Military Review English Edition November-December 2015 | Page 32
key insights that are relevant to our armed forces today,
particularly as they may apply to analysis and employment of the mission command concept.
in early August, the Germans deployed rapidly, advancing through neutral Belgium in an effort to envelop the
French and British forces preparing to advance against
the Germans. As part of this operation, the German
army had assembled a force of heavy artillery guns to
quickly reduce the Belgian and French fortresses in the
path of their advance.
In contrast, the French plan at the start of the war
was basically to attack wherever their forces could
destroy German forces, depending for success on
élan and their belief in the natural superiority of the
French soldier.
Background of the Campaign
The designation “First Battle of the Marne” is in
fact a misnomer; there was no decisive battle. It was
rather a series of numerous skirmishes and several
separate battles fought between Imperial German
Army and Anglo-French forces along the Ourcq, Petit
Morin, Grand Morin, and Aisne Rivers in northwestern France (see figure 1).
To avoid the German High Command’s worst
nightmare scenario of a two-front war, the key initial
objective for the opening German operation was to
knock France out of the conflict as quickly as possible so Germany could then turn its attention toward
Russia in the east. As a result, at the outset of the war
The German Offensive
The German invasion started 2 August 1914 and
extended to early September. In the beginning, most
things went right for the Germans and most went
wrong for the French. After reducing the fortress of
HOLL
Battle of le Cateau
26 August
LG
I
Mons
Boulogne
Arras
Brussels
UM
Lille
Battle of St.
Quentin/ Guise
29-30 August
Battle of
Charleroi
22-23 August
X
Liege
Namur
Ma
ube
uge
me
Aachen
Battle of the
Ardennes
22-23 August
se
Meu
Charleroi
Som
NY
MA
Ypres
BE
GER
Calais
Siege of Liege
4-16 August
Antwerp
BELGIAN
ARMY
Battle of Mons
22-23 August
Dunkirk
AND
Dinant
LU
X
EM
X
Amiens
Sedan
St. Quentin
FRANCE
XXXX
BO
UR
G
Luxembourg
5
XXXX
XXXX
Compiegne
1
XXXX
XXXX
3
e
Aisn
Reims
2
6
Verdun
Ma
e
50 miles
XXX
X
BEF
XXX
X
5
XXXX
XXXX
9
6
3
Paris
Sein
XXXX
XXXX
rne
XXXX
4
2
XXXX
4
Figure 1. The First Marne Campaign
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November-December 2015 MILITARY REVIEW