Ardennes Forest (Belgium). Ardennes: role in the First and Second World Wars

The Arden Forest is a large massif on the mountain range of the same name, located in the territories of modern France, Belgium and Luxembourg. There are two versions of the origin of the name: there is a view that the toponym of the Ardennes (Ardennes) goes back to the Celtic word "black", according to another version, the name of the forest comes from the adjective "high" of the same language.

general characteristics

The Ardene forest is rich in natural resources. Here there are deposits of coal and iron ore. The vegetation world is mainly represented by birches, firs and other coniferous trees. He gave the name to one of the northeastern French departments, and nowadays it hosts a large natural park for tourism. Arden Forest occupies a very favorable strategic location, so it often became the arena of major European events.

In history and culture

The first mention of the Ardennes forest dates back to the 1st century BC. Julius Caesar in his famous "Notes on the Gallic War" does not bypass this name. In addition, the array is mentioned in a number of famous literary works. For example, it was here that the noble knight Roland, the hero of medieval poems and legends, roamed. The action of the famous Shakespearean comedy "How you like it" unfolds in this forest. In the Middle Ages, the narrators in their works made this array a fabulous place, placing in its wilderness magical springs, objects and populating it with extraordinary creatures.

War

Arden Forest became the arena of one of the operations during the First World War. Here in August, in the first year of the outbreak of hostilities, there was a fierce battle between German and French troops. The main clashes turned in two places: in the Longvey area and near the Semois river. In the first sector, the French forces were defeated and began to retreat to the south. After that, there was a short respite between the battles. On the river, the French army, in spite of its superiority, was also defeated.

Operation 1944-1945 years

Then Arena forest became arena of confrontation between allies and Germans. The war was drawing to a close, but there was still a decisive battle, for which both sides had gathered all their strength. In the summer of 1944, the Allies landed their troops in Normandy, thus opening the Second Front on the European continent. This significantly complicated the position of the Germans in the west, as they were forced to divide their forces into two parts and weaken positions in the eastern sector. Anglo-American troops were preparing for a major offensive, but the Germans expected to break through their fortifications.

Their plans became known to the command, and it went to the next step: the strongest and most capable units were deployed in the north and south, and in the center were placed a weak defense in the calculation to surround and take the enemy into a trap. Nevertheless, the Germans took quite a serious offensive, their blow was felt and delayed the advance of the Allies.

Offensive

The place of the main attack of the German army in mid-December in the western sector was the Arden Forest. The Second World War was coming to its end, but this operation showed that the positions of the Germans are still strong enough. After all, they broke through the defense and advanced quite far into the interior. Before them was set a tactical task: to seize bridges across the river Maas, as they opened the way to the territory of Belgium. The Germans decided to take this step, despite the fact that they lacked fuel, but they expected to replenish it on the French and Belgian lands. Within ten days, the German forces attacked the position of the Allies. They even managed to capture the city of Saint-Wit. However, they did not manage to take Bastogne. In order to speed up the retaliatory strike, Churchill asked Stalin to accelerate the movement of Soviet troops in the western sector.

Counteroffensive

The arena of the Allied retaliatory strike was the same long-suffering Arden forest. Belgium, or rather, its capital, was the goal of the fascists' movement, where they expected to replenish their supplies and fuel. However, at the end of December and early January of the following year, the Allies launched a decisive counteroffensive. They succeeded in their plan for encircling the Germans and taking them into the ring. From the north and south, they inflicted very sensitive blows on the enemy and took them in encirclement. However, the enemy continued to resist and defend. The final turning point came after the Soviet troops switched to a large-scale offensive from the Baltic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains. This forced the German command to transfer the main, most capable forces to the east, thereby weakening the position in the west. Then the Allies dealt a final defeat to the enemy, and, despite Hitler's order to continue the offensive, the remnants of the German troops began to retreat.

Value

The Arden Forest, the photo of which is presented in this article, became the site of one of the serious defeats of the Germans at the final stage of the war. They lost almost all of their aircraft involved in this operation, although before that they had managed to inflict a number of significant strikes on the airfields of the Allies on the French and Belgian territories. The Nazis did not even fulfill their basic technical task: they did not seize bridges across the Maas River. They also did not have access to fuel, which was the second most important goal of the German command.