Historical story

Battle of the Marne (September 1914)


The First Battle of the Marne, delivered between September 5 and 12, 1914, stopped the German advance in northeastern France and opened the era of “trench warfare”. From the beginning of the First World War, the German army violated Belgian neutrality in application of the Schlieffen plan which consisted of outflanking the left of the French army to encircle it. On September 2, the German cavalry is 25 kilometers from Paris. Generals Joffre and Gallieni draw up a plan to rectify the situation and prevent the German army from reaching the capital. All means of transport will be requisitioned, in particular taxis - known since "taxi de la Marne" -, in order to bring the Allied soldiers to the front...

Context of the First Battle of the Marne

Without denying the importance of other theaters of operations, it was on the French front that, from 1914 to 1918, the fate of the First World War was played out. Following Schlieffen's famous plan in response to the Franco-Russian alliance, Moltke in 1914 based his maneuver on the speed and scale of movement of his forces through Belgium. From Picardy to Champagne, Ludendorff launches, from March to July 1918, five "strikes" on the French front, with the desire to force victory before the massive commitment of American troops. On July 18, the war finally changed direction, and, for the first time, the Allies, under Foch's orders, at Villers-Cotterêts, regained the initiative in operations.

As the Russians threatened the eastern front in August 1914, German troops were ordered to finish off the west as quickly as possible so that he could devote himself to annihilating the Tsar's troops. The situation in France was therefore bad in the summer of 1914:after having invaded Belgium and taken the north of France, the Germans reached the Somme on August 29. Generalissimo Joffre was defeated in Alsace and Lorraine, and continues to be repulsed. Faced with the German advance, the Viviani government withdrew to Bordeaux on September 2, and the Parisian population, traumatized by the siege of 1870, fled the capital by the hundreds of thousands. The commander of Paris and the entrenched camp, General Gallieni, promises that he will fulfill his functions until the end and prepares a counter-offensive. To defend Paris, 100,000 men forming Maunoury's 6th Army were taken from the front in eastern France and took up positions in the western region of Ourcq, north of the capital.

The French recovery on the Marne

On September 3, General von Kluck's 1st Army was 25 kilometers from Paris. The French general staff then learned that the Germans were no longer heading towards Paris, but towards the south-east, towards the Marne, thus hoping to confine the French troops at the end of a vast turning movement, by enveloping the left wing of part of the Allied force. But in doing so, the Germans take the risk of weakening their right flank.

Two days later, General Maunoury's army advanced on the Ourcq, while General Joffre, at Gallieni's insistence, made the decision to attack and staggered six armies from the Oise to the Vosges, after obtaining the support of the English. For a week, 2 million men clash on a front of nearly 300 kilometers, from Meaux to Verdun.

On September 5, the Franco-British troops launched the offensive:in the early afternoon, the soldiers of Maunoury's 6th army faced the troops of General von Kluck north of Meaux, while these headed south. The first days saw a war of movement unfold, on the eastern and western flanks of the front, during which the firepower of each side was put forward. Thus, during the battle, the 75 guns fire 300 shots per day!

Taxis, symbol of the Battle of the Marne

The Germans modify their position to be able to advance westward and thus not be taken from behind. They counter-attack on September 6 and 7 to try to outflank the French troops from the north. The allied army, for its part, requested the reinforcement of the troops based in Paris. To avoid enveloping the Maunoury army around Vitry-le-François, it was indeed essential to reinforce the left wing of the allies. In order to transport two regiments, or 4,000 men, in the direction of the front in one night, a thousand Parisian taxis were requisitioned by Gallieni, as well as the railways. This intervention by the “Taxis de la Marne remains one of the symbols of the French resistance.

On September 8 and 9, General Foch's 9th Army managed to counter the assaults of the German Second Army of General von Bülow. Troops of the British Expeditionary Force and part of the French 5th Army succeeded in separating the German armies of Bûlow and Kluck, a breach to which von Kluck's movement to the west had previously contributed.

The 5th army of Franchet d'Esperey launches into this opening, followed by British troops, before crossing the Marne on September 9. On September 10, new fierce fighting pushed back the Germans who, threatened with encirclement, fell back on the Aisne, along the Noyon-Verdun line where they entrenched themselves. As they dig trenches, a war of positions is now organized.

The first turning point of the Great War

The Franco-British allies were able to take advantage of a weakened army by sending troops to fight the Russians in East Prussia. They thus won the victory of the Marne, officially announced to the Minister of War by General Joffre on September 12. The balance sheet of French losses is however very heavy:80,000 dead.

It was the fighters of Verdun who, two years later, were responsible for dislodging the Germans... After the Battle of the Marne, the battle took place from September to November 1914. "race to the sea", during which the German and French armies try to outflank each other towards the English Channel, in a sector from Soissons to the North Sea coast. But soon, it is the end of the war of movement and the beginning of the war of attrition, symbolized by Verdun.

Bibliography

- The battles of the Marne from the Ourcq to Verdun (1914 and 1918):Proceedings of the symposium by François Cochet. 14-18 Editions, 2004.

- The Battle of the Marne by Pierre Miquel. Tempus, 2004.

To go further

- The government site Chemis de mémoire.