Race to the sea
| date | September 14 - October 19, 1914 |
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| place | Aisne - North Sea , France |
| output | draw |
| consequences | End of the war of movement |
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The term race to sea refers to the war events in 1914 on the western front between the river Aisne and the North Sea after the First Battle of the Marne to the First Battle of Flanders in 1914. Due to the military operations from mid-September 1914, the opposing armies moved almost parallel to the north North Sea. Both warring parties originally wanted to bypass the enemy on the flank and thereby bring the war to a quick conclusion. For the further course of the war, the control of the Channel coast on the Strait of Dover was of crucial importance for the Allies, as the British supplies were handled via the ports near the front here. Between September 14 and October 19, the Allies alone moved over 50 divisions with 750,000 men in 6000 train transports, while the Germans relocated almost 30 divisions simultaneously from south to north and provided twelve new reserve divisions. Following the First Battle of the Aisne , the transition from war of movement to war of positions followed until the beginning of the First Battle of Flanders on October 20 .
prehistory
After the Battle of the Marne, the Entente was on the offensive. Heavy fighting broke out on the Aisne from September 13th (→ Battle of the Aisne (1914) ). However, the attack by the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was unable to break through the German lines, which had been reinforced with the first temporary trenches . On the other hand, German counter-offensives also failed.
Both Joseph Joffre and the newly appointed German Chief of Staff Erich von Falkenhayn therefore saw the 160 km wide strip between the Aisne River and the North Sea as the only promising venue for further operations. As a result, both sides pursued the goal of shifting free troops to the north and at the same time preventing the enemy from shifting troops through constant attacks.
Colonel-General Karl von Bülow , the Commander-in-Chief of the German 2nd Army , and the Chief of the Operations Department of the General Staff, Colonel Gerhard Tappen , had pointed out, however, that the French had the advantage of the inner lines and could destroy any flank maneuver. Both favored a new counterattack between Soissons and Reims on the Aisne to the south, which was repulsed by the French 5th Army (General Franchet d'Espèrey ) during the Aisne battle on September 16 . On September 17 and 18, the German 1st Army (Colonel General von Kluck ) was able to repel the attacks of the French 6th Army at Lassigny, which began at the same time .
course
General von Falkenhayn ordered the quick march north, the not yet formed front to the North Sea still offered the possibility of a large-scale outflanking the enemy. He was confident that a decisive German victory would still be possible with quick regroupings on the western flank, even though the time was already working for the opponents. The advantage of the higher German troop strength was over - 85.5 Allied divisions now faced only 84 German divisions.
Already on September 15, Falkenhayn began working out operational plans for the withdrawal of the German 6th Army under Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria from Lorraine and their relocation to the right wing of the 1st Army. For the German 1st, 7th and 3rd Armies the defensive was ordered on the Aisnefront and in the Champagne , and reserves were to be freed up by straightening the front.
The AOK 6 (Headquarters St. Quentin ) initially received after the IX on the extreme right . Reserve Corps (General Boehn ) of the 1st Army remaining in the Noyon area is in charge of the following corps units regrouped to Bapaume (from left to right):
- XVIII. Army Corps , ( Schenck ) with the 21st and 25th divisions
- XXI. Army Corps , ( Fritz von Below ) with the 31st and 42nd Divisions
- Bavarian I. Army Corps , ( Xylander ) with the Bavarian 1st and 2nd Divisions
- Bavarian I. Army Corps , ( Martini ) with the Bavarian 3rd and 4th Divisions
- XIV. Reserve Corps , ( Stein ) with the 26th and 28th Reserve Divisions
The German intention to catch up early to the north did not escape the attention of the French Marshal Joffre, he reacted immediately to all enemy movements with corresponding French formations, which he always opposed to the German troops in parallel. From September 17th, the 2nd Army under General Noël de Castelnau was pushed in north of the Oise to the Somme , and the French 13th, 4th and 14th Corps marched up to the front of the German 6th Army in a race for the flank Amiens on.
On September 25, the necessary relocation of the Supreme Army Command (OHL) under General von Falkenhayn from Luxembourg to the new headquarters in Mézières took place . On September 27th and 28th, the XIV Reserve Corps fought a new front east of Albert during the western advance on Amiens . On the German side, further extensive regroupings became necessary in the last days of September as a result of the rapid expansion of the front. AOK 2 took over command of the newly formed front of the 6th Army between Oise and Scarpe . Aisne section at Damenweg ( Chemin des Dames ) and prior to Reims , where the 2nd Army had previously fought, was with the X Army Corps and the X Reserve Corps finally by the 7th Army (Colonel General Josias von Heeringen ).
The staff of the 2nd Army under Colonel General von Bülow took their headquarters in St. Quentin, from where Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria had recently directed the fighting east of Amiens. The 6th Army then took over the new command area between Arras and Lille to the north, with the following - from left to right - newly assigned corps:
- Guard Corps ( Plettenberg ) with 1st and 2nd Guard Division
- IV. Army Corps ( Sixt von Armin ) with 7th and 8th divisions
- Bavarian I. Reserve Corps ( Fasbender ) with Bavarian 1st and 5th Reserve Divisions
- VII Army Corps ( Claer ) with 13th and 14th divisions
- XIV Army Corps ( Watter ) with 28th and 29th divisions
- XIX. (II. Royal Saxon) Army Corps ( Laffert ) with 24th and 40th divisions
- The higher cavalry commands 1 and 2 (7 cavalry divisions) saw themselves already involved in fighting with the newly formed French 10th Army (General Maud'huy ).
First battle for Arras
Since September 25, the newly formed French 10th Army under General Maud'huy marched north of the Somme between Amiens and Doullens and tried to push north of Arras south-east into the German hinterland. It was opposed by the newly formed German 6th Army under Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria. The Guard Corps (General Plettenberg) first arrived on October 2nd at Monchy-le-Preux as the new left wing of the German 6th Army. On October 4, 1914, attacks by the German XIV Reserve Corps drove the French Landwehr group of General Brugère with the 81st, 82nd, 84th and 88th Territorial Divisions onto the line Hébuterne - Gommecourt - Monchy-au- Bois , where the front froze until March 1917. Meanwhile, the German Guard Corps began the attack on Bapaume at noon on October 4th . North of the Guard, the German IV Army Corps (General Sixt von Armin) advanced on the north bank of the Scarpe towards Arras and, fighting via Roeux and Athies, reached St. Laurent to the suburbs of Arras, which was successfully held by the French. Crown Prince Rupprecht was against a direct attack on Arras, the newly arrived Bavarian I. Reserve Corps and the IV Army Corps are initially limited to surrounding the city. General d'Urbal opened the first battle for Arras with the 33rd Corps and tried to take the Loretto-Höhe, which was initially held by the cavalry, then by the incoming Bavarian I. Reserve Corps under General von Fasbender against all attacks by the French has been.
On October 4th, General Joffre entrusted General Ferdinand Foch , the previous leader of the French 9th Army , to form the new front in the Artois . General Foch's intention was to forcefully encircle the German north wing. The French 10th Army marched on Lens and stood ready on the Doullens - St. Pol front line for the advance on Douai as follows:
- 2nd Mitry Cavalry Corps supported by Territorial Forces on Lille
- 21st Corps ( Maistre ) and 92nd Territorial Division on Lens
- 1st Cavalry Corps Conneau from Arras to Souchez and Givenchy
- 33rd Corps (General d'Urbal , from October 20th Pétain ) with three reserve divisions on Arras
- The 10th Corps ( Defforges ) marched on the right wing, followed by the 45th Reserve Division.
Meanwhile - covered by the cavalry under Marwitz - the right wing of the German 6th Army gathered in the area east of Lille. Due to the parallel action of the Germans, who extended their right wing faster to the north, Maud`huy's troops saw themselves forced to defend themselves. The combined German army cavalry under General von der Marwitz had swarmed with four cavalry divisions north of Lens past Hulluch on Loos to hold onto the left flank of the French 33rd Corps - the 70th Reserve Division (General Fayolle ). The French 10th Army was now threatened with being encircled from the north. Foch then withdrew the 21st Corps (Maistre) from the previous front and moved it even further north to Béthune in order to flank the German north wing from there, supported by several cavalry, reserve and territorial divisions via Lens - La Bassée to wrestle.
The northern wing of the 6th Army continued to target the important Lille hub. From October 6th, the 28th Division was unloaded in Douai , which also ensured the intervention of the German XIV Army Corps in the Lille area. Covered by the XIV. Army Corps fighting north of Lens, the Saxon XIX. Army Corps (Laffert) unloaded at and east of Valenciennes and ordered in forced marches to the area east and south-east of Lille. On the evening of October 9, the first battle at Arras subsided without a decision being reached. The French 21st Corps advanced between Béthune and Saint-Pol during this period .
Battle of Lille
Ownership of the Lille railway junction was important for both parties to secure supplies to win the race to Flanders. After preliminary battles with German troops, the entire French 21st Corps (General Maistre) was withdrawn from Lille on October 6 and relocated to Artois , the defense was left to the territorial troops set up there. General Krafft von Dellmensingen , the chief of staff of the German 6th Army, won General Falkenhayn in Mézières for his plan to deploy the XIV Army Corps further north via Lille to the west. The commanding General von Watter was of the same conviction and pushed his vanguard, the 28th Division (Lieutenant General von Kehler) on to Lille. The town was reported as evacuated on October 9th by the army cavalry under General von Richthofen . In addition, the right wing of the English army - the II. Corps under General Smith-Dorrien - was still unrecognized by the German army command and was approaching Béthune .
On October 3rd, Major General Franz Wahnschaffe's Landwehr Brigade occupied Tournai without a fight and was now supposed to advance into Lille from the east and occupy the citadel. The 28th Division had meanwhile reached the height of Le Rutoire on both sides of the road from Hulluch to Vermelles and stood on October 10 in the area east of Loos in an arc to the Lens-Mazingarbe road. After entering the suburb of La Madelaine, the Wahnschaffe detachment withdrew to Chéreng . The troops of the XIX. AK. meanwhile achieved with the right wing of the 40th Division to place Seclin and left Vanguard Brigade of the 24th Division (Lieutenant General Krug von Nidda ) the place Phalempin . The 40th Division under Lieutenant General Götz von Olenhusen received orders to move into Lille the next day and to occupy the station.
On October 10th, 6 squadrons of Algerian horsemen under Colonel Pardieu arrived in Lille, these were limited to the possible defense of the eastern suburbs, the main train station and the citadel. General von Laffert then immediately swung his two divisions from Pont à Marcq and Seclin to the north in order to occupy Lille. On the evening of October 11th, he demanded the surrender of the city, otherwise the bombardment of the city that had been declared a vacant place would begin. The request remained unanswered, but the French withdrew to the nearest houses, and after removing the wire obstacles, the German troops managed to get into the city through the second gate. The next morning, under the protection of artillery fire, the German troops advanced into the interior of the city. The 88th Infantry Brigade (Major General Bärensprung) stormed against the main station and through the gate of Douai, the 47th Infantry Brigade (Major General von Falkenstein) against the gate of Arras and the 89th Infantry Brigade (Major General von Seydewitz) against the gate of Béthune. The Wahnschaffe department had also returned and was now blocking the northern exits of the city. The 48th Infantry Brigade (Major General Kaden) was given the task of attacking the citadel and blocking the western exits and in the direction of Armentières . The bombardment initiated on October 12th caused many fires in Lille. In the evening, the weak French defense under Colonel Pardieu hoisted the white flag as a sign of surrender and surrendered with around 3500 men.
In further fighting from October 15, the German 6th Army succeeded in securing the city of Lille and repulsing attacks by the English off the south-western apron of Lille. The situation was cleared up at Crown Prince Rupprecht's headquarters in Cambrai. The French and English did not organize the reconquest of Lille, but put more emphasis on getting La Bassée into their hands, the property of which had initially gone to the German 29th Division (Lieutenant General Isbert ). On October 12th the battle of La Bassée took place , which lasted until the beginning of November. The troops of the English II Army Corps had reached the heights at Aubers , but were then pushed back into the plain there by the intervention of the 14th Division (Major General Fleck ) of the VII Army Corps (General von Claer) in a counter attack .
Formation of the front in Flanders
Marshal Joffre began moving the British Expedition Force (BEF) under Sir John French to Flanders on September 25, during the battle of the Aisne . On October 10th, despite reinforcements by the Royal Naval Division, Antwerp , the strongest fortress at the time , capitulated after the Belgian troops had previously withdrawn to the Yser . British forces had been securing Ghent and the Belgian supply ports since the beginning of the month ; they had also brought the Belgians reinforcements to the besieged Antwerp beforehand . For this French ordered the formation of the IV. Corps (General Rawlinson ), which held out with the British 7th Division and 3rd Cavalry Division in Bruges and Ghent as long as possible until the loss of Antwerp on October 10th to withdraw the Dunkirk - St. Omer line .
On October 4, General Ferdinand Foch had been appointed commander of Army Group North and thus supreme leader of all troops north of the Somme to the North Sea. General Foch brought the Belgians back to Ostend on the North Sea coast from October 20 through the establishment of the Belgian Army Department ( Détachement d'armée de Belgique ) under General Victor d'Urbal with the 32nd Corps ( Humbert ) and the de Mitry cavalry group timely discharge.
In the course of the race to Flanders, the German army command under General von Falkenhayn reacted. As a result of the shift of the army borders on October 10th, the German 4th Army was disbanded in its previous form in the Vouziers area under the leadership of Duke Albrecht von Württemberg . The staff of the 4th Army was destined to set up a new front in Flanders , and four new reserve corps were already gathering in the Brussels area .
- XXII. Reserve Corps ( Eugen von Falkenhayn ) with 43rd and 44th Reserve Divisions
- XXIII. Reserve Corps ( Georg von Kleist ) with 45th and 46th Reserve Divisions
- XXVI. Reserve Corps ( Otto von Hügel ) with the 51st and 52nd Reserve Divisions
- XXVII. Reserve Corps ( Adolph von Carlowitz ) with 53rd and 54th Reserve Divisions
Meanwhile, the British Expedition Force had reached La Bassée with the II. Corps (Smith-Dorrien) as vanguard, the I. Corps ( Haig ) was unloaded at Hazebrouck and followed by the III. Corps ( Pulteney ) after. General Rawlinson's newly formed IV. Corps reached Ypres on October 14, coming from the coast , made contact with the French 89th Territorial Division (General Bourdériat ) and secured the city with the 7th Division (Major General Capper ) against German attack . The area east of Ypres on the Zonnebeke line via Gheluvelt to Zillebeke was already poorly secured by the arriving French IX after the territorial forces of General Bidon had been removed. Corps. The English I. Corps (1st and 2nd Divisions) arrived at Ypres via the Cassel railway line as reinforcement; the III. Corps (4th and 6th divisions) in the Armentières area and west of La Bassée the II Corps (3rd and 5th divisions) the new positions.
Battle of the Yser
On October 16, the attack by the German III, who had become free after the fall of Antwerp, began on the North Sea coast . Reserve Corps (Gen. Hans von Beseler ) on the Yser line near Nieuwpoort . The hard-pressed Belgians opened the Nieuwpoort water locks on October 29th. The advance of the German 4th Replacement Division (General Werder ), which was attacking directly on the North Sea , had suffered heavy losses for days due to the intervention of the heavy artillery of the British fleet, and from the end of October further operations were no longer possible due to the flooding. The 5th and 6th Reserve Divisions , which were set up on Dixmuiden to the south , also failed to make a breakthrough. Even the intervention of the new reserve corps of the 4th Army could no longer change the deadlock.
consequences
The general offensive weakness on both sides ultimately led to the failure of all planned encircling maneuvers, although the balance was different. Falkenhayn's reserves were exhausted, but the Allies were reinforced in the La Bassée area by the Indian Corps under General Willcocks . In the end, the remaining gap between the fronts shrank to a corridor a few kilometers wide near Ypres , where the First Battle of Flanders began on October 20th .
The Allies managed to stabilize the fronts and thus avert defeat, but they had to accept the occupation of important French territories. The German army was able to secure and defend the economically important areas, but the prospect of a quick victory was a long way off after the failure of the Schlieffen Plan and the now continuous positional warfare.
literature
- Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914 to 1918. The military operations on land. Volume 5: The autumn campaign of 1914. In the west up to trench warfare. In the east to the retreat. Mittler, Berlin 1929.
- Jean-Baptiste Duroselle : La Grande Guerre des Français. L'incompréhensible. (1914-1918). Perrin, Paris 1998, ISBN 2-262-01423-X .
- John Keegan : The First World War. (Rororo 61194, rororo non-fiction book). Rowohlt-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Reinbek near Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-499-61194-5 .