Battle of Lyon

Battle of Lyon was the bloodiest battle in World War I. German Empire, in order to take full control of France, fought against France and Britain in order to deactivate the Petain government in Lyon.

Battle
Battle of Lyon can be separated into 2 sections, before and after 7.6.1917. German forces led by Adolf Hitler advanced fast before 7.6.1917, but since Hitler didn't listen to the order of Helmuth von Moltke, Max von Gallwitz replaced him.

Stage 1
After the invention of tanks, Hitler invented a new strategy, and named it "blitzkrieg". He gathered 400 tanks and 150 planes before attack. 12 May, 1917, Hitler decided to attack. German air force quickly destroyed French air force, then the bombard started. Strategic bombers bombarded Lyon waves after waves. 14 May, Hitler ordered the tanks, supported by artillery and air force, from Paris, pushed forward fast. Orleans, Tours, Nevers and Grenoble fell within 2 weeks. Finally, 30 May, all forces gathered at Lyon. Lyon citizens needed to hide underground everyday since German artillery and bombard never stopped. Hitler attempted to take down Lyon immediately, however, the French and the British fought fiercely in Lyon. Hitler also found that the tanks were not quite useful in seige. He decided to simply surround Lyon and waited for them to surrender.

Stage 2
Helmuth von Moltke didn't want to wait for any time. Since U.S. now had discovered Zimmermann Telegram, they could waste no time. If American forces landed, they could no longer fight against the Allied Powers. They must force France and Britain to surrender, and it was now or never. However, knowing that it must cause a large causalities that can be avoided, Hitler rejected. Enraged by Hitler, Moltke replaced him with Max von Gallwitz.

First push
Gallwitz immediately attacked Lyon. They advanced really fast at first. They captured a French who was sent out to ask for support in Mersaillie, and hoped that he would help demanding the French in Lyon to surrender. It failed, since the French, instead, shouted to the garrisons that support would arrive soon. The French then turned every building into a fort, and eventually pushed the Germans out.

Second push
The Second push was carried out on 20 June. German troops shot ~1,000,000 artillery shells into Lyon, then started pushing. The French dug some holes for simple anti artillery shelters. They climbed out once the German artillery fire stopped, and fought against the Germans. They also made some simple traps against German to reduce their causalities. German was pushed out again, due to lack of preparation against the traps and French counter attack.



Third push
10 July, the Germans then moved their enormous 42cm cannon, Big Bertha, to Lyon, and started another round of bombarding. The administrative office in Lyon was hit and collapsed. De Gaulle knew that he must "think of a method to defeat German main force".It was predictable that German main force will attack after bombarding, so he secretly led a group of French soldiers to the countryside. 13 July, after 3 days of bombarding, the Germans attacked. They pushed fast against the French with decreased morale after bombard.

They captured Lyon CBD in 16 July. However, they were suddenly surrounded by the French. De Gaulle, leading the previous French soldiers and the retreating garrisons, returned. Underestimating the strength of German main force, the French suffered a large loss. 18 July, a little girl from a town nearby brought a brand new France flag to de Gaulle. The French soldiers sang the national anthem when hanging the flag up, higher and cleaner than all German iron-cross flag. Their morale increased a lot, and pushed the Germans out of the CBD. Battle continued until 20 July when almost all Germans were eliminated. Gallwitz still got 80,000 troops and wished for a final strike, but after receiving the command to defend Atlantic coastal line, they retreated.

Result
Both nations had a huge loss and France no longer could do counter attack against Germany. However, France government was not perished, and it made German didn't dare to put their full force against America and British.