Slide 1 ACADEMIES & WAR PLANS France s Ecole de Geurre War College Source of Plan XVII War Academies and War Plans Despite Helmuth von Moltke the Elder s sage counsel that no plan of military operations could extend accurately beyond the first serious contact with an enemy, both German and French army planners ignored that advice and meticulously planned large scale and lengthy operations in the belief that the first nation to get its troops into the chosen field / location would win any pending conflict. Thus it was in the years preceding the Great War that the French and German war academies had prepared completely opposite plans. In each case however they relied as much on speed of initial movement as on the strength of their respective armies, because each side feared being second to implement its plan.
Slide 2 WAR PLANS No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the enemy s main force Quote from Helmuth von Moltke the Elder No human has the acumen to be able to see the consequences beyond the first serious battle with an enemy. The tactical outcome of each engagement forms the base for revised strategic decisions.
Slide 3 THE FRENCH FORTS SYSTEM
Slide 4 THE FRENCH FORTS SYSTEM
Slide 5 THE FRENCH FORTS SYSTEM
Slide 6 THE FRENCH FORTS SYSTEM These enormous Skoda built howitzers were a genuine secret weapon The French & Belgians had no idea such guns existed until they opened fire on the fortresses of Liege on 12 th August 1914.
Slide 7 French Plan XVII saw three French armies in Northern France launch attacks across the German border in that region while simultaneously a further four armies attacked in the south into the Alsace Lorraine region, which had been lost to them as a consequence of the 1870 Franco Prussian War. In both cases the French initially gained ground, but were subsequently pulverised by coordinated German artillery barrages, which on both fronts caused the French to retreat back into their own territory while suffering enormous casualties.
Slide 8
Slide 9 SCHLIEFFEN IN A NUTSHELL Goal Crush the French Armies within six weeks (M+42 days), reach a peace deal with the French Government and then transfer German troops to the Eastern Front to defeat the Russians. KPIs M+22 days > German troops to be crossing the Franco Belgian border M+29 days > 1 st Army to be on the Somme, ready to sweep around Paris and take on the French army from the rear. At Mobilization Day (M) +6 days the German 2 nd Army had been held up by the Belgians at Leige at a cost of six days, very soon after they had begun their venture.
Slide 10 GERMAN INVASION OF BELGIUM Implementation of the von Schlieffen Plan The German 1 st Army was expected to march in excess of 960 kilometres across open country while fighting???? Logistics Transport by horses and carts / food / ammunition / first aid etc etc Under the Schlieffen Plan soldiers in the German 1 st Army were expected to march some 960 kilometres in 40 days across fields. This rate of progress was expected despite facing significant but unexpected resistance, firstly by the Belgian army, and subsequently by the French and British armies.
Slide 11 THE SCHLIEFFEN PLAN
Slide 12 France s Ecole de Geurre War College Source of Plan XVII
Slide 13 Plan XVII Northern Frontier > Ardennes Through Luxemburg to take Thionville Southern Frontier > Alsace Lorraine
Slide 14 Overlay of the Schlieffen & Plan XVII
Slide 15 BATTLES OF THE FRONTIERS NORTH Northern Battles
Slide 16 WAR PLANS No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first contact with the enemy s main force Quote from Helmuth von Moltke the Elder No human has the acumen to be able to see the consequences beyond the first serious battle with an enemy. The tactical outcome of each engagement forms the base for revised strategic decisions.