Military geoscientific materials for excursions to theatres of First World War in France and Belgium

Autor(en)

Reinhard Mang, Hermann Häusler

Abstrakt

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. Resistance to water and permeability of the Jurassic formations at Verdun and of the Tertiary formations at Ypres heavily influenced trench warfare during 4 years of hostilities. For draining the clayey rocks, for water supply from deeper groundwater horizons and for excavating fortified positions, information about permeable and impermeable layers was of the essence. By digging tunnels in impermeable layers, enemy positions were blown up at Wytschaete and Passchendaele near Ypres, and after heavy precipitation artillery fire turned the Ypres Clays of the Flanders fields into impassable swamps. This study analyses military operations and subsurface conditions in the Verdun area and in Flanders fields focussing on the long lasting trench warfare, which was heavily influenced by the geologic and hydrogeologic situation. Military geoscientific material is provided for excursions along the Maas Valley at Verdun in France and along the Yser Valley in the Ypres Salient in Belgium.

Organisation(en)

Externe Organisation(en)

Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung

Seiten

51-65

Anzahl der Seiten

15

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32173-4_5

Publikationsdatum

2017

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

105110 Geschichte der Geologie

Schlagwörter

ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete

Economic Geology, Geology, Political Science and International Relations, Ecology, Atmospheric Science

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/0689f508-1cca-453d-8094-b1f8d2c5063c