The Allied Retreat 1914
 1914 Retreat - reserve
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Aug. 27 - Moltke ordered general advance of German armies, including in Lorraine. Moltke sent 6 Ersatz divisions from Belgium to Lorrain to strengthen the German left wing as the 6th and 7th Armies advanced along the Moselle River. French 4th Army retreated to the west behind the Aisne River to join the new 9th Army of Joffre below the Marne.
Aug. 28 - Foch took command of new 9th Army on left of the 4th Army.
Aug. 29 - Battle of Guise-St. Quentin began when French 5th Army of Lanzerac turned and blocked advance of Bulow's 2nd Army at Guise on the Oisne River for 36 hours. A bold French attack in early evening took the town of Guise, but the BEF refused to support Lanzerac's attack, and the retreat resumed Aug. 30, after the French destroyed the Oisne bridges. This battle gave Foch time to organize his 9th Army.
Aug. 30 - Joffre promoted Ferdinand Foch to army commander, Charles Mangin and Philippe Petain to generals. On Sep. 3, Joffre appeased the British by replacing Lanzeerac with Franchet d'Esperey, and kept the BEF in France despite Gen. John French's threat to leave in 10 days. Joffre had sacked 3 army commanders, 7 corps commanders, 34 division commanders, 14 brigade commanders.
Sep. 3 - the new Paris governor Gallieni sent airplanes to locate Kluck, discovered Kluck's turn to the east of Paris, and agreed with Joffre on the need to send troops and the 6th Army eastward from Paris to the south bank of the Marne. On Sep. 4, Gallieni and Archibald Murray agreed at Melun to move the BEF between the 6th Army and d'Esperey's 5th Army south of the Marne, and support d'Esperey's plan to envelop Kluck on 3 sides.
Sep. 4 - Moltke ordered the 6th and 7th Armies to renew the attack on the Moselle. The Kaiser observed in person the heavy German shelling of Nancy in the Battle of the Grande Courdonne, and watched his nephew Crown Prince Rupprecht turn back French counterattacks. Moltke's plan was for the main attack to come from the Moselle. The 1st and 2nd Armies were told to guard the right flank, the 3rd to hold the center, and the main attack to come from the left wing, by the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th Armies to breakthrough the French defenses, rather than envelop. However, Kluck was continuing to advance southeast of Paris pursuing the French armies that he had been defeating. Kluck's airplanes reported the roads full of troops moving south, apparently in retreat. However, Kluck's IV Corps on his right flank did not have airplanes and was unaware of the French 6th Army approaching to attack on the Ourcq River.
Next - The Battle of the Marne
Links:
- map from USMA
- Battle of the Frontiers - Lorraine and Ardennes and Mons from World War One - The War To End All War
- Battle of the Frontiers from Western Front Association
- Chapter 3, Battle of Mons, Military Operations France and Belgium 1914, by Gen. James E. Edmonds, 1933
- Great War In a Different Light
Sources:
- Keegan, John. The First World War. New York : A. Knopf, 1999.
- Strachan, Hew. The First World War: To Arms. Vol 1. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
- Tuchman, Barbara. The Guns of August. New York, Macmillan, 1962.