Key battles in WW1/WW2

Liége

The Battle of Liége was the first major battle of the first world war. Where Belgian troops held the town under a heavy defensive line. The Germans would launch wave after waves of attacks until they had to pull in artillery to shatter the forts into rubble.

The Battle of Liége set out after the illegal crossing of the German troops across the Belgian border after being disapproved by the Belgian authorities. Which would then bring Britain and her empire into the war itself. Belgium having a tough neutrality like Switzerland since its creation in the 1830's after the revolt against the Dutch. Belgium since its neutrality had just been both violated and ignored. They mobilised of what small army they had and slowed the Germans down enough that the French could complete the fortifications and positions to the full.

The Battle set out with the Germans sitting on the low ground wating for orders of attack. The Belgians held massive concrete bunkers and artillery cannons with buildings obscuring the enemies vision. After orders of attack the Germans charged up the hilly terrain and many were pulverised by Machine guns and cannon fire. Then they launched wave after waves of men until they initiated Plan B where they begun large cannons and artillery shells to dislodge the Cheeky Belgians from their bunkers with many shots destroying the bunkers and defensive lines. Eventually many Belgian troops were forced to retreat from the town of Liege. This would also be the first confrontation of WW1 with the fighting only lasting just 10 days before defeat.

What makes the Battle of Liége so significant is that the far smaller Belgian army was able to hold off the strongest army in the world for 10 days. And was also the first confrontation of the first world war. It also allowed France to be alerted to start sending forces to their northern border. And start making their fortifications stronger on the Maginot line. And also allowed the British to send its expeditionary force to Europe to mess up the German plans even more. And in the end it took so long to get through Belgium to France. The Russians had already mobilised enough if their troops to start the attack on the eastern front. Which would put Germany and its allies into a corner. And the Germans also miscalculated the amount of time it would take to mobilise their armies and they missed their predictions by one whole month!

And that's how the Belgian nation got the nickname the speed bump of Europe. Since it would always slow down any army that tried to reach France because going through the Maginot line was almost impossible.