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Battle of Mulhouse
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Battle of Mulhouse
The Battle of Mulhouse (German: Mülhausen), also called the Battle of Alsace (French: Bataille d'Alsace), began on 7 August 1914 and was the opening attack of the First World War by the French Army against the German Empire. The battle was a French attempt to recover Alsace, which France had ceded to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. The French occupied Mulhouse on 8 August and were then forced out by German counter-attacks on 10 August.
The French retired to Belfort, where General Louis Bonneau, the VII Corps commander, was sacked, along with the commander of the 8th Cavalry Division. Events further north led to the German XIV and XV corps being moved away from Belfort and a second French offensive by the French VII Corps, reinforced and renamed the French Army of Alsace (General Paul Pau), began on 14 August.
During the Battle of Lorraine, the principal French offensive by the First and Second armies, the Army of Alsace advanced cautiously into the border province of Lorraine (Lothringen). The French reached the area west of Mulhouse by 16 August and fought their way into the city by 19 August. The Germans were pursued eastwards over the Rhine and the French took 3,000 prisoners. Joffre ordered the offensive to continue but by 23 August, preparations were halted as news of the French defeats in Lorraine and the Ardennes arrived.
On 26 August, the French withdrew from Mulhouse to a more defensible line near Altkirch, to provide reinforcements for the French armies closer to Paris. The Army of Alsace was disbanded, the VII Corps was transferred to the Somme area in Picardy and the 8th Cavalry Division was attached to the First Army, to which two more divisions were sent later. The German 7th Army joined in the counter-offensive in Lorraine with the 6th Army and in early September was transferred to the Aisne.
Belgian military planning assumed that if there was an invasion, the guaranteeing powers of Belgian neutrality would evict the invaders. The Belgian state did not see France and Britain as allies and Belgium intended only to protect its independence. The Anglo-French Entente (1904) led the Belgians to believe that the British saw Belgium as a British protectorate. A Belgian General Staff was formed in 1910 but the Chef d'État-Major Général de l'Armée, Lieutenant-Général Harry Jungbluth, was retired on 30 June 1912 and was replaced only in May 1914, by Lieutenant-Général Antonin de Selliers de Moranville. He began planning for the concentration of the army in the centre of the country and met with railway officials on 29 July.
The field army was to assemble in front of the National redoubt of Belgium, ready to face any border, while the Fortified Position of Liège and Fortified Position of Namur were left to secure the frontiers. On mobilisation, the King became Commander-in-Chief and chose where the army was to concentrate. Amid the disruption of the new rearmament plan, the disorganised and poorly trained Belgian soldiers would benefit from a central position to delay contact with an invader. The army would also need fortifications for defence but they were on the frontier and there was a school of thought that wanted a return to a frontier deployment, in line with French theories of the offensive. Belgian plans became an unsatisfactory compromise, in which the field army concentrated behind the Gete river with two divisions forward at Liège and Namur.
German strategy had given priority to offensive operations against France and a defensive posture against Russia since 1891. German planning was determined by numerical inferiority, the speed of mobilisation and concentration and the effect of the vast increase of the power of modern weapons. Frontal attacks were expected to be costly and protracted, leading to limited success, particularly after the French and Russians modernised their fortifications on the frontiers with Germany. Alfred von Schlieffen Chief of the Imperial German General Staff (Oberste Heeresleitung, OHL) from 1891–1906, devised a plan to evade the French frontier fortifications with an offensive on the northern flank, which would have a local numerical superiority and obtain rapidly a decisive victory. By 1898–1899, such a manoeuvre was intended to rapidly pass through Belgium, between Antwerp and Namur and threaten Paris from the north.
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger succeeded Schlieffen in 1906 and was less certain that the French would conform to German assumptions. German strategy would need to become more opportunistic and Moltke modified German plans, to make them less rigid, making the offensives of 1914 the opening moves of what was expected to be a long war with no certainty of victory. Moltke adapted the deployment and concentration plan, to accommodate an attack in the centre or an enveloping attack from both flanks, by adding divisions to the left flank opposite the French frontier, from the c. 1,700,000 men expected to be mobilised in the Westheer (western army). The main German force would still advance through Belgium and attack southwards into France, the French armies would be enveloped on the left and pressed back over the Meuse, Aisne, Somme, Oise, Marne and Seine, unable to withdraw into central France. The French would be annihilated, or the manoeuvre from the north would create conditions for victory in the centre or in Lorraine.
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Battle of Mulhouse AI simulator
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Battle of Mulhouse
The Battle of Mulhouse (German: Mülhausen), also called the Battle of Alsace (French: Bataille d'Alsace), began on 7 August 1914 and was the opening attack of the First World War by the French Army against the German Empire. The battle was a French attempt to recover Alsace, which France had ceded to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. The French occupied Mulhouse on 8 August and were then forced out by German counter-attacks on 10 August.
The French retired to Belfort, where General Louis Bonneau, the VII Corps commander, was sacked, along with the commander of the 8th Cavalry Division. Events further north led to the German XIV and XV corps being moved away from Belfort and a second French offensive by the French VII Corps, reinforced and renamed the French Army of Alsace (General Paul Pau), began on 14 August.
During the Battle of Lorraine, the principal French offensive by the First and Second armies, the Army of Alsace advanced cautiously into the border province of Lorraine (Lothringen). The French reached the area west of Mulhouse by 16 August and fought their way into the city by 19 August. The Germans were pursued eastwards over the Rhine and the French took 3,000 prisoners. Joffre ordered the offensive to continue but by 23 August, preparations were halted as news of the French defeats in Lorraine and the Ardennes arrived.
On 26 August, the French withdrew from Mulhouse to a more defensible line near Altkirch, to provide reinforcements for the French armies closer to Paris. The Army of Alsace was disbanded, the VII Corps was transferred to the Somme area in Picardy and the 8th Cavalry Division was attached to the First Army, to which two more divisions were sent later. The German 7th Army joined in the counter-offensive in Lorraine with the 6th Army and in early September was transferred to the Aisne.
Belgian military planning assumed that if there was an invasion, the guaranteeing powers of Belgian neutrality would evict the invaders. The Belgian state did not see France and Britain as allies and Belgium intended only to protect its independence. The Anglo-French Entente (1904) led the Belgians to believe that the British saw Belgium as a British protectorate. A Belgian General Staff was formed in 1910 but the Chef d'État-Major Général de l'Armée, Lieutenant-Général Harry Jungbluth, was retired on 30 June 1912 and was replaced only in May 1914, by Lieutenant-Général Antonin de Selliers de Moranville. He began planning for the concentration of the army in the centre of the country and met with railway officials on 29 July.
The field army was to assemble in front of the National redoubt of Belgium, ready to face any border, while the Fortified Position of Liège and Fortified Position of Namur were left to secure the frontiers. On mobilisation, the King became Commander-in-Chief and chose where the army was to concentrate. Amid the disruption of the new rearmament plan, the disorganised and poorly trained Belgian soldiers would benefit from a central position to delay contact with an invader. The army would also need fortifications for defence but they were on the frontier and there was a school of thought that wanted a return to a frontier deployment, in line with French theories of the offensive. Belgian plans became an unsatisfactory compromise, in which the field army concentrated behind the Gete river with two divisions forward at Liège and Namur.
German strategy had given priority to offensive operations against France and a defensive posture against Russia since 1891. German planning was determined by numerical inferiority, the speed of mobilisation and concentration and the effect of the vast increase of the power of modern weapons. Frontal attacks were expected to be costly and protracted, leading to limited success, particularly after the French and Russians modernised their fortifications on the frontiers with Germany. Alfred von Schlieffen Chief of the Imperial German General Staff (Oberste Heeresleitung, OHL) from 1891–1906, devised a plan to evade the French frontier fortifications with an offensive on the northern flank, which would have a local numerical superiority and obtain rapidly a decisive victory. By 1898–1899, such a manoeuvre was intended to rapidly pass through Belgium, between Antwerp and Namur and threaten Paris from the north.
Helmuth von Moltke the Younger succeeded Schlieffen in 1906 and was less certain that the French would conform to German assumptions. German strategy would need to become more opportunistic and Moltke modified German plans, to make them less rigid, making the offensives of 1914 the opening moves of what was expected to be a long war with no certainty of victory. Moltke adapted the deployment and concentration plan, to accommodate an attack in the centre or an enveloping attack from both flanks, by adding divisions to the left flank opposite the French frontier, from the c. 1,700,000 men expected to be mobilised in the Westheer (western army). The main German force would still advance through Belgium and attack southwards into France, the French armies would be enveloped on the left and pressed back over the Meuse, Aisne, Somme, Oise, Marne and Seine, unable to withdraw into central France. The French would be annihilated, or the manoeuvre from the north would create conditions for victory in the centre or in Lorraine.
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