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Decisive Battles
Battle of :
Mons | Tannenberg | Marne
(1st) | Ypres | Gallipoli
| Artois | Verdun | Jutland
| Somme | Arras | Messines
| Passchendaele | Marne
(2nd) | Final Years of the War
On August 14, 1914, the British expeditionary force was on its way to meet the French army in Charleroi. On the way, they met the advancing German army at Mons. The British deployed their infantrymen, but not their cavalrymen. To stop the Germans, orders were given to the British to destroy the bridges over the Mons-Conde Canal. The Germans began firing at the British during the operation, and five British soldiers won the Victoria Cross. On August 23, the German army attacked the British positions in France. The British killed a large number of Germans, but were still outnumbered. They were forced to retreat.
General Alexander Samsonov led the Russian Secondary Force in its invasion of Prussia. General Paul von Hindenburg and General Erich Ludendorff led German troops to meet Samsonov. A battle took place between the two armies for six days. By the end of the battle, only 10,000 of the 150,000 Russian troops escaped. The rest were killed or captured. The Russians even outnumbered the Germans at the beginning of the battle, and Samsonov committed suicide because of this terrible loss. The Germans only lost 20,000 troops, and took over 92,000 Russian soldiers.
By the end of August 1914, the German armies were heading towards Paris. The British and French armies were in retreat, and many of Paris' citizens evacuated. The French Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Joffre, organized an attack on the Germans. John French and the BEF joined the attack. The Allied forces made defensive lines near Paris. On September 6 many French armies, including the French 6th army, wheeled around to attack the Germans. The French 5th army and the BEF advanced into the hole created by the attacking armies. They battled for three days. The French 6th army came close to defeat, but 6,000 reserve troops were rushed into the fray. The German Commander-in-Chief, General Helmuth von Moltke, ordered the armies to retreat. The Allies forces advanced slowly allowing the Germans to reunite at River Aisne. The French and German lost around 250,000 men each, and the British lost around 12,733 men. The Allied victory prevented Germany from winning the war in one swift attack. However, hope of a short war was lost when the German armies escaped.
At the beginning of the war the German army took Ypres. By early October 1914, the BEF recaptured it. The Germans attempted to retake it on October 5, but the BEF held their position. However, they lost many men. German armies continued for the next four weeks, but when the French sent forces to assist the BEF, the Germans gave up. The BEF lost around 75,000 men, and the German armies lost around 135,000 men during these offensives.
The Gallipoli campaign was a series of fierce attempts to capture to Gallipoli peninsula. After roughly ten months, the Allies had lost around 81,000 men, and three of their battleships were sunk. Turkey lost around 65,000 men.
The French Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Joffre, decided to try and break through the German lines at Artois, trying to take Vimy Bridge, but they failed. On September 25, 1915 the Allies launched another offensive at Artois. This time they managed to reach the bridge. The British First Army attacked at Loos during this time. However, strong German attacked forced the Allies back. The British suffered 50,000 casualties, the French 48,000, and the Germans 24,000 during these campaigns.
In December 1915 Chief of Staff of the German army, Erich von Falkenhayn, decided to attack Verdun, a French garrison town. A million German troops attacked 200,000 French soldiers at Verdun on February 21, 1916. By February 24, the French had already retreated to their third line. Henri-Philippie Petain was appointed commander of the Verdun sector, and he gave orders to stop withdrawing. Every spare French soldier was sent to defend Verdun. The Germans were stopped near the end of February, and on March 6, they attacked Verdun again. They were stopped near Mort Homme Hill. Until May 28, the French held Homme Hill; then the Germans secured it. The Germans continued to attack Verdun throughout early autumn. The German attacks were becoming weaker due to the need to transfer troops to defend their front-line. The French used this opportunity to counterattack, and retake the Douaumont and Vaux forts. Verdun was the longest battle of World War I, and ended on December 18. The French army had 550,000 casualties, and the Germans had 434,000 casualties. About half of all casualties were deaths.
In May 1916, both the British and German fleets sent out scout ships to find their enemy's fleet. They found each other, then went back to lead the rest of the fleet to their position. Admiral Sir David Beatty was on his way to join the rest of the British fleet commanded by Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, when he encountered a German fleet. They then began to open fire. Many ships were sunk during this battle. Then Beatty encountered the German High Seas Fleet, further complicating his situation. Jellicoe and the rest of the Grand Fleet were on its way to assist Beatty. When he arrived, Admiral Reinhardt von Scheer and the German fleet retreated to the north. Jellicoe feared that Scheer was leading them into a trap and turned south to intercept Scheer on his journey home. Later, they engaged in battle, and again, Scheer retreated. Still unwilling to follow the German fleet, Jellicoe took a different path, and later intercepted them again. Many British ships were damaged before the British decided not to follow the retreating Germans again. The British lost 3 battle cruisers, 3 cruisers, 8 destroyers, and 6,100 total men. The Germans lost 1 battleship, 1 battle cruiser, 4 light cruisers, 3 destroyers, and 2,550 men.
In February 1916 the British and French armies planned an attack on the German forces near Bapaume. However, their preliminary bombardment failed, leaving the Germans with good defenses. When the BEF attacked they had 58,000 casualties, making it the worst day in BEF history. The Allies continued to attack until the winter season with no serious gains. During this long offensive the British had 420,000 casualties, the French 200,000, and the German 500,000.
In December 1916 Robert Nivelle became commander-in-chief of the Allied forces, and immediately began to plan an offensive to capture Vimy Bridge. On April 8, 1917 30,000 members of the Canadian Corps began to move towards the German front line. Using a creeping barrage, the first division managed to capture the Zwolfer Graben trench, and the intermediate southeast line of Thelus. The third division took the Schwaben Tunnel, and the British third army attacked at Arras and Scarpe, advancing three km. The Canadians continued to make progress and captured Vimy Bridge by April 12. That night the Germans withdrew from the area, unable to launch a successful counterattack. After a short delay the Allies continued to move forward, gaining two km. By the time the offensive ended the British had lost roughly 160,000 men, and the Canadian Corps had lost around 11,297 men.
At the end of 1916, General Sir Herbert Plumer began planning an offensive to take control of the Messines Bridge. In January 1917 he gave orders for mines to be placed under the German front lines at Messines. On May 21 the 600 tons of explosives were detonated simultaneously, killing 10,000 Germans. The blast was so loud that it was heard in London. Plumer then sent his forces forward and took everything they planned to take, including Messines Bridge. The British lost 17,000 men and the Germans lost 25,000 men. This is the first battle on the Western Front since 1914 where the offensive casualties were less than the defensive casualties.
In June 1917 many British armies launched an offensive at Passchendaele. A 10 day preliminary bombardment took place. The British continued to attack, and on October 4 they took control of the ridge east of Ypres. They then tried to take the Passchendaele Ridge. The Germans attacked them with mustard gas and they were unsuccessful. Finally, on November 6 the British took the village of Passchendaele. However, this offensive cost the British Expeditionary Force around 310,000 men.
During the summer of 1918 the Germans began to advance towards the Marne again. The French armies were in weak condition so four British and two US divisions came to the French's aid. On July 15 the Germans attacked. They failed, and the French, British, US and Italian armies planned a counterattack. By August 3 the Germans were where they started in March. The French suffered 95,000 casualties, the US 12,000, the British 13,000, and the Germans 168,000. This was the last real attempt of the Central Powers to win the war.
After the second battle of the Marne the Allies, now including the US Army, continued to win several victories against the Central Powers. Some of these victories were at Amiens, Albert, St Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne, Canal du Nord, and Vittorio Veneto. It was obvious that the Allies would win the war.
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