Armée d'Alsace
The Armée d'Alsace (German Alsace Army ) was an army of the French army in the First World War , which existed only briefly in August 1914 and was involved in the border battles in Alsace during this time .
history
The army was formed on August 11, 1914 by order of the Grand Quartier Général from the previous day from the VII Army Corps (General Bonneau ) and the 1st Group of Reserve Divisions (General Archinard ) and the 8th Cavalry Division under the command of General Paul Pau in the upper Alsace formed. This happened after General Joffre decided to let the 1st Army take part in the attack on Lorraine together with the 2nd Army . The VII Army Corps ( Besançon peace site ) had previously advanced from the Col de la Schlucht area to the Swiss border on German territory ( Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine ) and briefly occupied Mulhouse , but returned to the line on August 9 before a German counterattack Altkirch - Thann have to withdraw ( battle near Sennheim-Mühlhausen ). Another attack on Mulhouse - by the Armée d'Alsace - was intended to divert the Germans from the main attack of the right wing of the French Army (1st and 2nd Army) on Lorraine, scheduled for August 14th. The Armée d'Alsace was strengthened for this by the addition of parts of the dissolved Armée des Alpes .
General Pau's aim was to advance over the passes of the Vosges and through the Burgundian Gate to the Colmar area in the Alsatian plain. The operation, which began on the 14th of the month, initially went as desired: after the French took Mulhouse again in heavy house-to-house fighting (August 19th) and in places crossed the Ill , they were able to advance into the outskirts of Colmar by the 22nd. At this time, however, the defeats of the other French armies in the border battles were already beginning to show, and the Armée d'Alsace had to withdraw and surrender parts of their troops to them. The VII Army Corps was used to set up the new 6th Army in the Paris area, the 1st Reserve Division Group was disbanded and its divisions were distributed elsewhere. The remaining troops - only about two divisions in strength - were transformed into the Groupement des Vosges on August 28 , from which the XXXIV. Army Corps emerged.
