The Forest of Arden 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 point of 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 Forest of Arden is rich in natural resources. There are deposits of coal and iron ore. The flora is mainly represented by birch, spruce and other coniferous trees. He gave the name to one of the northeastern French departments, and today it houses a large natural park for tourism. The Forest of Arden occupies a very advantageous strategic location, so it often became the scene of major European events.
In history and culture
The first mention of the Ardennes forest dates back to the 1st century BCad. 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, wandered. The famous Shakespearean comedy As You Like It takes place in this forest. In the Middle Ages, storytellers in their works made this massif a fabulous place, placing magic springs, objects in its wilderness and populating it with unusual creatures.
War
The Forest of Arden became the scene of one of the operations during the First World War. Here in August, in the very first year of the outbreak of hostilities, a fierce battle took place between German and French troops. The main clashes unfolded in two places: in the Longwy area and near the Semois River. In the first section, 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, despite its superiority, was also defeated.
Operation 1944-1945
Then the arena of confrontation between the Allies and the Germans also became the Forest of Arden. The war was already drawing to a close, but a decisive battle was still ahead, for which both sides gathered all their forces. 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 twounits and weaken positions in the eastern sector. Anglo-American troops were preparing a major offensive, but the Germans intended to break through their fortifications.
The command became aware of their plans, and it took the next step: the strongest and most combat-ready units were deployed in the north and south, and weak defenses were placed in the center in order to surround and trap the enemy. Nevertheless, the Germans launched a fairly serious offensive, their blow was tangible and delayed the advance of the allies.
Offensive
The Arden Forest became the place of the main attack of the German army in mid-December on the western sector. The Second World War was coming to an end, but this operation showed that the positions of the Germans were still quite strong. After all, they broke through the defenses and advanced quite far inland. They were given a tactical task: to capture the bridges across the Meuse River, as they opened the way to Belgian territory. The Germans decided to take this step, despite the fact that they lacked fuel, but they expected to replenish it on French and Belgian lands. For ten days, German forces attacked the Allied positions. They even managed to capture the city of Saint-Vith. However, they failed to take Bastogne. In order to speed up the retaliatory strike, Churchill asked Stalin to speed up the movement of Soviet troops in the western sector.
Counteroffensive
The same long-suffering Arden forest became the arena of the allied retaliatory strike. Belgium, or rather, its capital, was the target of the Nazi movement, where they expected to replenish their supplies and fuel. However, in late December and early January of the following year, the Allies launched a decisive counteroffensive. They succeeded in their plan to encircle the Germans and encircle them. From the north and south, they delivered very sensitive blows to the enemy and encircled them. However, the enemy continued to resist and defend. The final turning point came after the Soviet troops launched a large-scale offensive from the B altic Sea to the Carpathian Mountains. This forced the German command to transfer the main, most combat-ready forces to the east, thereby weakening their positions in the west. Then the allies inflicted a final defeat on the enemy, and, despite Hitler's order to continue the offensive, the remnants of the German troops began to retreat.
Meaning
The Forest of Arden, 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 managed to inflict a number of significant strikes on Allied airfields in French and Belgian territories. The Nazis did not even fulfill their main technical task: they did not capture the bridges over the Meuse River. They also did not get access to fuel, which was the second most important goal of the German command.
