Karl Deuringer - The First Battle of the First World War: Alsace-Lorraine

With the permission of the Bavarian Army Archive

Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv

Abt. IV Kriegsarchiv

Leonrodstrae 57

80636 Mnchen

www.gda.bayern.de

The Peacetime Army

Mobilisation

Initial Deployment

Deployment of the Sixth Army and First Combat to 13 August

The Cavalry Charge at Gerden, 11 August

Badonviller, 12 August

German and French War Plans

Diespach, 14 August

7th Army to 17 August

6th Army Withdrawal, 1417 August

Cirey, 14 August

Initial Advance: Combat in the Vosges, 1819 August

Weiler,18 August

Weier im Thal and Giragroutte, 19 August

St Martin, 19 August

18 and 19 August in Lorraine

Mittersheim, 18 August

Liedersingen, 19 August

The Battle of Lorraine, 20 August

Delm

Mrchingen

LautersingenSt Johann

Saarburg

The Pursuit on 21 August

The Pursuit on 22 August

Maixe

Autrepierre

The Battle in the Middle Vosges

XIV RK, 2022 August

30 RD at Steige, 20 August

Roggensbach-Salzheim, 2122 August

Bavarian Ersatz Division and 2 Landwehr Brigade, 2022 August

St Kreuz, 20 August

Markirch, 21 August

First Conquest of the Col de Ste Marie, 22 August

Colmar and Mhlhausen, 2022 August

Continuation of the Pursuit 2326 August

23 August

Montigny

24 August

II b. AK Attack Over the Meurthe: BlainvilleRemenoville

I b. AK at Baccarat

The End of the Pursuit: The Front Stabilises, 25 and 26 August

25 August

HovilleMaixeLomont

Withdrawal of II b. AK behind the Mortagne

Lamath, 25 August

Bazien

26 August

Events North of Lunville

Stabilisation of the II b. AK Position, South-east of Lunville

Xermamnil

Doncires

Conquest of Fort Manonviller

The Breakthrough Over the Vosges to the Meurthe, South of St Di

23-27 August

30 RD Advance Over the Col dUrbeis, 23-25 August

Advance of the Bavarian Ersatz Division over the Col de St Marie to Wisembach, 23-25 August

Setback on the Col de Ste Marie, 23 August

Col de Ste Marie Finally Taken, 24 August

Advance Through Wisembach, 25 August

General Advance to the Meurthe and the Capture of St Di, 26-27 August

Coinches, 26 August

St Di-Saulcy, 27 August

The Rhine Valley South of Schlettstadt, 23-26 August

Deadlock and New Missions, End of August to Beginning of September

Quiet North of Lunville

II b. AK, the Sixth Army Problem Child

I b. AK at Xaffvillers-Anglemont, 27-28 August

Continuation of the Battles at St Di, 28 August

29 August

30 August

31 August

1 September

2 September

Advance into the Vosges West of Colmar and into the Upper Alsace

Eschelmer-Zell-Drei hren, 2 September

Renewing the Offensive, 3-8 September

Upper Alsace and the Vosges, 3-8 September

Unsuccessful Attack on the Crest of the Vosges

30 RD, Bavarian ED, 3-8 September

3 September

4 September

5 September

Defense Against French Attacks 6-8 September

Between Lunville and the West Slope of the Vosges, 3-8 September

The Attack on the Nancy Position, 3-8 September

Preparations

The First Step, 4-5 September

The Second Step, 7-8 September

Breaking Off the Battle and Withdrawal, 9-15 September

30 RD and Bavarian ED at Senones-Saal, 13-14 September

Casualties

Analysis

This book recounts not only the first battle of the First World War, but also the only battle in which the Bavarian Army, under Bavarian leadership, fought independently. Later it would be split up to fight as Bavarian corps, and even divisions, mixed with other formations of the German Army. All of the source material available in the Bavarian State archives in 1929, principally war diaries and after-action reports, was drawn upon. These were usually meagre, incomplete and inexact.

Every attempt was made to present the events accurately, even when this was sometimes not flattering. The only way that the purpose of all military history, which is to instruct future generations, can be accomplished and fostered is by an unvarnished presentation of the events. In particular, the German people have a serious need to investigate the reasons for its defeat, and to recognise and acknowledge the mistakes that were made. No criticism can be made of the troop units and their leaders. They were all motivated by the desire to do their best. Considering the enormous friction that accompanies everything in war, errors and mistakes cannot be avoided.

Names are mentioned only to the limited degree that the source document itself requires. In our present time, the cause is to be placed above the individual, the deed above the name. In the last analysis, every units accomplishments were a joint effort.

Various considerations have caused the Bavarian Army Archive to limit its description of the deeds of the non-Bavarian units. Nevertheless, their contribution is always recognised to the degree necessary to understand the continuity and form of the overall Battle of Lorraine. The Bavarian Army Archive thanks the Reichsarchiv in Potsdam for the assistance it provided in this matter.

Notes

See Translator/Editor Preface.

Reichsarchiv , Der Weltkrieg, Band I, Die Grenzschlachten im Westen (Berlin, 1925); Band III, Der Marnefeldzug. Von Der Sambre bis zur Marne (Berlin, 1926); Band IV, Der Marnefeldzug. Die Schlacht (Berlin, 1926).

Ministre de la Guerre, Les Armes Franaises dans la Grande Guerre , tome I, vols 1 and 2 and Annexes (Paris, 19235).

Dubois, Deux ans de Commandemment sur le Front de France. I Le 9e Corps . Palat La Grande Guerre sur la Front Occidental.

The first great battle of the First World War began with an offensive by the French First and Second Armies into German Lorraine on 14 August 1914. The first massive clash of arms in the Great War came when the Germans counter-attacked in Lorraine on 20 August, a stunning German tactical victory, followed by a disorderly French retreat back into France.

The battle in Lorraine, and not the later battles in the Ardennes or northern Belgium, had been anticipated by both sides since 1872. Indeed, until Joffre decided to conduct the main French offensive into Belgium on 2 August, he had always reserved the option of conducting the decisive offensive in Lorraine. As late as 15 August, Moltke believed that the main French offensive would be made in Lorraine. Nevertheless, the only references to this battle in French, English or German histories are short one- or two-page summaries in accounts of the Marne Campaign: most of these are uninformative (generally ascribing German success to heavy artillery) and some positively erroneous.

There has only been one serious monograph on this battle: Karl Deuringers Die Schlacht in Lothringen und in den Vogesen 1914 ( The Battle in Lorraine and the Vosges 1914 ), published by the Bavarian Army Archive ( Bayerisches Kriegsarchiv ) in 1929. The challenge as translator and editor was to condense Die Schlacht in Lothringen into something that could be published today.

Lorraine was defended by the German Sixth Army, almost all of whose major units were Bavarian, commanded by the Bavarian Crown Prince. This would also be the last time that the Bavarian Army, whose history went back to the early seventeenth century, would fight as a unit. After Lorraine, the Bavarian corps would be intermixed with those of Prussia and the other German states. The Bavarian Army Archive wanted to record this last great battle in an appropriate manner, so Deuringer produced a two-volume, 893-page work with 74 maps (including a total of seven extra large map sheets in pockets at the back of both volumes). Deuringer chronicled the entire Bavarian battle in Alsace-Lorraine until it was broken off by both sides in mid-September.