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First Battle of the Marne
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The First Battle of the Marne (also known as the Miracle of the Marne) was a World War I battle fought between the 5th and 12th of September 1914. It resulted in a Franco-British victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month-long German offensive that opened World War I and had reached the outskirts of Paris. The counter-attack of Allied forces during the First Battle of the Marne ensured that a quick German victory was impossible, and set the stage for four years of trench warfare on the Western Front.
first month of World War I had resulted in a series of victories by German forces in France and Belgium.
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The First Battle of the Marne (also known as the Miracle of the Marne) was a World War I battle fought between the 5th and 12th of September 1914. It resulted in a Franco-British victory against the German Army under Chief of Staff Helmuth von Moltke the Younger. The battle effectively ended the month-long German offensive that opened World War I and had reached the outskirts of Paris. The counter-attack of Allied forces during the First Battle of the Marne ensured that a quick German victory was impossible, and set the stage for four years of trench warfare on the Western Front.
Leading up to the battle
The first month of World War I had resulted in a series of victories by German forces in France and Belgium. By the end of August 1914, the whole Allied army on the Western Front had been forced into a general retreat back towards Paris. Meanwhile the two main German armies that had just conquered Belgium continued to advance through France. It seemed that Paris would be taken as both the French Army and the British Expeditionary Force fell back towards the Marne River.
British troops had suffered heavy casualties during the German attack into France. Field Marshal Sir John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), blamed his heavy losses on French vacillation and uncoordinated French withdrawals. In particular, he blamed French General Lanrezac, commander of the French Fifth Army, for Lanrezac’s failure to fight and unannounced pullbacks, though these had effectively saved the French Fifth Army from defeat.
Relations between the British commander and the French commanders suffered greatly. Field Marshal French made plans to move all British troops back from the front along their lines of communication for rest and reorganization. French Commander-In-Chief Joseph Joffre persuaded the British War Secretary, Herbert Kitchener, to intervene, and Kitchener met personally with Field Marshal French. Kitchener told Field Marshal French that a withdrawal by the British would be disastrous for both the French and British. Field Marshal French agreed to keep British troops on the front line as long as their flanks were not exposed by French withdrawals.
As the German First and Second Armies approached Paris, they began to swerve to the southeast away from Paris in an attempt to envelop the retreating French armies, exposing their right flank to the allies. By 3 September, Joffre had become aware of the German armies’ tactical error, and quickly made plans to halt the French and British withdrawal and attack the Germans all along the front. The British army and the French Sixth Army were given the job of attacking the exposed right flank of the German First Army. Joffre personally visited Field Marshal French and secured French’s agreement to participate in the attack. The attack was set to begin on the morning of 6 September. However, General Alexander von Kluck, the commander of the German First Army, detected the approach of the Allied forces on 5 September and, too late, began to wheel his Army to face the west. In the morning of 5 September, battle commenced when the advancing French Sixth Army came into contact with cavalry patrols from General Hans H. K. Gronau’s IV Reserve Corps on the right flank of the German First Army near the Ourcq River. Seizing the initiative in the early afternoon, Gronau’s two divisions attacked with light artillery and infantry into the gathering Sixth Army and pushed it back into a defensive posture before the planned allied assault for the following day, but the threat to the French offensive by Kluck’s wheeled First Army in this preliminary Battle of the Ourcq was later reduced both by the arrival of the taxicab reinforcements from Paris and orders for Kluck to retreat to the Aisne River, delivered by Moltke’s staff officer, Oberstleutnant Richard Hentsch.
Battle
Von Kluck, in turning to meet the potential for attack on his right flank, opened up a 50 km (30 mile) wide gap in the German lines between his First Army and the German Second Army, commanded by the cautious General Karl von Bülow, which was located to the left of the First Army. Allied reconnaissance planes discovered the gap and reported it to commanders on the ground. The Allies were prompt in exploiting the break in the German lines, dispatching troops from the BEF to join the French Fifth Army in pouring through the gap between the two German armies, the right wing of the Fifth Army simultaneously attacking the German Second Army.
Nevertheless, the German forces were close to achieving a breakthrough against Maunoury’s beleaguered Sixth Army between 6 September and 8 September—the Sixth Army was aided on 7 September by 6,000 French reserve infantry troops ferried from Paris in around 600 taxi cabs. The following night, on 8 September, the aggressive French commander General Franchet d’Esperey and his Fifth Army launched a surprise attack against the German Second Army, serving to further widen the gap between the German First and Second Armies. D’Esperey was a recent appointment, Joffre having given him command of the Fifth Army in place of the dismissed General Charles Lanrezac, who was deemed, by Joffre, to be too cautious and lacking in “offensive spirit.”
By 9 September, it looked as though the German First and Second Armies would be totally encircled and destroyed. General von Moltke suffered a nervous breakdown upon hearing of the danger. His subordinates took over and ordered a general retreat to the Aisne River to regroup. The Germans were pursued by the French and British, although the pace of the Allied advance was slow — a mere 19 km (12 miles) a day. The German armies ceased their retreat after 65 km (40 miles), at a point north of the Aisne River, where they dug in, preparing trenches that were to last for several years.
The German retreat between 9 September and 13 September marked the abandonment of the Schlieffen Plan. Moltke is said to have reported to the Kaiser: “Your Majesty, we have lost the war.” In the aftermath of the battle, both sides dug in and four years of stalemate ensued.
Aftermath
The war became a stalemate after the Allies won the Battle of the Marne. It was the second major clash on the Western Front (after the Battle of the Frontiers) and one of the most important single events of the war. The German defeat and subsequent retreat ended any hopes of a quick victory for Germany in the West. As a result, Germany was forced to face a long, costly war on two fronts.
The Battle of Marne was also one of the first major battles in which reconnaissance planes played a decisive role, by discovering weak points in the German lines and allowing the allies to take advantage of them.
The First Battle of the Marne is best remembered for the approximately six hundred Parisian taxicabs, mainly Renault AG’s, commandeered by French authorities and used to transport six thousand French reserve infantry troops to the battle. Their arrival has traditionally been described as critical in stopping a possible German breakthrough against the Sixth Army. Today, some historians question their real impact. Their impact on morale, however, is undeniable: the taxis de la Marne were perceived as a manifestation of the union sacrée of the French civilian population and its soldiers at the front, reminiscent of the people in arms who had saved the French Republic in 1794.
Over two million men fought in the First Battle of the Marne, of whom more than 500,000 were killed or wounded.
See also
Further reading
- Evans, M. M. (2004). Battles of World War I. Select Editions. ISBN 1-84193-226-4.
- Isselin, Henri. The Battle of the Marne. London: Elek Books, 1965. (Translation of La Bataille de la Marne, published by Editions B. Arthaud, 1964.)
- Perris, George Herbert. The Battle of the Marne. London: Methuen, 1920.
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