WW II essays

WW II essays -Schlieffen's Plan involved using 90% of Germany's armed forces to attack France. -Fearing the French forts on the border with Germany, Schlieffen suggested a scythee-like attack through Holand, Belgium, and Luxembourg. The rest of the German Army woudl be sent to defensive positions in the east to stop the expected Russian advance. -On 2nd August 1914, the Schlieffen Plan was put into operation. -August 4th 1914, Britain entered the war. The Schlieffen Plan had nto taken that into consideration. -British resistance at Mons and the slow retreat after the battle agve the French more time to prepare for the Germans attack. -Kluck, the German commander in France, saw that he could not keep to the Schlieffen Plan because of the resistance from the British. -Kluck changed the plan of attack; instead of going around Paris the Germans turned south. This left the Channel ports along the coast free from attackand enabled British reinforcements to get to France. -By December 1914 trenches ran from Switzerland to the Channel coast. Trench life was rough for all troops. Men spent countless hours in muddy rat-infested pits surrounded by dead bodies. -Defending the trenches was an easy task. Massed roles of barbed wire laid in front of the trenches made an enemy advance very difficult and slow. -Thousands of shells were fired into enemy lines in hopes to disable the trenches defence allowing for a sucessful attack. However the bombings acted as a warning for the opposition, giving them time to set up and prepare for the troops advancing from the trenches. -Major Battles: 1915:Ypres, Loos, Vimy Ridge, Cambrai, Messines. 1918: Marne, St. Quentin. -Germans losses: 281,000 men. French losses: 315,000 men. These losses from the attacks above. -The Somme was Briatin's most costly battle. Date: July 1st 1916; 60,000 men were killed out of a 100,000 men army.The battle ended in the middle of November 1916, and Britain had suffe ...