Battle of the Aisne 1914

1914 Aisne - reserve

Sep. 10 - Moltke gave order Sept 10 to withdraw to "entrench and hold" at the Aisne. Joffre pursued German retreating forces: "victory is now in the legs of the infantry." By Sep. 14, German 1st Army was behind the Aisne River, the 2nd and 3rd Armies behind Reims, and the 4th Army of Albrecht at Mont Blanc became the right flank of the Crown Prince William's 5th Army around Verdun. Falkenhayn replaced Moltke.

Sep. 11 - French equipped BEF with its first homing pigeons.

Sep. 12 - Battle of the Aisne began when BEF crossed river at Venizel near Soissons. On Sep. 13, French 6th Army occupied Soissons, and north to Amiens on the Somme. The German 7th Army arrived to reinforce the gap between the 1st and 2nd Armies. The Germans now commanded by Falkenhayn formed a defensive line on the heights of Chemin des Dames between Soissons and Reims, and tuned back repeated Allied attacks. Germans used heavy artillery, airplanes, observation balloons. Reims Cathedral damaged. (map 14-18 Sept North Bank)

Sep. 18 - German attacks south of Verdun formed a salient around St. Mihiel, but Falkenhayn decided to move Rupprechts's 6th Army to the north to counter the French flanking effort north of Compiegne.

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.

   

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