First Battle of the Marne

The Battle of the Marne (French: Premire bataille de

la Marne, also known as the Miracle of the Marne)
was a First World War battle fought from 512 September 1914. It resulted in an Allied victory against the
German Army (Chief of Sta Helmuth von Moltke the
Younger). The battle was the culmination of the German advance into France and pursuit of the Allied armies
which followed the Battle of the Frontiers in August and
had reached the eastern outskirts of Paris. A counterattack by six French eld armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) along the Marne River, forced the
Imperial German Army to retreat north-west, leading to
the Battle of the Aisne and the "Race to the Sea". The
Battle of the Marne was a victory for the Allies and set
the stage for four years of trench warfare on the Western
Front.

on Sarrebourg and the Second Army towards Morhange.

Chteau Salins near Morhange was captured on 17 August and Sarrebourg the next day. The German 6th and
7th Armies counter-attacked on 20 August, and the Second Army was forced back from Morhange and the First
Army was repulsed at Sarrebourg. The German armies
crossed the border and advanced on Nancy, but were
stopped to the east of the city.[2] The Belgian 4th Division, the solitary part of the Belgian army not to retreat
to the defensive lines around Antwerp, dug in to defend
Namur, which was besieged on 20 August. Further west,
the French Fifth Army had concentrated on the Sambre
by 20 August, facing north on either side of Charleroi
and east towards Namur and Dinant. Additional support
was given to the Belgians at Namur by the French 45th Infantry Brigade. On the left, the Cavalry Corps of General
Sordet linked up with the BEF at Mons.[2]

Background
Saint-Omer

1.1

Battle of the Frontiers

Main article: Battle of the Frontiers

Saint-Quentin

The Battle of the Frontiers is a general name for all the

operations of the French armies from 7 August 13
September.[1] A series of encounter battles began between the German, French and Belgian armies on the
German-French frontier and in southern Belgium on 4
August 1914. Lige was occupied by the Germans on 7
August. The rst units of the British Expeditionary Force
(BEF) landed in France and French troops crossed the
German frontier. The Battle of Mulhouse (Battle of Alsace 710 August) was the rst French oensive of World
War I. The French captured Mulhouse, until forced out
by a German counter-attack on 11 August, and fell back
toward Belfort. On 12 August, the Battle of Haelen was
fought by German and Belgian cavalry and infantry, resulting in a Belgian defensive success. The BEF completed its move of four divisions and a cavalry division
to France on 16 August, as the last Belgian fort of the
Position fortie de Lige surrendered. The Belgian government withdrew from Brussels on 18 August. The German army attacked the Belgian eld army at the Battle of
the Gete. The next day, the Belgian army began to retire
towards Antwerp, which left the way to Namur open.

Saint-Avold

Sainte-Menehould
Saint-Mihiel
Bar-le-Duc
Arcis-sur-Aube

Saint-Dizier

Bar-sur-Aube

pinal
N
NO

NE

SO

Fortications belges
et franaises

Fortications
allemandes

SE

France, Germany, Luxembourg and Belgium, 1914

To the south, the French retook Mulhouse on 19 August

and then withdrew. By 20 August, a German counteroensive in Lorraine had begun and the German 4th and
5th Armies advanced through the Ardennes on 19 August towards Neufchteau. An oensive by the French
Third and Fourth Armies through the Ardennes began
on 20 August in support of the French invasion of Lorraine. The opposing armies met in thick fog; the French
mistook the German troops for screening forces. On 22
August, the Battle of the Ardennes (2128 August) began with French attacks, which were costly to both sides
and forced the French into a disorderly retreat late on 23
The main French oensive, the Battle of Lorraine (14 August. The Third Army recoiled towards Verdun, pur25 August), began with the Battles of Morhange and sued by the 5th Army, and the Fourth Army retreated
Sarrebourg (1420 August) advances by the First Army to Sedan and Stenay. Mulhouse was recaptured again by
1

BACKGROUND

German forces and the Battle of the Meuse (2628 August), caused a temporary halt of the German advance.[3]
On 24 August, during the Battle of the Mortagne (14
25 August), a limited German oensive in the Vosges,
the Germans managed a small advance, before a French
counter-attack retook the ground.

The French First and Second armies had been pushed

back, by attacks of the German 7th and 6th armies between St. Di and Nancy. The Third Army held positions east of Verdun against attacks by the 5th Army; the
Fourth Army held positions from the junction with the
Third Army south of Montmdy, westwards to Sedan,
Mezires, and Fumay, facing the 4th Army; the Fifth
Army was between Fumay and Maubeuge; the 3rd Army
1.2 Great Retreat
was advancing up the Meuse valley from Dinant and
Givet, into a gap between the Fourth and Fifth armies and
Main article: Great Retreat
the 2nd Army pressed forward into the angle between the
The Great Retreat took place from 24 August 5 Meuse and Sambre, directly against the Fifth Army. On
the far west ank of the French, the BEF prolonged the
line from Maubeuge to Valenciennes against the 1st Army
and Army Detachment von Beseler masked the Belgian
army at Antwerp.[4]

German and Allied positions, 23 August 5 September 1914

September; the French Fifth Army fell back about 15

kilometres (10 mi) from the Sambre during the Battle
of Charleroi (22 August) and began a greater withdrawal from the area south of the Sambre on 23 August.
That evening, the 12,000 Belgian troops at Namur withdrew into French-held territory and at Dinant, 674 men,
women and children were summarily executed by Saxon
troops of the German Third Army; the rst of several
civilian massacres committed by the Germans in 1914.
At the Battle of Mons (23 August), the BEF attempted
to hold the line of the MonsCond Canal against the advancing German 1st Army. The British were eventually
forced to withdraw due to being outnumbered by the Germans and the sudden retreat of the French Fifth Army,
which exposed the British right ank. Though planned
as a simple tactical withdrawal and executed in good order, the British retreat from Mons lasted for two weeks,
and covered 400 kilometres (250 mi). During the retreat,
BEF commander Sir John French began to make contingency plans for a full retreat to the ports on the English
Channel followed by an immediate British evacuation.
On 1 September Lord Kitchener, the British Secretary of
State for War, met with French (and French Prime Minister Viviani and War Minister Millerand), and ordered
him not to withdraw to the Channel. The BEF retreated
to the outskirts of Paris, before it counter-attacked in concert with the French, in the Battle of the Marne.[4]

On 26 August, German forces captured Valenciennes and

began the Siege of Maubeuge (24 August 7 September).
Leuven (Louvain) was sacked by German troops and the
Battle of Le Cateau was fought by the BEF and the 1st
Army. Longwy was surrendered by its garrison and next
day, British marines and a party of the Royal Naval Air
Service (RNAS) landed at Ostend; German troops occupied Lille and Mezires. Arras was occupied on 27 August and a French counter-oensive began at the Battle
of St. Quentin (Battle of Guise 2930 August). On 29
August, the Fifth Army counter-attacked the 2nd Army
south of the Oise, from Vervins to Mont Dorigny and
west of the river from Mont Dorigny to Moy towards St.
Quentin on the Somme, while the British held the line
of the Oise west of La Fre.[5] German troops captured
Laon, La Fre, and Roye on 30 August and Amiens the
next day. On 1 September, the Germans entered Craonne
and Soissons. On 5 September German troops reached
Claye, 15 kilometres (10 mi) from Paris, captured Reims,
and withdrew from Lille, and the BEF ended its retreat
from Mons. Also on that day French troops counterattacked in the Battle of the Ourcq 512 September), marking the end of the Great Retreat of the western ank of
the Franco-British armies.[6]
In the east, the Second Army had withdrawn its left ank,
to face north between Nancy and Toul; the First and Second armies had slowed the advance of the 7th and 6th
armies west of St. Di and east of Nancy by 4 September. There was a gap between the left of the Second
Army and the right of the Third Army at Verdun, which
faced north-west, on a line towards Revigny, against the
5th Army advance west of the Meuse between Varennes
and St. Mnhould. The Fourth Army had withdrawn
to Sermaize, westwards to the Marne at Vitry le Franois
and crossed the river to Sompons, against the 4th Army,
which had advanced from Rethel to Suippes and the west
of Chalons. The new Ninth Army held a line from Mailly
against the 3rd Army, which had advanced from Mzires, over the Vesle and the Marne west of Chalons. The
2nd Army had advanced from Marle on the Serre, across
the Aisne and the Vesle, between Reims and Fismes to

3
Montmort, north of the junction of the Ninth and Fifth lacking in oensive spirit) with General Louis Franchet
armies at Sezanne.
d'Esprey.
The Fifth Army and the BEF had withdrawn south of the
Oise, Serre, Aisne, and Ourq, pursued by the 2nd Army
on a line from Guise to Laon, Vailly, and Dormans and by
the 1st Army from Montdidier, towards Compigne and
then south-east towards Montmirail.

On 4 September, he made plans to halt the French and

British withdrawal and attack the Germans right ank
with the Sixth Army (150,000 men) and the BEF (70,000
men). The attack was set to begin on the morning of 6
September.

French garrisons were besieged at Metz, Thionville,

Longwy, Montmdy, and Maubeuge. The Belgian army
was invested at Antwerp in the National Redoubt and Belgian fortress troops continued the defence of the Lige
forts.[7] The Military Governor of Paris, General Joseph
Gallieni, was tasked with the defence of the city.

The French FirstFourth armies to the east were to resist the attacks of the German 5th7th armies between
Verdun and Toul and repulse an enveloping attack on the
defences south of Nancy from the north. The 6th and 7th
armies were reinforced by heavy artillery from Metz and
attacked again on 4 September along the Moselle.[9]

3 Battle

Prelude

See also: First Battle of the Marne order of battle

The First Battle of the Marne was fought from 512
September 1914. The battle was composed of three major actions: the Battle of the Ourcq (Bataille de l'Ourcq),
59 September; 69 September; the Battle of the Two
Morins (Bataille des Deux Morins), 611 September; and
the Battle of the Saint-Gond Marshes (Bataille des Marais de Saint-Gond), as well as numerous ancillary engagements.
French infantry charge, 1914

3.1 Western ank

Beginning on 26 August, Jore formed a new army, using new reserve divisions and divisions taken from Lorraine. This Sixth Army under General Michel-Joseph
Maunoury had nine infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions. This remarkable transfer of troops from east to
west was carried out just behind the front line, in the middle of a battle, using over 300 trains.[8] The new Sixth
Army linked with the left of the BEF, west of the Marne
from Meaux to Pontoise north of Paris.
The transfer of forces from the east to the French centre
and left continued through 10 September, amounting to
twenty divisions and three cavalry divisions. The balance
of forces between the German right wing (the 1st, 2nd,
and 3rd armies) and the Allied left wing (Third, Fourth,
Ninth, Fifth armies, the BEF, and Sixth Army) changed
to 44:56 divisions in favor of the Allies.

Battle of the Marne positions on 9 September

Meanwhile, as the German 1st Army (under General

Alexander von Kluck) and 2nd Army (under General Karl
von Blow) approached Paris, they began to swerve to
the south-east, away from Paris, to envelop the left ank
of the retreating French armies, but exposing their own
right ank to the Allies. By 3 September, Jore had
become aware of the positions of the German armies.
On 3 September, Jore replaced Fifth Army commander General Charles Lanrezac (deemed too cautious and

Late on 4 September, Jore ordered the Sixth Army to

attack eastwards over the Ourcq towards Chteau Thierry
as the BEF advanced towards Montmirail, and the Fifth
Army attacked northwards with its right ank protected
by the Ninth Army along the St. Gond marshes. On 5
September, the Battle of the Ourcq commenced when the

3 BATTLE
8 September. But the Sixth Army was reinforced on the
night of 7/8 September by 10,000 French reserve infantry
ferried from Paris. This included about 3,000 men from
the Seventh Division who were transported in a eet of
Paris taxicabs requisitioned by General Gallieni.
On September 7, 1914, General Gallieni gathered about
about six hundred taxicabs at Les Invalides in central
Paris to carry soldiers to the front at Nanteuil-le Haudoin,
fty kilometers away. Each taxi carried ve soldiers, four
in the back and one next to the driver. Only the back lights
of the taxis were lit; the drivers were instructed to follow
the lights of the taxi ahead. Most of the taxis were demobilized on September 8 but some remained longer to
carry the wounded and refugees. The taxis, following city
regulations, dutifully ran their meters. The French treasury reimbursed the total fare of 70,012 francs. [12] [13]
Taxi cab of the Marne

Sixth Army advanced eastwards from Paris. That morning the advancing Sixth Army came into contact with cavalry patrols of the IV Reserve Corps of General Hans
von Gronau, on the right ank of the 1st Army west of
the Ourcq River. Seizing the initiative in the early afternoon, the two divisions of IV Reserve Corps attacked
with eld artillery and infantry into the gathering Sixth
Army and pushed it back. Overnight, the IV Reserve
Corps withdrew to a better position 10 kilometres (6.2
mi) east, while Von Kluck, alerted to the approach of the
Allied forces, began to wheel his army to face west.
Gronau ordered the II Corps to move back to the north
bank of the Marne, which began a redeployment of all
four 1st Army corps to the north bank which continued
until 8 September. The swift move to the north bank
prevented the Sixth Army from crossing the Ourcq. In
this move against the French threat from the west, von
Kluck ignored the Franco-British forces advancing from
the south against his left ank and opened a 50-kilometre
(30 mi) gap in the German lines between the 1st Army
and the 2nd Army on its left (east). Allied air reconnaissance observed German forces moving north to face the
Sixth Army and discovered the gap.[10]
The Allies were prompt in exploiting the break in the German lines, sending the BEF and the Fifth Army into the
gap between the two German armies. The right wing of
the Fifth Army attacked on 6 September and pinned the
2nd Army in the Battle of the Two Morins, named for the
two rivers in the area, the Grand Morin and Petit Morin.
The BEF advanced on 68 September, crossed the Petit
Morin, captured bridges over the Marne, and established
a bridgehead 8 kilometres (5 mi) deep. The Fifth Army
by 8 September crossed the Petit Morin, which forced
Blow to withdraw the right ank of the 2nd Army. Next
day the Fifth Army recrossed the Marne, and the German 1st and 2nd armies began to retire.[11] The Germans
had still hoped to smash the Sixth Army between 6 and

[14]

The arrival of six thousand soldiers by taxi has traditionally been described as critical in stopping a possible German breakthrough against the Sixth Army. However, in
2001, Strachan described the course of the battle without
mentioning taxis and in 2009, Herwig called the matter
a legend: he wrote that many French soldiers travelled in
lorries and all the artillery left Paris by train.[15][16] The
impact on morale was undeniable, the taxis de la Marne
were perceived as a manifestation of the union sacre of
the French civilian population and its soldiers at the front,
reminiscent of the people in arms who had saved the
French Republic Campaign of 1794: a symbol of unity
and national solidarity beyond their strategical role in the
battle. It was also the rst large-scale use of motorized infantry in battle; a Marne taxicab is prominently displayed
in the exhibit on the battle at the Museum of the Army at
Les Invalides in Paris.
The reinforced Sixth Army held its ground. The following night, on 8 September, the Fifth Army launched a surprise attack against the 2nd Army, further widening the
gap between the 1st and 2nd armies. Moltke, at OHL in
Luxembourg, was eectively out of communication with
the German army HQs. He sent his intelligence ocer,
Oberstleutnant Richard Hentsch to visit the HQs. On 8
September, Hentsch met with Blow, and they agreed
that the 2nd Army was in danger of encirclement and
would retreat immediately. On 9 September, Hentsch
reached the 1st Armys HQ, met with von Klucks chief
of sta, and issued orders for the 1st Army to retreat to
the Aisne River.[17]
Moltke suered a nervous breakdown upon hearing of
the danger. His subordinates took over and ordered a
general retreat to the Aisne, to regroup for another offensive. The Germans were pursued by the French and
British, although the pace of the exhausted Allied forces
was slow and averaged only 19 km (12 mi) per day. The
Germans ceased their retreat after 65 km (40 mi), at a
point north of the Aisne River, where they dug in, preparing trenches. By 10 September the German armies west

4.1

Analysis

of Verdun were retreating towards the Aisne. Jore or- was the second great battle on the Western Front, after
dered Allied troops to pursue, leading to the First Battle the Battle of the Frontiers, and one of the most imporof the Aisne (see below).
tant events of the war. While the German Schlieen Plan
failed
to decisively defeat the Allies in France, the GerThe German retreat from 913 September, marked the
man
army
occupied a good portion of northern France
abandonment of the Schlieen Plan. Moltke is said to
as
well
as
most
of Belgium and it was the failure of the
have reported to the Kaiser: Your Majesty, we have lost
French
Plan
17
that caused that situation.[25] It is gener[18]
the war. (Majestt, wir haben den Krieg verloren).
ally agreed among historians that the battle was an Allied
victory which saved Paris and kept France in the war but
Whether General von Moltke actually said
there is considerable disagreement as to the extent of the
to the Emperor, Majesty, we have lost the
victory.
war, we do not know. We know anyhow that
After the battle of the Marne the German armies rewith a prescience greater in political than in
treated for up to 90 kilometres (56 mi) and lost 11,717
military aairs, he wrote to his wife on the
prisoners, 30 guns and 100 machine-guns to the French
night of the 9th, Things have not gone well.
and 3,500 prisoners to the British before reaching the
The ghting east of Paris has not gone in our
Aisne.[26] The German retirement ended their hope of
favour, and we shall have to pay for the dam[19]
pushing the French beyond the VerdunMarneParis line
age we have done.
and winning a quick victory. Following the battle and
the failures by both sides to turn the opponents northern
3.2 Eastern ank
ank during the Race to the Sea, the war of movement
ended with the Germans and the Allies facing each other
See also: Battle of Grand Couronn
across a stationary front line. Both sides were faced by the
prospect of costly siege warfare operations, if they chose
The German 3rd, 4th and 5th armies attacked the French to continue an oensive strategy in France.
Second, Third, Fourth and Ninth armies in the vicinity of Historians interpretations characterize the Allied adVerdun beginning 56 September.
vance as a success.[27] While Terraine contemporized that
German attacks against the Second Army south of Ver- nowhere, and at no time, did it present the traditional
dun from 5 September almost forced the French to re- aspect of victory, he stated that the French and British
treat. South-east of Verdun, the Third Army was forced stroke into the breach between the rst and second Gerback to the west of Verdun by German attacks on the man armies made the battle of the Marne the decisive
[28]
Tuchman and Doughty wrote that
Meuse Heights, but maintained contact with Verdun and battle of the war.
Jores
victory
at
the
Marne
was far from decisive, Tuchthe Fourth Army to the west.
man calling it an "... incomplete victory of the Marne
Other ghting included the capture of the village of ... and Doughty [the] "... opportunity for a decisive vicRevigny in the Battle of Revigny (Bataille de Revigny), tory had slipped from his hands.[29][30] Sumner called it
the Battle of Vitry (Bataille de Vitry) around Vitry-le- a awed victory and that it proved impossible to deal the
Franois, and the Battle of the Marshes of Saint-Gond German armies a decisive blow.[31] Tuchman wrote that
around Szanne.[20] On 7 September German advances Kluck explained the German failure at the Marne as: "...
created a salient south of Verdun at St. Mihiel, which the reason that transcends all others was the extraordithreatened to separate the Second and Third armies.[21] nary and peculiar aptitude of the French soldier to recover
General Castelnau prepared to abandon the French po- quickly. [...] That men will let themselves be killed where
sition around Nancy, but his sta contacted Jore, who they stand, that is well-known and counted on in every
ordered Castelnau to hold for another 24 hours.[22]
plan of battle. But that men who have retreated for ten
German attacks continued through 8 September but soon days, sleeping on the ground and half dead with fatigue,
began to taper o as Moltke began shifting troops to the should be able to take up their ries and attack when the
west. By 10 September the Germans had received orders bugle sounds, is a thing upon which we never counted. It
to stop attacking and withdrawal towards the frontier be- was a possibility not studied in our war academy.[32]
came general.[23]
The signicance of the battle centers on its undermining

4
4.1

Aftermath
Analysis

of the Schlieen Plan, which forced Germany to ght

a two-front war against France and Russia -- the exact
scenario that its strategists had long feared. Historian
Richard Brooks claimed that, By frustrating the Schlieen Plan, Jore had won the decisive battle of the war,
and perhaps of the century.[33]

At the start of the war both sides had plans that they The Battle of the Marne was also one of the rst battles
counted on to deliver a short war.[24] However, both sides in which reconnaissance aircraft played a decisive role, by
were ultimately disappointed. The Battle of the Marne

4 AFTERMATH

discovering weak points in the German lines, which the 4.3 Subsequent operations
Allies were able to exploit.[34] The mobility and destructive power of the numerous French 75 batteries engaged, 4.3.1 First Battle of the Aisne, 1328 September
also played a key role in slowing down and then halting
German progress everywhere. The transport of troops Main article: First Battle of the Aisne
from Paris on taxis and omnibuses is notable as the rst On 10 September, Jore ordered the French armies and
example of motorized troop transport.

4.2

Casualties

Over two million men fought in the First Battle of the

Marne and although there are no exact ocial casualty
counts for the battle, estimates for the actions of September along the Marne front for all armies are often given
as c. 500,000 killed or wounded.[25] French casualties totalled 250,000 men, of whom 80,000 were killed. Some
notable people died in the battle, such as Charles Pguy,
who was killed while leading his platoon during an attack at the beginning of the battle. Tuchman gave French
casualties for August as 206,515 from Armes Franaises and Herwig gave French casualties for September
as 213,445, also from Armes Franaises for a total of just
under 420,000 in the rst two months of the war.[25] According to Roger Chickering, German casualties for the
1914 campaigns on the Western Front were 500,000.[35]
British casualties were 13,000 men, with 1,700 killed.
The Germans suered c. 250,000 casualties. No future
battle on the Western Front would average so many casualties per day.[36]

Opposing positions: 5 September (dashed line) 13 September

(black line)

the BEF to advance and for four days, the armies on the
left ank moved forward and gathered up German stragglers, wounded and equipment, opposed only by rearguards. On 11 and 12 September, Jore ordered outanking manoeuvres by the armies on the left ank but
the advance was too slow to catch the Germans, who
ended their withdrawal on 14 September, on high ground
on the north bank of the Aisne and began to dig in.
Frontal attacks by the Ninth, Fifth, and Sixth armies were
repulsed on 1516 September. This led Jore to transfer
In 2009, Herwig re-estimated the casualties for the bat- the Second Army west to the left ank of the Sixth Army,
the German
tle. He wrote that the French Ocial History, Les armes the rst phase of Allied attempts to outank
[41]
armies
(the
Race
to
the
Sea,
see
below).
franaises dans la grande guerre, gave 213,445 French
casualties in September and assumed that c. 40% oc- French troops had begun to move westwards on 2
curred during the Battle of the Marne. Using the Ger- September, using the undamaged railways behind the
man Sanittsberichte, Herwig recorded that from 110 French front, which were able to move a corps to the
September, the 1st Army had 13,254 casualties, the 2nd left ank in 56 days. On 17 September, the French
Army had 10,607 casualties, the 3rd Army had 14,987 Sixth Army attacked from Soissons to Noyon, at the westcasualties, the 4th Army had 9,433 casualties, the 5th ernmost point of the French ank, with the XIII and IV
Army had 19,434 casualties, the 6th Army had 21,200 corps, which were supported by the 61st and 62nd divicasualties and the 7th Army had 10,164 casualties. Her- sions of the 6th Group of Reserve Divisions. After this
wig estimated that the ve German armies from Verdun the ghting moved north to Lassigny and the French dug
to Paris had 67,700 casualties during the battle and as- in around Nampcel.[42]
sumed 85,000 casualties for the French. Herwig wrote The French Second Army completed a move from Lorthat there were 1,701 British casualties (the British O- raine and took over command of the left-hand corps of
cial History noted that these losses were incurred from 6 the Sixth Army, as indications appeared that German
10 September).[37] Herwig estimated 300,000 casualties troops were also being moved from the eastern ank.[43]
for all sides at the Marne but questioned whether isolating The German IX Reserve Corps arrived from Belgium by
the battle was justied.[38]
15 September and next day joined the 1st Army for an
In 2010, Ian Sumner wrote that there were 12,733 British
casualties, including 1,700 dead.[39] Sumner cites the
same overall casualty gure for the French for September
as Herwig from Armes Franaises, which includes the
losses at the battle of the Aisne, as 213,445 but provides
a further breakdown: 18,073 killed, 111,963 wounded
and 83,409 missing.[40]

attack to the south-west, with the IV Corps and the 4th

and 7th cavalry divisions, against the attempted French
envelopment. The attack was cancelled and the IX Reserve Corps was ordered to withdraw behind the right
ank of the 1st Army. The 2nd and 9th cavalry divisions
were dispatched as reinforcements next day but before the
retirement began, the French attack reached Carlepont

7
and Noyon, before being contained on 18 September.
The German armies attacked from Verdun westwards to
Reims and the Aisne at the Battle of Flirey (19 September 11 October), cut the main railway from Verdun to
Paris and created the St. Mihiel salient, south of the Verdun fortress zone. The main German eort remained on
the western ank, which was revealed to the French by
intercepted wireless messages.[44] By 28 September, the
Aisne front had stabilised and the BEF began to withdraw on the night of 1/2 October, with the rst troops
arriving in the Abbeville area on 8/9 October. The BEF
prepared to commence operations in Flanders and join
with the British forces which had been in Belgium since
August.[45]

French border to the northern ank on 17 September.

By the next day French attacks north of the Aisne led
to Falkenhayn ordering the 6th Army to repulse French
forces to secure the ank.[46] When French advanced at
the First Battle of Picardy (2226 September) it met a
German attack rather than an open ank and by the end
of the Battle of Albert (2529 September), the Second
Army had been reinforced to eight corps but was still opposed by German forces at the Battle of Arras (14 October), rather than advancing around the German northern ank. The German 6th Army had also found that on
arrival in the north, it was forced to oppose the French
attack rather than advance around the ank and that the
secondary objective of protecting the northern ank of
the German armies in France had become the main task.
By 6 October, the French needed British reinforcements
4.3.2 Race to the Sea
to withstand German attacks around Lille. The BEF had
begun to move from the Aisne to Flanders on 5 October
Main article: Race to the Sea
and reinforcements from England assembled on the left
From 17 September17 October the belligerents made ank of the Tenth Army, which had been formed from
the left ank units of the Second Army on 4 October.[47]
The Allies and the Germans attempted to take more
ground after the open northern ank had disappeared.
The Franco-British attacks towards Lille in October at
the battles of La Basse, Messines and Armentires
(OctoberNovember) were followed up by attempts to
advance between the BEF and the Belgian army by a new
French Eighth Army. The moves of the 7th and then the
6th Army from Alsace and Lorraine had been intended
to secure German lines of communication through Belgium, where the Belgian army had sortied several times,
during the period between the Great Retreat and the Battle of the Marne. In August, British marines had landed
at Dunkirk.[48] In October a new 4th Army was assembled from the III Reserve Corps, the siege artillery used
against Antwerp, and four of the new reserve corps training in Germany. A German oensive began by 21 October but the 4th and 6th armies were only able to take small
amounts of ground, at great cost to both sides at the Battle
of the Yser (1631 October) and further south the First
Battle of Ypres. Falkenhayn then attempted to achieve a
limited goal of capturing Ypres and Mount Kemmel, in
the First Battle of Ypres (19 October22 November).[49]

5 See also
German and Allied operations, Artois and Flanders,
SeptemberNovember 1914

reciprocal attempts to turn the northern ank of their opponent. Jore ordered the French Second Army to move
to the north of the French Sixth Army, by moving from
eastern France from 29 September and Falkenhayn ordered the German 6th Army to move from the German-

World War I casualties

La Fert-sous-Jouarre memorial

Second Battle of the Marne

8 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Notes

Footnotes

[33] Brooks 2000, pp. 156.

[34] Mead 1983, pp. 5658.

[1] Skinner & Stacke 1922, p. 7.

[2] Skinner & Stacke 1922, pp. 78.
[3] Skinner & Stacke 1922, pp. 89.
[4] Tyng 1935, p. 128.

[35] Chickering 2004, p. 31.

[36] The First World War: Part 2: Under the Eagle (1914)TV
MINI-SERIES 2003
[37] Edmonds 1926, p. 313.
[38] Herwig 2009, pp. xii, xv, 315316.

[5] Tyng 1935, p. 154.

[39] Sumner 2010, p. 89.

[6] Skinner & Stacke 1922, p. 9.

[40] Sumner 2010, p. 88.

[7] Tyng 1935, pp. 173, 210.

[41] Doughty 2005, pp. 9598.

[8] Blond 1967, pp. 4445.

[42] Edmonds 1926, p. 388.

[9] Strachan 2001, pp. 243253.

[43] Doughty 2005, pp. 9799.

[10] Mead 1983, pp. 5556.

[44] Edmonds 1926, pp. 400401.

[11] Doughty 2005, pp. 9295.

[45] Edmonds 1926, pp. 407408.

[12] Dictionnaire Historique de Paris 2013, p. 750.

[46] Foley 2005, p. 101.

[13] Fierro 1996, p. 1166.

[47] Doughty 2005, pp. 98100.

[14] Tyng 1935, pp. 239240.

[15] Strachan 2001, pp. 242262.

[48] Strachan 2001, pp. 269270.

[49] Doughty 2005, pp. 103104.

[16] Herwig 2009, p. 262.

[17] Spears 1930, pp. 554555.

8 Bibliography

[18] Schddekopf 1977, p. 18.

[19] Churchill, Winston. The World Crisis, 19111918, Free
Press, 2005, ISBN 0 7432 8343 0, p.168.
[20] Herwig 2009, pp. 266306.
[21] Spears 1930, pp. 551552, 554.
[22] Tyng 1935, p. 317.
[23] Tyng 1935, pp. 318319.
[24] Sumner 2010, p. 5.
[25] Tuchman 1962, p. 522.
[26] Tyng 1935, p. 336.
[27] Nikolas Gardner (2003). Trial by Fire: Command and the
British Expeditionary Force in 1914. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 73. ISBN 978-0-313-32473-4.
[28] John Terraine, Mons: The Retreat to Victory, 2d ed. (London: Leo Cooper, 1991), 215.
[29] Tuchman 1962, p. 521.
[30] Doughty 2005, p. 96.
[31] Sumner 2010, p. 86.
[32] Tuchman 1962, p. 519.

Asprey, R. B. (1962). The First Battle of the

Marne. London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson. OCLC
752821273.
Blond, Georges (1967). The Marne (translation by
H.E. Hart, of La Marne ed.). New York: Pyramid
Books. OCLC 559095779.
Boucard, Pauline (2013). Dictionnaire historique de
Paris. La Pochothque. ISBN 978-2-253-13140-3.
Battle-Fields of the Marne 1914 (PDF). Illustrated
Michelin Guides for the Visit to the Battleelds.
Clermont-Ferrand: Michelin & Cie. 1925. OCLC
487790576. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
Brooks, Richard (2000). Atlas of World Military
History. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 0-76072025-8.
Cassar, G. (2004). Kitcheners War: British Strategy
from 19141916. Washington DC: Brasseys. ISBN
1-57488-708-4.
Chickering, R. (2004). Imperial Germany and
the Great War, 19141918. Cambridge University
Press. ISBN 978-1-10703-768-7.

9
Doughty, R. A. (2005). Pyrrhic Victory: French
Strategy and Operations in the Great War. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press. ISBN 0-67401-880-X.
Dupuy, R. E.; Dupuy, T. N. (1970). The Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: Harper & Row.
ISBN 0-06-011139-9.
Dupuy, T. N. (1977). A Genius for War: The
German Army and General Sta, 18071945. Englewood Clis, N.J.: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13351114-6.
Edmonds, J. E. (1926). Military Operations France
and Belgium 1914: Mons, the Retreat to the Seine,
the Marne and the Aisne AugustOctober 1914. History of the Great War Based on Ocial Documents
by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence I (2nd ed.). London:
Macmillan. OCLC 58962523.
Evans, M. M. (2004). Battles of World War I. Devizes: Select Editions. ISBN 1-84193-226-4.
Fierro, Alfred (1996). Histoire et Dictionnaire de
Paris. Robert Laont. ISBN 2-221-07862-4.
Foley, R. T. (2005). German Strategy and the Path
to Verdun : Erich Von Falkenhayn and the Development of Attrition, 18701916. Cambridge: CUP.
ISBN 978-0-521-04436-3.
Herwig, H. (2009). The Marne, 1914: The Opening of World War I and the Battle that Changed the
World. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-14000-6671-1.
Isselin, H. (1964). The Battle of the Marne
(Elek Books 1965, translation of La Bataille de la
Marne ed.). Paris: Editions B. Arthaud. OCLC
760592610.
Mead, P. (1983). The Eye in the Air. London:
HMSO. ISBN 0-11-771224-8.
Perris, G. H. (1920). The Battle of the Marne (PDF).
London: Methuen. OCLC 565300967. Retrieved
27 March 2014.
Porch, D. (1981). The March to the Marne: The
French Army, 18701914 (2003 ed.). Cambridge:
CUP. ISBN 0-52154-592-7.
Senior, I. (2012). Home before the leaves fall: A
New History of the German Invasion of 1914. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 1-84908-843-8.
Schddekopf, O. E. (1977). Der Erste Weltkrieg.
Gtersloh: Bertelsmann Lexikon-Verlag. ISBN 357005-021-1.

Skinner, H. T.; Stacke, H. Fitz M. (1922). Principal

Events 19141918 (PDF). History of the Great War
Based on Ocial Documents. London: HMSO.
OCLC 17673086. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
Spears, E. (1930). Liaison 1914 (2nd 1968, Cassell
1999 ed.). London: Eyre & Spottiswoode. ISBN
0-304-35228-4.
Strachan, H. (2001). To Arms. The First World
War 1. Oxford: OUP. ISBN 0-19-926191-1.
Sumner, I. (2010). The First Battle of the Marne
1914: The French 'miracle' Halts the Germans.
Campaign. Oxford: Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603502-9.
Tuchman, B. (1962). The Guns of August. London:
Constable. ISBN 0-333-69880-0.
Tyng, S. (1935). The Campaign of the Marne
1914 (Westholme Publishing 2007 ed.). New York:
Longmans, Green. ISBN 1-59416-042-2.

9 Further reading
Balderston, J. L. (1919). The Genius of the Marne:
A Play in Three Scenes (PDF). New York: N. L.
Brown. OCLC 562161101. Retrieved 27 March
2014.
Carr, Henri (1921). La vritable histoire des taxis
de la Marne. Paris: Librairie Chapelot. Retrieved
23 August 2014.
Parmely, C. (1914-05-15). August 1914 The
1st Battle of Marne. Cnparm.home.texas.net. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
Unikoski, A. (2003-08-09). The War in the Air
Observation and Reconnaissance. First World
War.com. Retrieved 2009-04-15.

10 External links
BBC Battle of the Marne: 610 September 1914
First Battle of the Marne
The First Battle of the Marne, 1914
Webb, J. Battle of the Marne animated battle map
Sir John French, Second Despatch
Battle of the Marne animated map
Map of Europe, September 1914
Film of Marne Taxis

10

11

11
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