The
Siege of Maubeuge took place between August 24 and September 7, 1914 when the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
garrison of the Maubeuge Fortress finally surrendered to the Germans at the start of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
on the
Western FrontFollowing the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
.
- August 7: General Fournier
* Fournier RF-4 is a motor gliderFournier is a surname:*Alain Fournier, computer graphics researcher*Alain-Fournier, French writer*Alphonse Fournier , Canadian politician*Amédée Fournier, French bicycle racer...
, commander of the Maubeuge Fortress, accurately warned that a massive German offensive over the Meuse RiverThe Meuse , is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea...
was likely. General Joseph JoffreJoseph Jacques Césaire Joffre was a French general who was Commander-in-Chief of the French Army between 1914 and 1916 during the First World War. He is most known for regrouping the retreating allied armies to defeat the Germans at the strategically decisive First Battle of the Marne in 1914...
promptly sacked him for defeatism.
- August 12: At a British War Council [15:00–18:00], Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military officer rank. Today, it is the highest rank in the armies in which it is used, one step above a general or colonel-general.-Usage and hierarchical position:...
Lord KitchenerField Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener,
KG,
KP,
GCB,
OM,
GCSI,
GCMG,
GCIE,
ADC,
PC was a British Field Marshal, a diplomat, and a statesman.-...
predicted a major German drive through BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
, but was compelled to agree to send the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to Maubeuge as planned instead of further back to AmiensAmiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardie.-History:The Paleolithic culture named Acheulean was named for its first identified site, in Saint-Acheul, a suburb of Amiens...
.
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The
Siege of Maubeuge took place between August 24 and September 7, 1914 when the
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
garrison of the Maubeuge Fortress finally surrendered to the Germans at the start of
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
on the
Western FrontFollowing the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
.
- August 7: General Fournier
* Fournier RF-4 is a motor gliderFournier is a surname:*Alain Fournier, computer graphics researcher*Alain-Fournier, French writer*Alphonse Fournier , Canadian politician*Amédée Fournier, French bicycle racer...
, commander of the Maubeuge Fortress, accurately warned that a massive German offensive over the Meuse RiverThe Meuse , is a major European river, rising in France and flowing through Belgium and the Netherlands before draining into the North Sea...
was likely. General Joseph JoffreJoseph Jacques Césaire Joffre was a French general who was Commander-in-Chief of the French Army between 1914 and 1916 during the First World War. He is most known for regrouping the retreating allied armies to defeat the Germans at the strategically decisive First Battle of the Marne in 1914...
promptly sacked him for defeatism.
- August 12: At a British War Council [15:00–18:00], Field Marshal
Field Marshal is a military officer rank. Today, it is the highest rank in the armies in which it is used, one step above a general or colonel-general.-Usage and hierarchical position:...
Lord KitchenerField Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener,
KG,
KP,
GCB,
OM,
GCSI,
GCMG,
GCIE,
ADC,
PC was a British Field Marshal, a diplomat, and a statesman.-...
predicted a major German drive through BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
, but was compelled to agree to send the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to Maubeuge as planned instead of further back to AmiensAmiens is a city and commune in northern France, north of Paris. It is the capital of the Somme department in Picardie.-History:The Paleolithic culture named Acheulean was named for its first identified site, in Saint-Acheul, a suburb of Amiens...
. Kitchener ordered General John French not to consider himself under the command of the French Army.
- August 20: The BEF was fully assembled around Maubeuge.
- August 21: General Karl von Bülow
Karl von Bülow was a German Field Marshal commanding the German 2nd Army during World War I from 1914 to 1918.-Biography:...
ordered Alexander von Kluck’sAlexander Heinrich Rudolph von Kluck was a German general during World War I.- Military career :He saw service during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 and the Franco-Prussian War...
1st Army to veer from moving west to south towards Maubeuge. Kluck angrily objected as this prevented the German 1st Army from outflanking the Allied left. The BEF began marching north from Maubeuge towards Mons - reconnaissance reported that strong German forces were heading straight for it, but the reports are discounted by the confident Sir Henry WilsonField Marshal Sir Henry Hughes Wilson, 1st Baronet, GCB, DSO, was an Anglo-Irish field marshal and Conservative Party politician. Wilson was assassinated by two Irish Republican Army gunmen in 1922.-Early career:...
.
- August 24: Early in the morning John French briefly threatened to retreat away from the Charles Lanrezac
Charles Lanrezac was a distinguished general of the French army at the outbreak of World War I.-World War I:...
's Fifth Army towards Amiens, until he’s dissuaded by Joffre - John French also considered withdrawing the BEF into the fortress of Maubeuge. later the same day German Second ArmyThe 2nd Army was a World War I and World War II field army.-First World War:The 2nd Army during World War I, fought on the Western Front and took part in the Schlieffen Plan offensive against France and Belgium in August 1914...
opened its attack on the French fortress of Maubeuge.
- August 25: The advancing German Second Army left behind a corps to cover the French fortress of Maubeuge - the fortress commander was ordered to hold on.
- August 26: German forces had completely invested
Investment is the military tactic of surrounding an enemy fort with armed forces to prevent entry or escape.A circumvallation is a line of fortifications, built by the attackers around the besieged fortification facing towards the enemy fort...
the bypassed fortress.
- August 29 to September 5: The surrounded French fortress was subjected to bombardment by German heavy artillery.
- September 5 to September 6: After a prolonged bombardment, German forces stormed four of the bypassed forts.
- September 7: During the evening, far behind the front line, the fortress complex at Maubeuge fell to the Germans, with 40,000 French soldiers taken prisoner.
- November 9, 1918: Maubeuge was re-taken by the British Guards Division and 62nd (West Riding) Division
- History :During the First World War the division fought on the Western Front at Bullecourt in the Battle of Arras and Havrincourt in the Battle of Cambrai. In the First Battle of the Somme , they were in the line near Arras and in the Second Battle of the Marne, in the Ardre Valley...
.
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