Military History of the First World War DOWNLOAD FREE

Verdun Falkenhayn had a stockpile of 2 million shells. He deployed 1,000 guns in the vicinity of Verdun along a front of just 8 miles. Commencing February 24th using this prodigious firepower he was able to shatter the French front lines on the right bank of the River Meuse and the Germans advanced 5 miles in four days. They captured Douaumont, where they came under fire from French artillery on their left bank. They lacked sufficient firepower to reply. Thus the French, under the command of Philippe Pétain, brought the German advance to a halt. Falkenhayn attempted to dislodge the French from the right bank of the Meuse, but the French in that sector, under the command of Robert Nivelle, replied with suicidal counter-attacks, which Falkenhayn's troops had to fend off in their turn. The French took about 1/3rd of a million casualties and the Germans almost as much. In addition, French morale was severely affected.

Contents of Military History of the First World War 1 The Central Powers and the Entente 2 The run-up to the war: The July Crisis, 1914 3 Military Planning in Advance of the War 4 Serbia and the Eastern Front, 1914 5 The Battle for the Marne 6 The Race to the Sea and the First Battle of Ypres 7 First Battle of Ypres 8 The Pacific 9 Africa 10 The Eastern Front during 1915 11 Italy enters the war 12 The Balkans 13 The Western Front 14 Gallipoli 15 The Western Front, 1916 16 Verdun 17 The Battle of the Somme 18 The Trentino Offensive 19 The Brusilov Offensive 20 Romania 21 The Russian Front in 1917 22 Mesopotamia 23 The Nivelle Offensive 24 The Third Battle of Ypres (The Battle of Passendaele) 25 Cambrai 26 Caporetto 27 German offensive in Russia, 1918 28 Ludendorff's offensive in the West 29 Allied counter-offensive

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