The Kaiser Respects Belgian Neutrality

Deleted member 9338

Siege Artillery

If the Germans were able to bring their siege artillery to bear on the Belgium forts, why couldn't they do the same against the French.

I understand it was a change of plan, but possible.

Jon
 
Well, they could. Problem is that there were too small a number of these guns, IIRC around 10 or something, they even needed to take Austrian Skoda pieces on a loan. The other and much bigger problem is the objective Germans set themselves to achieve - destruction of French Army through battle of annihilation.

Their ideal was to encircle and then destroy French army by advancing left wing and keeping center and right wing on defense, allowing French gradual advance in order to draw them deeper into the breach. Using left wing as a hammer and the other two as an anvil they would smash French Army and thus remove the entire West front.

Attacking head on was, of course, entirely possible and no doubt Germans will achieve some sort of breakthrough at least in the first phase. But if the breakthrough endangers French position they can simply retreat. And then there is also that German Army large enough to defeat French Army in 1914 was simply too large to fit in the area between Swiss and Belgium.
 
If the Germans were able to bring their siege artillery to bear on the Belgium forts, why couldn't they do the same against the French.

I understand it was a change of plan, but possible.

Jon
Motlke and his predecessors toyed with plans attacking the French fortresses in Toul and Nancy. That was one of the reasons Ludendorff and Max Bauer were experimenting with very heavy siege guns like the gamma device. Ludendorff wanted much more of them, but the war ministry was against it. In as compromise fewer gamma devices were produced as Ludendorff had found necessary (4 compared to 8 before the war). Therefore some M-devices were produced, which were more mobile than the complicated and heavy gamma device which had to be transported by train only. In the end the gamma device worked quiet well against the Belgian forts, but as Shaby pointed out the German army had also to rely on Austrian Skoda artillery, because it had not enough siege artillery pieces. One german artillery officer gav a lecture on these artillery pieces after the war and described their efficiency against the Belgian fortresses. but he also noted that the Belgians had used a bad concrete. He said, it was unclear if the gamma device would have had the same efficiency against the French fortresses which used better material. There were too few bombardements by the heavy pieces to get satisfactory results which would allow a judgement.
Well, they could. Problem is that there were too small a number of these guns, IIRC around 10 or something, they even needed to take Austrian Skoda pieces on a loan. The other and much bigger problem is the objective Germans set themselves to achieve - destruction of French Army through battle of annihilation.

Their ideal was to encircle and then destroy French army by advancing left wing and keeping center and right wing on defense, allowing French gradual advance in order to draw them deeper into the breach. Using left wing as a hammer and the other two as an anvil they would smash French Army and thus remove the entire West front.

Attacking head on was, of course, entirely possible and no doubt Germans will achieve some sort of breakthrough at least in the first phase. But if the breakthrough endangers French position they can simply retreat. And then there is also that German Army large enough to defeat French Army in 1914 was simply too large to fit in the area between Swiss and Belgium.
Of course, if the German army would not attack over the Bekgian frontier the alternative plan was to stay on the defensive in the west and await a French attack to counter-attack. Up until 1912 there existed such plans and were updated. They would still rely on flanking attacks, but on a smaller scale and they were depending on prior French moves.

Kind regards,
G.
 
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