own.  The result was a huge success.  The Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army fell apart – 71,000 were killed, wounded or captured (and this was over half their troops!)  The Austro-Hungarian Seventh Army lost 133,000 men, even worse than the Fourth.  After three days, the Russians had taken 300,000 prisoners. Before a week had passed, over half the Austrian defenders had become casualties.

The more trusted Austrian units had been sent to Italy for Conrad's Trentino campaign, and most of those remaining were Slavs.  They fled back towards the Carpathians.  They had no reserves (due to Conrad's taking troops for his Trentino campaign), so they couldn't restore their lines.  And worse, their senior commanders weren't even there – they were at a party with Conrad, at a Habsburg castle in Teschen.

Archduke Frederick was Emperor Franz Joseph's nephew, and June 4th was his birthday.  (He was also titular Commander-in-Chief of all the Austro-Hungarian armies – a ceremonial post.)  Conrad was certain that his conquest of Italy would give the empire much to celebrate, and he attended the party with senior members of his own staff, and also generals from Galicia.  During the festivities, the news arrived that the Russians had suddenly started attacking on their southern front.  Conrad dismissed the news, and assured everyone that there was no reason for concern.

Two days later, Austria's success in Italy was suddenly reversed.  General Luigi Cadorna was the Italian Commander-in-Chief, and he took troops from his fifth Isonzo offensive (which was short and unsuccessful) to counterattack the Austrians who had advanced from Trentino.  They succeeded, and Conrad's Italian campaign came to an end.

Back in Galicia, Brusilov's forces had wrecked the Austro-Hungarian forces on their flanks, and were ready to encircle the centre.  But he needed more manpower to do this.  Evert had more than enough in the north-west, but he didn't attack or send any of his divisions to join Brusilov's forces.  He was supposed to attack on June 13th, as had been agreed, but did nothing.

Max Hoffmann would write later that if Evert had attacked, “the crisis would probably have developed into the complete defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Army.”  The Germans opposite Evert's forces were free to move southwards against Brusilov, and they did so.

But even so, Austria-Hungary seemed about to be defeated.  Conrad was finally very worried, and travelled by train to Berlin, where he reported his failure in Italy and begged Falkenhayn for help.  Falkenhayn promised nothing, and was even colder than before.  However, the German Army of the South was still in Galicia, and they attacked the Russian Eighth Army where it had penetrated deepest into the Austrians' lines.  Brusilov's troops were exhausted, and the supply system was (as usual) failing.  He was forced to halt in order to regroup.

Nonetheless, he had had great success.  He'd destroyed two Austro-Hungarian armies, and dealt great damage to others.  The Austro-Hungarian army's morale was already low, and now it was even worse.  He'd captured 100,000's of prisoners, including thousands of officers; he'd also taken hundreds of machine-guns and artillery pieces.  The ground the Russians had taken wasn't much compared to how vast the eastern theatre was, but with the Austrians in major confusion, there were rich opportunities for further conquests.  Every promise the Russians had made to their allies had now been redeemed.  And his actions had prevented the Austrians from reinforcing the Trentino campaign. Finally, Russian morale had been given a huge boost.

Verdun

Back on the Wetern Front, the Germans seemed about to break into Verdun.  But Brusilov's success had complicated Falkenhayn's manpower problems yet again. Falkenhayn had been planning a pre-emptive attack on the Somme (as he knew the Entente were going to attack there soon), but now he couldn't do that.  Also, he had to help Conrad.  So he began to transfer troops away from the Western Front – eventually 18 divisions in total.

Brusilov, too, was in a difficult position.  He'd lost 300,000 men, used up a huge amount of ammunition, and other supplies were exhausted.  He had no hope of support from the war ministry, as it was headed by an elderly general who'd been chosen for the position because of his loyalty to the Romanovs.  The Russian military administration was barely functioning at all (apart from the benefits to profiteers).  Russia's collapse and subsequent revolution was very much a direct result of Petrograd's inability to resupply Brusilov, and Evert's refusal to support him.

However, Ludendorff was also refusing to sent troops from his base in the north to Verdun or Galicia.  So that counterbalanced Brusilov's problems somewhat.  (Ludendorff's troops were facing Russian armies that outnumbered him, and had to be expected to attack, so his refusal was understandable.)

These four fronts – Verdun, the Somme, Galicia and Italy – were all affecting each other, and events on all of them began to interlock.  The Italian government fell due to controversy over how Cardona had handled the Trentino offensive.  The French National Assembly was forced to meet in secret session for the first time in the war, as the opposition demanded answers about Joffre's strategy.

Many things were happening during the month of June.  A British cruiser bound for Russia hit a mine near the Scottish coast, killing Kitchener, who had been on board.  An Arab revolt (with British support) was breaking out in the deserts of the Ottoman Empire's southern region.  At Salonika, the French General Maurice Sarrail was nearly ready to take his troops northwards in to the Balkans.

Conrad's armies were barely functional, yet he suggested to Falkenhayn that they launch a huge offensive that would surround and destroy Brusilov's army group.  The others laughed at him; even his Austrian colleagues were beginning to despise him.

After days of terrible fighting, Fort Vaux finally surrendered to the Germans. Major Sylvain Eugène Raynal was the French commander of the fort, and he surrendered only because his men were dying of thirst.  The German Crown Prince was so impressed by Raynal that he honoured him personally, giving him a sword to replace the one he'd lost in battle.  In return, Major Raynal said that the CP was “not the monkey that our caricaturists have made him out to be.”  Now there was only one small strongpoint between the Germans and the city of Verdun – Fort Souville.

The last of Falkenhayn's reserves – 30,000 men – launched an attack on a front 4.8km wide.  If they took Fort Souville, they would be only 4km from Verdun's central citadel.  Knobelsdorf was so confident that he invited the kaiser to join him.

The traditional artillery barrage was carried out on June 22nd.  It ended with new shells containing phosgene, a new type of gas that killed everything, including insects and plants.

At 5am on June 23rd, the German infantry attacked.  They broke through the French centre.  Pétain learned of this, and decided they would have to abandon the east bank, in order to stop the Germans from capturing hundreds of artillery pieces.  In the streets of Verdun, trenches were being dug, and barricades were being built.

But the Germans' narrow front of 4.8km was a bad decision – they were exposed to heavy fire on both flanks, and aircraft strafed them from above.  The forward edge of their infantry advance managed to get within 1.2km of the crest of the last ridge before Verdun.  But they couldn't get any further.  After another two days of terrible fighting, the Germans had to give up.

This was mainly because of a shortage of manpower.  Falkenhayn had been receiving multiple telegrams about the emergency in the south-east (the eastern front), and decided that he had to pull divisions out of Verdun and send them by train to Galicia.  If only one of these divisions had been added to the fight at Souville, they might have taken Verdun. But thanks to Brusilov, this was not possible.

At the climax of the battle, the French seemed to have no chance of holding on. Joffre sent four divisions to Verdun that he'd been saving for the Somme.  Conrad moved 8 divisions from Italy to Galicia.  Premier Aristide Briand of France travelled to Haig's headquarters and begged him to begin the Somme offensive.  Haig began the bombardment that afternoon.  When Pétain phoned Joffre to announce that he was removing his artillery from the east bank, Joffre ordered him to stand fast.  Pétain did so, and the situation got better very quickly.

The Battle of Verdun was finally over.  But it was a pointless victory – Verdun would have given little to the Germans if they'd won it, and the French had held onto something that was of no strategic value. Falkenhayn removed still more troops and sent them east.  And the Battle of the Somme was just beginning.

[italianiinguerra]

27 giugno 1916, si conclude la battaglia degli Altipiani

27 giugno 1916, si conclude la battaglia degli Altipiani

Il 15 maggio 1916, l’esercito imperiale austro-ungarico al comando del feldmaresciallo Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf lanciava una possente offensiva, la prima sul fronte italiano, sugli altipiani vicentini nella terra di confine fra Veneto e Trentino. La battaglia è nota con il nome di Frühjahrsoffensive (Offensiva di primavera)o anche Maioffensive (Offensiva di Maggio) o Südtiroloffensive…

[ammg-old]

Finished the first chapter of Verdun...got to hand it to him, Falkenhayn is being pretty clever.  But I assume it won't work long-term because of the ignoring-the-west-bank thing.  Which is not clever.

[warsofasoiaf]

How would you rate von Falkenhayn during WWI?

Of the three German heads of their armed forces during WWI, I think Falkenhayn was the most capable, especially at the highest levels, and that if the war was to be won by the Central Powers, Falkenhayn was the most capable of doing so (and indeed, came fairly close). Ludendorff was good on the Eastern Front but he was too cavalier and unstable to be the commander of the entire armed forces, and von Moltke, again, had a stroke before the war began, so he was not operating at his best.

I’m of the belief that Falkenhayn was attempting to, at Verdun, provoke a premature British relief effort at Artois followed by a French attack, either at Verdun itself or, more than likely, at Belfort. This would provoke a war of movement against German fixed positions on the Western Front, cause significant damage to the fighting spirit of the French and English, and perhaps get the politicians to sue for a favorable German peace, probably with the valuable seized French territory as the prize of war, and the threat of the Western Front collapsing to be used against the Russians in the east to get a treaty with very similar terms to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, and bring the Great War to a close at the end of 1916 or early in 1917.

This idea is chilling, but it makes strategic sense. If the enemy is entrenched, it is far better to force them out of their fixed positions and into the open where machine guns and artillery can work to maximum effect. Champagne and Neuve-Chappelle in 1915 had already proven the power of the fixed defenses over manpower, the Entente had close to a million men advantage over Germany at that point.

Now, I think the Christmas memorandum was a load of bunk, an attempt to save face after the war given that his strategy failed. Falkenhayn underestimated the Russians under Brusilov’s relief effort, the damage of the French morale, and the same thing that all the other commanders underestimated: the willingness of the home fronts to endure. It was thought that high casualties would cause popular unrest, but given the casualties at Verdun were roughly equal, Verdun didn’t seem hopeless, and that was key to the Verdun strategy. The blame for this field deployment though, falls more upon Crown Prince Wilheim, than Falkenhayn. Falkenhayn was too taciturn in refusing to divulge his general plans, for reasons that become apparent shortly.

Now, that being said, von Falkenhayn had other serious problems that were mostly his fault, and one of the biggest ones was that pretty much every senior German and Austrian leader hated him. Hindenberg and Ludendorff hated him, with the latter saying: “I am only capable of great love and great hate, and I hate von Falkenhayn.” The German chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg hated him too, as did Austrian Chief of Staff and contender for worst WWI senior ever Conrad von Hotzendorff, and that significantly hurt von Falkenhayn’s combined strategy with the Austrians. This lack of coordination severely impacted the Central Powers ability to fight as one unit.

About the only person that von Falkenhayn seemed to get along with was General August von Mackensen, and the two of them conducted a positively brilliant campaign (one of the finest maneuver campaigns in WWI) against Romania and significantly increased the Central Power’s staying ability with wheat, cattle, and oil seized from Romania.

Overall, I consider von Falkenhayn to be a competent general officer who attempted a strategy that failed, in some part to his own bad assessments, in other parts to other subordinate commanders not following instructions, and then attempted to shift the blame as did so many other generals after the war.

Thanks for the question, Calagon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[twf100]

Mèmorial de Voie Sacrèe, Nixéville-Blercourt France, December 2018.

Full photo gallery online here.

Voie Sacrée

Ten kilometers south of Verdun France is a monument to the Voie Sacrée (Sacred Way).

When Chief of the German General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn decided to attack the French at Verdun his stated desire was to “bleed France white”. The intended goal was a battle of attrition that would suck up and destroy every man and piece of material that France would be compelled to send in the defense of Verdun. The Germans spend months in advance of their attack building roads and railway to their lines north of the city. When the Germans launched their attack on February 21 the French quickly lost all means to supply Verdun save the one road to Bar-le-Duc. Located 60 kilometers to the south, Bar-le-Duc was the closest town with railway service that could be used to supply the French.

Voie Sacree traffic, 1916

The use of trucks to supply an army was still a novelty at this point in history. Up until the Battle of the Marne in 1914, when French soldiers were delivered nearly to the front lines from Paris by taxi, supplies and soldiers were delivered by rail, horse or foot. The panicked French had no other option. They put the road to full use.

French soldiers beside the Voie Sacree, 1916

Road improvements began almost immediately. German prisoners of war were put to use filling holes in the road. Trucks that broke down were pulled out of the way without hesitation. Every village along the road had a workstation ready to repair the vehicles and get them back into service as quickly as possible. All horse drawn traffic and troop movements were ordered off the road leaving it open to motor traffic. 24 hours a day trucks moved men and material, 50,000 tons of supplies and 90,000 soldiers per week. French author Maurice Barrés gave the road its name in April of 1916 and the Voie Sacrée kept the French supplied at Verdun all through the battles of that year.

Today the Mémorial de Voie Sacrée sits along the D1916, so named to honor the road’s service in that year of the Great War. The monument honors the road and those who worked to keep this supply line open during the Battle of Verdun. Markers along the roadway between Verdun and Bar-le-Duc also serve as a remembrance to the critical role that the Voie Sacrée played in the war.

June 18, 2019

[zayaanhashistory]

The Battle of the Somme

The Battle of the Somme, which took place from July to November 1916, began as an Allied offensive against German forces along the Western Front of World War I, near the Somme River in France. The battle turned into one of the most bitter, deadly and costly battles in all of human history, as British forces suffered more than 57,000 casualties—including more than 19,000 soldiers killed—on the first day of the battle alone. By the time the Battle of the Somme (sometimes called the First Battle of the Somme) ended nearly five months later, more than 3 million soldiers on both sides had fought in the battle, and more than 1 million had been killed or wounded. 

Prior to the attack, the Allies launched a week-long heavy artillery bombardment, using some 1.75 million shells, which aimed to cut the barbed wire guarding German’s trench defenses and destroy the enemy’s positions. On the morning of July 1, 11 divisions of the British 4th Army—many of them volunteer soldiers going into battle for the first time—began advancing on a 15-mile front north of the Somme River. At the same time, five French divisions advanced on an eight-mile front to the south, where the German defenses were weaker. Allied leaders had been confident the bombardment would damage German defenses enough so that their troops could easily advance. But the barbed wire remained intact in many places, and the German positions, many of which were in trenches deep underground, were stronger than anticipated. Along the line, German machine gun and rifle fire cut down thousands of the attacking British troops, many of them caught in “no man’s land” between the two sides. Some 19,240 British soldiers were killed and more than 38,000 wounded by the end of that first day—almost as many casualties as British forces suffered when the Allies lost the battle for France during World War II (May-June 1940), including prisoners. 

Other British and French forces had more success to the south, though these gains were limited compared to the devastating losses sustained on that first day of battle. But British Field Marshal Douglas Haig was determined to press on with the offensive, and over the next two weeks the British launched a series of smaller attacks on the German line, putting increasing pressure on the Germans and forcing them to divert some weapons and soldiers from the Battle of Verdun. Early on the morning of July 15, British troops launched another artillery barrage followed by a massive attack, this time on Bazentin Ridge, in the northern part of the Somme. The assault took the Germans by surprise, and the British were able to advance some 6,000 yards into enemy territory, occupying the village of Longueville. But any small advance continued to come at the expense of heavy casualties in this long and deadly war of attrition, with the Germans losing 160,000 soldiers and the British and French more than 200,000 by the end of July. Near the end of August, with German morale running low due to lost ground both on the Somme and at Verdun, Germany’s General Erich von Falkenhayn was replaced by Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff. The command change marked a change in German strategy: They would build a new defensive line behind the Somme front, conceding territory but allowing them to inflict even more casualties on the advancing Allied troops. 

On September 15, during an attack at Flers Courcelette, the British artillery barrage was followed by an advance of 12 divisions of soldiers accompanied by 48 Mark I tanks, making their first-ever appearance on the battlefield. But the tanks were still early in their development stages, and many of them broke down before making it to the front line. Though the British were able to advance some 1.5 miles, they sustained some 29,000 casualties and fell short of a true breakthrough. As October began, bad weather stymied another Allied attack, with soldiers struggling to cross muddy terrain under fierce fire from German artillery and fighter planes. The Allies made their final advance of the battle in mid-November, attacking the German positions in the Ancre River valley. With the arrival of true winter weather, Haig finally called the offensive to a halt on November 18, ending the bloody battle of attrition on the Somme, at least until the following year. Over 141 days, the British had advanced just seven miles, and had failed to break the German line. 

More than anything else, the Battle of the Somme—and especially its devastating first day—would be remembered as the epitome of the brutal and seemingly senseless carnage that characterized trench warfare during World War I. British officers, especially Haig, would be criticized for continuing the offensive in spite of such devastating losses. Many of the British soldiers who fought at the Somme had volunteered for army service in 1914 and 1915 and saw combat for the first time in the battle. Many were members of so-called Pals battalions, or units that were made up of friends, relatives and neighbors in the same community. 

The Allied victory at the Somme—despite its horrific costs—inflicted serious damage on German positions in France, spurring the Germans to strategically retreat to the Hindenburg Line in March 1917 rather than continue battling over the same land that spring. Though the exact number is disputed, German losses by the end of the Battle of the Somme probably exceeded Britain’s, with some 450,000 soldiers lost compared with 420,000 on the British side. The surviving British forces had also gained valuable experience, which would later help them achieve ultimate victory on the Western Front. 

[nutskilop]

Supreme commander soundtrack

In 1915, when large territories came under Ober Ost 's administration as a result of military successes on the Eastern Front, Erich Ludendorff, von Hindenburg's second in command, set up a system of managing the large area now under its jurisdiction. They constructed railroads but only Germans were allowed to ride them and schools were taught by German instructors, since they lacked trained Lithuanians. They also tried to "civilize" the people in the Ober Ost-controlled land, attempting to integrate German ideals and institutions with existing cultures. One was not allowed to move between the districts, which destroyed the livelihood of many merchants and prevented indigenous people from visiting friends and relatives in neighboring districts. The movement policy or Verkehrspolitik, divided the land without regard to the existing social and ethnic organization and patterns. Ober Ost ruled the land with an iron fist. Ober Ost itself controlled present-day Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, Poland, and Courland. The military Ober Ost government from then on controlled only the conquered areas east and north of central Poland.Īfter the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk of March 1918, the German Empire effectively controlled Lithuania, Latvia, Belarus, parts of Poland, and Courland, all of which had been part of the Russian Empire. Accordingly, the German Empire established the Government General of Warsaw and the Austro-Hungarian Empire set up the Government General of Lublin. When the Chief of the General Staff Erich von Falkenhayn was dismissed from office by the Kaiser in August 1916, Hindenburg took over at the General Staff, and Prince Leopold of Bavaria took control of the Ober Ost.īy October 1915, the Imperial German Army had advanced so far to the east that central Poland could be put under a civil administration. Ober Ost was set up by Kaiser Wilhelm II in November 1914, initially came under the command of Paul von Hindenburg, a Prussian general who had come out of retirement to achieve the German victory of the Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914 and became a national hero.

[bestoftrust]

Battle of verdun summary

The first day of the Battle of the Somme is remembered due to the heavy casualties suffered by the British Army, 57470 killed, wounded or captured. The Allies had also agreed to launch offensives on several fronts against the Central Powers. Another objective was to inflict as much damage as possible on the Germans. British forces along with those from France and the British Empire intended to relieve pressure on French troops at Verdun. Lasting 141 days it was one of the longest continuous battles of the First World War. The French reaction to Verdun led to the development of the Maginot Line of defenses along French-German border and the German strategy that trench warfare doesn't work as an offense, leading to their tank corps and blitzkrieg tactics of World War II that simply went around the Maginot Line.The Battle of the Somme began on July 1st 1916. The German loss at Verdun was caused by Falkenhayn's timidity and the result was a prolonged battle that drained both countries. The impact of the Battle of Verdun was that while France won the battle, they no longer had the strength to win the war, leaving the work of victory to the British and Americans. In October, Pétain and Nivelle mounted a counteroffensive, recapturing the two forts and driving the Germans back two miles.īy the end of the war, nearly 70% of the French army had fought at Verdun, and French and German losses came to 1.25 million - 420,000 dead, and 800,000 gassed or wounded. By late August, Falkenhayn was replaced by Paul von Hindenburg, who closed down the Verdun offensive. Without sufficient men, the Germans were put on the defensive, and the French began pushing back, eventually causing greater German casualties than French. Meanwhile, the assault on the Somme occurred, draining German ability to reinforce at Verdun. Despite initial successes (and the use of phosgene gas), the Germans were pushed back by Nivelle's forces. In June, Falkenhayn started a new assault, but was hampered by being forced to send his Verdun reinforcements to the eastern front against the Russians. Under Nivelle, the battle went back and worth, resulting in major French losses, and breakdown of morale. Nivelle resumed the "attack to the utmost" strategy, and his first attempt to retake Fort Douaumont was a complete failure, and resulted in the loss of neighboring Fort Vaux. Joffre, unhappy with Pétain, promoted him in order to remove him from the day-to-day activity of managing the battle, and put Robert Nivelle in his place. Through March and April, the French and German forces, now equal in strength, fought for two strategic hills, which the Germans captured in May. Pétain organized a system of defenses at Verdun, well-supported by artillery and supply networks. Pétain believed in the superiority of artillery in taking down the enemy defenses, and had inspired loyalty among the soldiers, who trusted that his orders would not simply throw away their lives. The French commander at Verdun was replaced by Henri Philippe Pétain, who disagreed with the "attack to the utmost" doctrine, and had been politically sidelined in the past, despite his previous victories. When the battle started, German troops made slow advances and in five days, took the nearly empty Fort Douaumont. By the time Falkenhayn attacked, the French got two lucky breaks that prevented their complete routing: before the attack, they realized what was coming, and started to reinforce Verdun, and then on February 12, a blizzard hit the area, postponing the attack, and allowing the French to gain more time for reinforcement. The French, with their "attack to the utmost" strategy, had stripped the defensive-only forts at Verdun of artillery and men. Massing a huge concentration of armaments and supply networks, the German leader also introduced flamethrowers and air units to support ground units. German forces were led by the cautious General Erich von Falkenhayn, while the French military was headed by the imperturbable but inexperienced Marshal Joseph Joffre.įalkenhayn chose Verdun because it was well-defended, and taking it would be a major morale and casualty loss for the French. Verdun, a town on the Meuse River in northeastern France, was the strongest point in the French defenses, dating back to the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. This article examines the history and significance of the Battle of Verdun in World War I.īy 1916, the front between France and Germany had stagnated - the French had halted the German advance, but could not drive the Germans from their defensive positions.