Military Geoscientific Materials for Excursions to Theatres of First World War in France and Belgium

Abstract

Following the “Schlieffen Plan”, the Germans attacked the neutral Netherlands and Belgium at the beginning of First World War . In autumn 1914, the German right wing turned around Verdun – as a kind of pivot – towards the river Marne, where the offensive was stopped. When the Germans tried to protect their open western flank, the Allies tried to surpass them. This “Race to the Sea” across Flanders ended at Nieuwpoort. As a consequence, the whole front between Nieuwpoort and Belfort stabilized and became a network of trenches. Four weeks of operations across Central Europe were followed up by 4 years of underground operations, the so-called trench war, and millions of British, French, Canadian and German soldiers now had to fight in trenches and in the underground.