Marne Turning Point

The First Battle of the Marne was the first major battle of World War I. Fought in September of 1914, the battle marked the end of the German advance toward Paris and the beginning of trench warfare. The battle exhibited a number of firsts in the history of warfare, motorized movement of troops and interception of radio communications. It indicated that the war would not be a quick victory for Germany (Klein, 2014). Joseph Joffre, the French Commander in Chief, exhibited ingenuity and leadership to yield a significant victory while the Helmuth von Moltke the younger, the German chief of staff, demonstrated a failure of mission command resulting in defeat.

Then, I will describe the prelude to the campaign, summarize the battle and discuss varying views of perception on victory. Afterwards, I will assess the significance of the action and derive the lessons

Sadly, their weapons did not have the ability to cut all the wire and destroy deep German trenches or knock out all enemy guns. It also could not provide a useful bombardment for the infantry attack. On July 1, the artillery drifted away from the German front trenches and left the infantry unattended. Nobody was

The Battle of Yorktown was the decisive battle of the American Revolutionary War. The French and American forces laid siege upon the British forces at Yorktown, Virginia and eventually forced the surrender of nearly one-third of the total number of British troops in America. This battle showed that massive loss of life is not the only factor that will determine the victor, as there were a relatively low number of casualties taken by both sides. Instead, it was an aggregate of economic, social, geographical, and weather factors along with a bit of luck when it came to the timing of the major military movements and tactics all led to the success of the Franco-American forces. Had it not been for these combined factors the Battle of Yorktown and the American Revolutionary Was may have had a very different outcome.

“The battle [is also] known by different names. The Germans [called it] ‘Operation Watch on the Rhine’, while the French [called] it ‘Battle of the Ardennes’. [American and Britain] called it the Ardennes Counteroffensive.” The main goal for the Germans for this offensive was to split the British and American forces in half and capture the port city of Antwerp. This would “cause an encirclement of four allied armies and [force] a peace negotiation” (Cirillo). The Germans almost had complete surprise when the offensive was launched on “December 16th, 1944, at 05:30” and the offensive start with “an artillery barrage of over 1,600 artillery pieces.” The assault took place across an “80 mile front [that] the 6th Panzer Army had to cover” (Quarrie 1). “The attack was led by one of the best equipped German divisions on the western front, the 1st SS Panzer Division.” This was the lead unit for the 6th Panzer Army and was the lead division for the assault. The 26th Infantry was covering the part of the front where the push started. They were caught completely by surprise. “Equipped with only 32 M4 tanks, 57 anti-tank guns and thousands of battle-weary men” (MacDonald 1). The initial assault went well for the Germans and they break through the thinly defended American lines. Just “20 hours in [from the start of the assault] German forces are just 55 miles out from their objective”. By this time the casualty rate is below from what the

The Battle of Fromelles was a British Military operation to stop the strong Germany 6th division from travelling south to where the British had a strong 4th division . The plan was a feint to send the British 61st division and the Australian 5th division to try weaken the German army.

Some historians see the battle as a second war for American independence. An important role in the development of the turning point of the American Independence War in 1812, but the war itself was mainly a political and military disaster for the country (The Second War for American Independence, n.d).

In 1916, the battle of the Somme began, intending to end the war for the allies. It pitted an unexperienced British army, against a professional German one. It was also, however significant in many ways. Two of the main areas where the battle of the Somme was significant were in its military value, and the reactions it caused, on the home front.

“The first thing I want you to do individually is look at the source (Document A). This is a diary entry by a British soldier written on April 19 which is the same day that the battle took place.

Even though the German forces were unaware of the raid and had very little time to prepare for it, the Allies were still unsuccessful. Canadian forces were late to their positions at Blue Beach, and the 14th Canadian Army Tank Regiment was late to the Red and White Beaches. At the Green Beach, the Canadians needed to cross a bridge, which was heavily defended. Since the Canadians needed to defend a densely defended bridge, they were unsuccessful and were pushed back. The tanks had limited mobility due to the environment.

The Second Battle of Ypres was the first time a former colonial force defeated a European power on European soil. It was the most gruesome battle fought in World War I because of the chemical warfare and Germany’s use of advanced technology. After a torturous month of fighting the German army, however, the Canadian soldiers emerged victorious.

This battle had a big effect because it was the first battle

The Battle of the Bulge between Nazi Germany and the Allies, which took place on December 16, 1944, was very important in WWII.A quarter of a million German troops launched a surprise offensive through the heavily wooded and most lightly defended sector of the Allied line. This battle became the greatest land battle ever fought by American troops in the 20th century. The German objective was to break through this weakly held allied line to capture the vital supply port of Antwerp. Nazi Germans plannedtheoperation well. Allied intelligence had noinformation about theGerman offensive and due to this, German troopsbrokethrough and advanced.

The site of the battle was the mountain region called the Ardennes mountain region in Belgium, this would be the weakest part of the American front line, and exactly why Germany planned their attack accordingly. Germany decided that if they wanted a higher chance of success they would have to use only their most elite units and thousands of their advanced armor units to puncture the American line. They would be sending 200,000 infantry units supported by nearly 1,000 tanks toward the inexperienced 106th American division who were not prepared for the oncoming onslaught. The Germans would attack from two different angles and join back together entrapping American soldiers between them, after forming the wedge they would drive back into Europe splitting the army in two. In the beginning of the battle the Germans would be outnumbering the defending Americans a staggering 10 to 1 soldier ratio. (The Battle of the Bulge)

Both sides rushed north in a ‘race to the sea'. If one army got there first it could take control of crucial channel ports and also move to encircle the armies of its rival. Incidentally, neither army moved south as both French and German borders were intact and heavily fortified all the way to the Swiss border. As both sides moved north at an even pace and neither wanted to lose any ground, a line of deeply dug trenches appeared all the way the way through Belgium and Northern France. These trenches were extremely well designed defensive positions and were almost impenetrable by conventional means. The beginning of the war was now over, deadlock had been established and the long bloody middle was about to begin. It would be this trench warfare that would be the key factor behind the failure for either side to advance over the coming years.