Post by Germany on Sept 10, 2004 21:41:15 GMT -5
The Kaiser holds the battle plans to the invasion of France in his hands. He looks up out of his window and hopes his troops best of luck. They fight for the great German Empire.
The German commander-in-chief General Erich von Falkenhayn considers England to be Germany’s most important threat and enemy. He believed England would collapse as soon as France, their most important ally, would be defeated. That is why a target had to be found that would be so important to the French, that they would be willing to sacrifice their entire army. This army would 'bleed to death' (or 'Weissbluten') and could then easily be defeated. Geographically this had to be Verdun. Verdun is an important stronghold at the Eastern border. Firstly, because it played an important part in the line of defence, which was built after the French - Prussian war of 1870. Secondly, it was the Northern gate to the Champagne plain and therefore Paris. Another reason was that Verdun had been able to withstand the German attacks of 1914. It was an important garrison and had a fortified citadel.
Therefor the final decision was made to attack Verdun. In total secrecy preparations are made by the Germans. The plans are hardly known to their other army units. The plan was to crush the French front-line completely with a massive artillery bombardment. Over 1,200 German guns are made available for this.
Verdun is a garrison town surrounded by a double ring of fortresses and fortifications situated among nearly impenetrable hills. However, German military commanders and Generals have noticed that the defence of Verdun had been seriously neglected. The French fortresses were stripped from their guns and only a few man remained. The lines of defence surrounding Verdun were neglected as well. Therefor the city of Verdun was perfect for the Germans to attack.
To maintain full control over the events all reserve-troops were put under the direct command of Falkenhayn himself and not under the command of Crown Prince Wilhelm. The German plan of attack aimed to destroy the French frontlines completely with the present field guns and the howitzers. The long-distance-guns should keep all supply-routes under fire to keep France from bringing in reinforcements. The firepower of 1200 German guns was tremendous, an ammunition-supply, sufficient for 6 days was at hand near the guns to a total amount of 2,500,000, brought in by 1,300 ammunition-trains. The German preparations were made in all secrecy: entire villages situated in the occupied zone were evacuated in order to make room for five army corps, consisting of ten divisions with a total of 150,000 heads of attack-troops.
The area of attack with frontal latitude of 13 kilometres would be bombarded by more than 1,200 pieces of guns. Even the remaining army-units did not know much about the plans. All activities were immediately camouflaged and masked by aeroplanes that formed a solid defence line. The few French reconnaissance aeroplanes are assumed to thus fail to conduct observations.
The attack started on the right bank of the Meuse with very heavy bombing.
The Artillery bombardment is being recorded. For later review and a possibility of profecting it even more by reviewing their mistakes.
www.war1418.com/battleverdun/battleverdun22/verdun10.mpg
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By order of the Kaiser, forces start to mass on the Franco-German border. They also start to dig their trenches and set up their defenses on the border of Germany and Belguim; Just incase of a counter-attack onto the Father land.
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*edit because I dont want to double post* This thread has been up here for over two weeks now. I'm about to just RP it myself. *edit*
The German commander-in-chief General Erich von Falkenhayn considers England to be Germany’s most important threat and enemy. He believed England would collapse as soon as France, their most important ally, would be defeated. That is why a target had to be found that would be so important to the French, that they would be willing to sacrifice their entire army. This army would 'bleed to death' (or 'Weissbluten') and could then easily be defeated. Geographically this had to be Verdun. Verdun is an important stronghold at the Eastern border. Firstly, because it played an important part in the line of defence, which was built after the French - Prussian war of 1870. Secondly, it was the Northern gate to the Champagne plain and therefore Paris. Another reason was that Verdun had been able to withstand the German attacks of 1914. It was an important garrison and had a fortified citadel.
Therefor the final decision was made to attack Verdun. In total secrecy preparations are made by the Germans. The plans are hardly known to their other army units. The plan was to crush the French front-line completely with a massive artillery bombardment. Over 1,200 German guns are made available for this.
Verdun is a garrison town surrounded by a double ring of fortresses and fortifications situated among nearly impenetrable hills. However, German military commanders and Generals have noticed that the defence of Verdun had been seriously neglected. The French fortresses were stripped from their guns and only a few man remained. The lines of defence surrounding Verdun were neglected as well. Therefor the city of Verdun was perfect for the Germans to attack.
To maintain full control over the events all reserve-troops were put under the direct command of Falkenhayn himself and not under the command of Crown Prince Wilhelm. The German plan of attack aimed to destroy the French frontlines completely with the present field guns and the howitzers. The long-distance-guns should keep all supply-routes under fire to keep France from bringing in reinforcements. The firepower of 1200 German guns was tremendous, an ammunition-supply, sufficient for 6 days was at hand near the guns to a total amount of 2,500,000, brought in by 1,300 ammunition-trains. The German preparations were made in all secrecy: entire villages situated in the occupied zone were evacuated in order to make room for five army corps, consisting of ten divisions with a total of 150,000 heads of attack-troops.
The area of attack with frontal latitude of 13 kilometres would be bombarded by more than 1,200 pieces of guns. Even the remaining army-units did not know much about the plans. All activities were immediately camouflaged and masked by aeroplanes that formed a solid defence line. The few French reconnaissance aeroplanes are assumed to thus fail to conduct observations.
The attack started on the right bank of the Meuse with very heavy bombing.
The Artillery bombardment is being recorded. For later review and a possibility of profecting it even more by reviewing their mistakes.
www.war1418.com/battleverdun/battleverdun22/verdun10.mpg
-----
By order of the Kaiser, forces start to mass on the Franco-German border. They also start to dig their trenches and set up their defenses on the border of Germany and Belguim; Just incase of a counter-attack onto the Father land.
------------------
*edit because I dont want to double post* This thread has been up here for over two weeks now. I'm about to just RP it myself. *edit*