August 1914 Chronology - The 1st Battle of the Marne
- ️Charles Parmely
SEPTEMBER 5
Paris.
==When asked the line of retreat
from
in front of Paris, Gallieni replies “Nowhere;” he gives secret orders
to
destroy vital resources and bridges in Paris in the event of defeat
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Far Northwestern Front.
==The German 1st Army reaches Claye,
ten
miles from Paris
==Kluck receives orders to halt and
face
toward Paris [715.AM], but most of 1st Army continues advancing
south
==Advancing to its attack positions
on
the Ourcq, French 6th Army unexpectedly collides with Kluck’s right
flank
near St. Soupplet east of Paris [from midday]: THE FIRST
BATTLE
OF THE MARNE TO SEP.10: Kluck is alerted to the danger to his right
wing
==Colonel Hentsch from OHL persuades
Kluck
to withdraw north of the Marne [evening]
The BEF Front.
==Joffre forcefully confronts the
vacillating
Sir John French, and exclaims “…the honor of England is at stake!”;
with
tears in his eyes, Sir John finally agrees to cooperate in a
counteroffensive
[200.PM]
==The final day of retreat by the
BEF;
British forces turn about and begin advancing eastwards [evening-morning
of Sep.06]
The Northwestern Front.
==(to Sep.06) After a
prolonged
bombardment, German forces storm four of the bypassed Maubeuge forts
==An advance party of Kluck’s 1st
Army
reaches the Villiers-St. Georges area, a few miles north of the Seine
near
Provins: the furthest-south German penetration into France of World
War I (or Sep.06)
The Central Front.
==Foch’s forces become fully
independent
of French 4th Army and are officially constituted the 9th Army
Lorraine.
==German 6th Army takes
Pont-á-Mousson,
north of Nancy
The First Battle of the Marne
- French Headquarters (GQG).
==GQG pulls further back to
Chatillon-sur-Seine
- Joffre tells his staff “Gentlemen, we will fight on the Marne.” [evening],
and issues a proclamation to his troops, concluding with “Under present
conditions no weakness can be tolerated.”
German Headquarters (OHL).
==A General Directive from OHL
details
Moltke’s halt order of Sep.04 [received evening]
==Prussian War Minister Falkenhayn
writes:
“Only one thing is certain: our General Staff has completely lost its
head.”
France.
==Noted French
Catholic-socialist-patriot-poet
Charles Péguy is killed in action by German rifle fire near
Villeroy
SEPTEMBER 6
Paris.
== ~The American military
attaché
in Paris reports “mutterings against the leaders of the government and
army”
The First Battle of the Marne.
==General fighting all along the
line,
from the vicinity of Paris to Lorraine
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Far Northwestern Front.
==Northeast of Paris, after some
initial
gains by French 6th Army, Kluck’s right flank holds its ground [midmorning-afternoon];
heavy fighting at Etrépilly
The First Battle of the Marne
- The BEF and Northwestern
Fronts.
==The advancing I Corps on the right
of
the BEF begins to engage Kluck’s 1st Army [midmorning] - British
II Corps begins to advance across the Grand Morin River [1100.PM]
==In response to pressure from the
French
6th Army, Kluck skillfully transfers two of the four corps advancing
southeast
of Paris to his right flank; Bülow weakens his right [evening]
- a dangerous gap is developing between the German 1st and 2nd Armies
==Along most of its front, the
cautiously
advancing French 5th Army easily pushes back the German 2nd Army’s
right
wing to Sep.07, taking Courgivaux - in 5th Army’s left wing, Petain
takes
Montceaux-les-Provins after hard fighting [evening]
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Central Front.
==Foch’s 9th Army and Langle’s 4th
Army
are heavily engaged from Sézanne to Vitry le François:
Foch
is pushed south of the St. Gond Marshes
==A German attack briefly routes the
left
flank of Sarrail’s 3rd Army, stalling its planned offensive and taking
Revigny
==The Germans are stalled at Beauzec
near
Verdun
The First Battle of the Marne
- Lorraine.
==The Germans are checked at
Jezanville
near Pont-á-Mousson
==The German 7th Army is disbanded;
part
is sent to the right flank near Paris
The First Battle of the Marne
- German Headquarters (OHL).
==A copy of Joffre’s order of Sep.04
falls
into German hands [afternoon] - Moltke notifies his armies that
they’re facing a general French counteroffensive
SEPTEMBER 7
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Far Northwestern Front.
==Renewed intense fighting on the
Ourcq
as the reinforced right flank of Kluck’s 1st Army stops the offensive
by
French 6th Army [morning]: Colonel Robert Nivelle singlehandedly
prevents a French route near Etrépilly - 6th Army’s northern
flank
temporarily collapses, but Gallieni restores it by transporting troops
from Paris in 600 commandeered taxi cabs [afternoon] - Joffre
takes
over direct command of 6th Army from Gallieni
==Kluck receives Moltke’s warning
of a
general French counteroffensive [morning]; he transfers two more
corps northwards against the French 6th Army on the Ourcq [morning],
opening the gap between the German 1st and 2nd Armies still wider
==Joffre’s General Instructions #7
are
sent [afternoon]: French 6th Army is to redirect its attack
against
German 1st Army’s northern flank, while the BEF and the left wing of
the
French 5th Army are to push north
The First Battle of the Marne
- The BEF and Northwestern
Fronts.
==Far behind the lines, the fortress
complex
at Maubeuge falls to the Germans [evening], with 30,000 French
prisoners
==The BEF and most of the French 5th
Army
advance “absurdly slowly” against almost no resistance - old-fashioned
cavalry actions at Monsel and Faujus - the BEF reaches the Petit Morin
River
==Fierce fighting between the right
flanks
of the French 5th Army and the German 2nd Army at Soizy-au-Bois;
Bülow
withdraws behind the Petit Morin [afternoon]
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Central Front.
==Foch’s 9th Army and Langle’s 4th
Army
are again subjected to powerful attacks, as German 2nd, 3rd, and 4th
Armies
attempt to break the Allied center - German attacks threaten St. Mihiel
The First Battle of the Marne
- Lorraine.
==The hard-pressed Castelnau nearly
abandons
Nancy, until Joffre explicitly orders him to hold the city at all costs
[afternoon]
The First Battle of the Marne
- German Headquarters (OHL).
==Communications between OHL and the
German
army commanders fighting on the Western Front have almost ceased
==Writing to his wife on the
destruction
caused by the war, Moltke laments “Terror often overcomes me when I
think
about this, and the feeling I have is as if I must answer for this
horror,
and yet I could not act otherwise than as I have.”
SEPTEMBER 8
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Far Northwestern Front.
==Joffre orders Maunoury to send his
exhausted
cavalry to outflank the right wing of Kluck’s 1st Army [early] -
an attempt by Maunoury’s 6th Army to turn the far right wing of the
German
1st Army bogs down [by early afternoon] - Maunoury’s center
takes
Etrépilly only after heavy loss; the Moroccans on his right take
Vareddes and drive the Germans across the Marne - Gallieni and Maunoury
reluctantly agree that 6th Army has failed to break the German right
and
must go on the defensive [afternoon] - Maunoury informs Joffre
that
6th Army’s counteroffensive has failed [evening] - Kluck and his
staff are attacked by French dragoons, but drive them off with rifle
fire
[evening]
The First Battle of the Marne
- The BEF and Northwestern
Fronts.
==OHL finally becomes aware of the
dangerous
gap that’s developed between the German 1st and 2nd Armies [morning]
and calls in troops from Antwerp and Maubeuge to fill it - the left
flank
of French 5th Army advances slowly toward Montmirail [afternoon]
- after clashing with the German 1st Army at the Petit Morin, the BEF
begins
to cross the river [200.PM], reaching the south bank of the
Marne
after a cautious advance [evening] - OHL staff officer Hentsch
reaches
2nd Army’s headquarters (see OHL below): Bülow warns that his
right
is about to give way and recommends that 1st and 2nd Armies retreat
before
it’s too late [evening] - French 5th Army’s left wing takes
Marchais-en-Brie
in hard fighting [late evening], turning the right flank of the
German 2nd Army: the German right wing is temporarily in grave
danger
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Central Front.
==A powerful surprise attack by
Hausen’s
3rd Army [300.AM] drives back the right wing of Foch’s 9th Army
and takes Fère Champenoise - the French right wing steadies and
holds off attacks by 3rd Army [midmorning]; fierce fighting at
Fère
Champenoise - Foch barely holds off strong attacks on his center [from
noon]; French 9th Army is badly mauled
==French 4th and 3rd Armies hold off
renewed
German attacks - the German Crown Prince’s 5th Army attacks the small
French
fort at Troyon [morning] to Sep 12, attempting to cut off Verdun
from the east
The First Battle of the Marne
- Lorraine.
==Moltke finally calls off
Rupprecht’s
offensive in Lorraine
==The French retake Ste Genevieve
north
of Nancy, finding the village strewn with 2000 German corpses
The First Battle of the Marne
- French Headquarters (GQG).
==Joffre issues Special Number Order
19
[700.PM], changing the his main effort from his far left to the
Marne: 6th Army is ordered to hold, and the BEF and 5th Army are to
advance
north to split the German right
The First Battle of the Marne
- German Headquarters (OHL).
==The bewildered Moltke sends staff
officer
Hentsch to visit the German Armies and ascertain the situation [1100.AM]
(see Northwestern Fronts above)
SEPTEMBER 9
The Belgian Front.
==The Belgians’ second sortie from
Antwerp,
to Sep.13 - the Kaiser orders German forces to take Antwerp
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Far Northwestern, BEF
and Northwestern Fronts.
==British cavalry begins to cross
the
Marne [530.AM] - most of the BEF is well over the river in force
[800.AM] - French 5th Army shifts right to aid Foch’s
hard-pressed
9th Army, loosing the opportunity to strengthen the BEF’s advance [morning]
- without consulting OHL, Bülow announces that 2nd Army is
retreating
[morning]; his troops begin to withdraw by midday: the
German
right wing begins to fall back; THE GERMANS EFFECTIVELY LOOSE THE
BATTLE
OF THE MARNE AND LOOSE HOPE OF A QUICK VICTORY - Kluck orders 1st
Army’s
hard-pressed center and left to pull back till they’re facing south [morning]
- OHL envoy Hentsch arrives at 1st Army headquarters [late morning];
1st
Army’s retreat is initiated - 1st Army’s retreat causes the
counter-attack
against the weakened French 6th Army near Paris to be broken off [200.PM]
- the BEF and French 5th Army have come to a standstill [mid-afternoon],
loosing their chance to break the German line
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Central Front.
==Foch’s battered 9th Army is thrown
back
at Mondement and Mont Août [morning] - after learning that
2nd Army is retiring, Hausen reluctantly orders 3rd Army’s right wing
to
begin to retreat [~midday] - desperate French counterattacks at
Mondement and Mont Août are repelled [afternoon] - the
Germans
abandon Mondement [evening] and begin to retreat from Foch’s 9th
Army
==French 4th and 3rd Armies are
again
subjected to desperate German attacks
Alsace.
==The French occupy three villages
west
of Mulhouse
The First Battle of the Marne
- German Headquarters (OHL).
==Moltke futilely orders that
attacks
by the German center and left continue, even as the German right is
starting
to fall back [night]
==The despairing Moltke writes his
wife:
“Things are going badly, the battles east of Paris will not be decided
in our favor… The war which began with such good hopes will in the end
go against us… We shall be crushed in the fight against East and West…
Our campaign is a cruel disillusion. And we shall have to pay for
all the destruction which we have done.” [night]
SEPTEMBER 10
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Far Northwestern, BEF
and Northwestern Fronts.
==As per Joffre’s orders, the Allied
left
slowly ‘pursues’ the retreating Germans, advancing only a few miles
against
little or no resistance - Moltke subordinates the troublesome Kluck
under
Bülow
The First Battle of the Marne
- The Central Front.
==Staff officer Hentsch quarrels
with
the Crown Prince [morning] - the German 5th Army’s attacks have
stalled
The First Battle of the Marne
- Lorraine.
==The Germans evacuate
Pont-á-Mousson,
north of Nancy
The First Battle of the Marne
- French Headquarters (GQG).
==Joffre finally understands that
the
Germans are really retreating and orders a more vigorous pursuit [500.PM]
The First Battle of the Marne
- German Headquarters (OHL).
==Staff officer Hentsch returns to
OHL;
Moltke approves his decisions calling for a German withdrawal [430.PM]
AFTERMATH
Sep.11 > The entire German right and center is falling back - despite virtually no German resistance, the exhausted troops of the Allied left and center are unable to advance more than a few miles through a countryside that is littered with corpses and abandoned equipment - Joffre formally announces the Allied victory
Sep.12 >
==German troops begin to occupy
prepared
positions behind the Aisne
==The gap between German 1st and 2nd
Armies
is finally closed
Sep.13-14 > The Germans repell Allied attacks on their new lines
Sep.14 > The Kaiser relieves Moltke as Chief of the General Staff in favor of Falkenhayn [afternoon]; the change isn’t publicized until early November
Sep.15 > Aware that the Germans are dug in behind the Aisne, Joffre orders the Allied armies to end their ‘pursuit’ and to prepare for methodical warfare - hopes of a swift Allied victory over Germany fade
mid.Nov > The entire western front has become entrenched