What is the "Vanden Meat War"?

During World War I, the warring sides fought and lost many battles for Verdun, with more than 600,000 casualties.

Battle of Verdun. 19 16, in order to defeat France, the German Empire decided to turn its attack focus to the western front again. The German high command chose the French fortress of Verdun as the target of attack. Verdun is a prominent part of the Allied defense line, which poses a great threat to the penetration of German troops into France and Belgium. It is also a strong stronghold to Paris and the hub of the French front. 1965438+2 1 February 2, 20081day, the Germans concentrated all the guns on the front line and bombarded the narrow triangle near Verdun for more than 10 hours, which razed the forests, hills and trenches in this small area, and then advanced it with six divisions. Fei Xia, commander-in-chief of the French army, sent more reinforcements, appointed H.P. Petain as commander of Verdun region, and organized the French army to fight to the death. The two sides dispatched planes for air combat and bombed each other's airports and supply lines. For the first time, the Germans used phosgene asphyxiation bombs, killing a large number of French troops, causing panic, but failed to win. From the end of June to the middle of June, the French and British allied forces launched a powerful offensive against the German positions along the Somme River. The British army used 36 newly invented tanks for the first time, and the Germans stubbornly resisted and held the defense line. 10 ~ 12, the French army mobilized troops in Verdun and began to counterattack, regaining most of the lost territory. The German strategic attack finally failed. After the battle, Kaiser Wilhelm II dismissed Fajinhan as chief of staff, and Hindenburg took over, with ludendorff as his deputy. This campaign is a typical positional war and attrition war, with casualties of nearly 1 10,000 people on both sides. Due to heavy casualties, the battlefield in Verdun is called "meat grinder", "slaughterhouse" and "hell". This decisive battle was the turning point of World War I, and the German Empire gradually moved towards the final defeat.

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During the First World War, the German and French armies fought in the areas where Verdun had bases from February 19 16 to February 12.

Battle Attempt and Force Deployment1965438+At the beginning of 2006, the German high command planned to defend on the eastern front, concentrating its forces on the Verdun projection of the French army on the western front, so as to contain and consume the main force of the French army and force France to surrender. The army that received the attack task was the 5th Army under the command of Crown Prince William of Germany (under the jurisdiction of 7 armies *** 18 divisions, 1200 guns, about 170 aircraft; Later, it was increased to 50 divisions, accounting for about 1/2) of the total German troops on the Western Front. Its deployment is as follows: the 7th, 18 and 3rd armies (six and a half divisions, 879 guns and 202 mortars) carried out a major assault on the line from Kongsangwa to Orn River, which is15km wide, and the 5th army covered its left flank; 15 Army carried out auxiliary assault 6 kilometers south of the Orn River, and the 6th Army took containment action on the west bank of the Meuse River. In the main attack direction, German infantry is twice that of French infantry, and artillery is 3.5 times that of France. In order to realize the suddenness of the battle, the Germans carried out a series of feints on the western front in June 5438+the same year 10. Verdun, about 50 kilometers from the Franco-German border, is the northeast gateway of the French capital, Paris, and it is also a battleground for both sides. Verdun of the French army set up a base on the banks of the Meuse River, with the front width 1 12km and the depth 15 ~ 18km. There are four defensive positions, the first three are field defensive positions, and the fourth is a solid position consisting of the permanent fortifications of the fortress and two fortified areas. It is condescending, easy to defend but difficult to attack. France's 3rd Army (with 1 1 division and more than 630 guns, under the command of General F. El; Later, it increased to 69 divisions, accounting for about two-thirds of the total strength of the French army. Five divisions defended northern Verdun, three divisions defended eastern and southeastern Verdun, and the other three divisions were deployed as reserves on the west bank of the Meuse River in southern Verdun.

After the battle, at 7 o'clock on February 2 1 day, the Germans began to prepare for artillery fire. In order to conceal the main attack direction, the German artillery shelled a 40-kilometer-wide front at the same time, and the aviation bombed the French positions for the first time, destroying some defensive positions and killing a large number of effective forces. 16: 45, German infantry attacked and occupied the first defensive position of the day. In the next four days, they successively captured the second and third defensive positions, pushed forward for 5 kilometers, and occupied the important support point of Dumont Fort. On February 25th, the French High Command appointed H.P. Petain, commander of the 2nd Army, as the front commander of Verdun (succeeded by R.-G. Neville from May of 1 year), mobilized all available forces and made up his mind to fight the Germans in Verdun. On the 26th, Petain ordered the recapture of Dumont Castle. After four days of fierce fighting, the French army suffered heavy losses and failed. Since February 27th, the French army has used the only Leduc-Verdun highway (also known as the "Holy Road") that keeps in touch with the rear to continuously dispatch troops and materials to Verdun, organizing 3,900 trucks in one week, transporting 6,543,800 people and 25,000 tons of materials. This is the first large-scale automobile transportation in the history of war. A large number of French reinforcements went into battle in time, which strengthened defense in depth and had a great influence on the campaign process. By the end of the month, the Germans consumed a lot of ammunition, the strategic reserve did not arrive in time, and the attack power dropped sharply, thus losing the opportunity to break through the French defense.

On March 5th, the German army expanded its frontal attack and shifted its main attack direction to the west bank of the Meuse River, in an attempt to seize the heights of 304 and 295, relieve the threat of French artillery fire on the west bank and surround Verdun from the west. At the same time, we continued to strengthen the offensive on the east coast, from rapid attack to steady attack, but the French army stubbornly resisted and captured only a few small strongholds after paying heavy casualties. From April to May, the Germans concentrated their weapons, including flamethrowers, suffocating gases and bombers, and made a key assault on the French army in the West Bank. However, after the infantry reached the first line of the 304 highland and the 295 highland, they were violently counterattacked by the French artillery and stopped attacking at the end of May. On the east coast, the French army frequently rotated combat troops, constantly carried out counterattacks, and repeatedly competed with the Germans, delaying the German attack. At the beginning of June, the Germans launched a large-scale offensive again. After seven days of fierce fighting, they cut off the connection between Fort Wobbe and other positions of the French army, forcing the defenders of Fort Wobbe to surrender on the 7th. In late June, the Germans used phosgene asphyxiating gas bombs and tear gas bombs to storm Fort Sourville for the first time, and fired 1 10000 gas bombs on a 4-kilometer-wide front, causing heavy casualties to the French army. They once reached less than 3 kilometers from Verdun, but were finally repelled.

After the Russian 19 16 summer offensive campaign and the Battle of the Somme on the western front, the Germans did not invest any new troops in the direction of Verdun, and the subsequent offensive action was only to contain the French army face to face. After several months of bitter struggle, although the Germans wedged into the French defense line at 7 ~ 10 km in the north and east of Verdun, they failed to reach a breakthrough. On August 29th, E.v0n Falcken Hain was dismissed, and Marshal P. von Hindenburg took over as German Chief of Staff. On September 2, the Kaiser approved to stop the attack. 10 year1On October 24th, the French army launched a large-scale counterattack.1Early October1111/kloc-0-0.

This battle is a typical positional war and war of attrition. The two sides participated in the war with many troops and suffered heavy casualties. The French army lost 543,000 people and the German army lost 433,000 people, so the service was called "meat grinder", "slaughterhouse" and "hell". During the campaign, the experience of organizing defense by combining field fortifications with permanent fortifications in France became the basis for countries to build fortifications after the war.