By the end of August 1914, the whole of the allied army on the western front had been forced into a general retreat back towards Paris as the German First and second Armies continued their drive through France. The fall of Paris seemed imminent as the bulk of the French and British forces fell back to the Marne River.
Field Marshal J. French, commander of the B.E.F., began to plan for all out retreat of the British forces to port cities on the English Channel for immediate evacuation purposes. French commander Gen. J.S. Gallieni was tasked with planning the defense of Paris. His first order of business was to organize the French and British armies to counter the weight of the German advance. After consulting Lord Kitchener about the use of the British forces, Gallieni secured the over all command of the B.E.F. for the defense, thus stopping French’s planed withdrawal.
Gallieni’s plan was simple, all available allied units would counter-attack along the Marne River and hold up the German advance. As this action was going on, the allied reserves would be thrown in to restore the ranks as well as attack the German flanks.
The battle opened on September 5, in the middle of the afternoon. The French Sixth Army stumbled into the forward guard of the German First Army. The British would not engage in the battle until the 9th following a grave error made by the German commander Gen. Von Kluck. As the French Sixth Army retreated back towards the Marne, von Kluck ordered his forces to pursue and destroy it. In doing this, the Germans had opened a large gap on their right flank between the First and Second Armies. Seeing a great opportunity, the all three infantry corps and two cavalry divisions of the B.E.F. and the French Fifth Army filled this gap and attacked the exposed German flanks of both armies.
The German Chief of Staff, Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, began to receive frantic reports from his field commanders informing him of the danger posed to his two armies. He suffered a nervous breakdown on the spot and informed his subordinates to take over. Both the First and Second armies were ordered to withdraw to the Aisne River in order to regroup. On the 10th of September, the battle of the Marne was officially over and the race to the sea had begun.
Get your own Free Home Page