THE MARCH ON PARIS AND THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE, 1914 Kiililc-K'imit, Konigsberg, filwL ALEXANDER VON KLUCK THE MARCH ON PARIS AND THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE 1914 BY ALEXANDER VON KLUCK WITH PORTRAIT AND MAPS AND rOTES BY THE HISTORICAL SECTION (MILITARY BRANCH) OF THE COMMITTEE OF IMPERIAL DEFENCE LONDON EDWARD ARNOLD 1920 [All rights restrved] D AUTHOR'S PREFACE THE following review of events was completed on the 6th February, 1918. The books which have since been published on the period dealt with, such as Major Bircher's valuable contribution on the Battle of the Marne, that of Field-Marshal French (which appeared " in the summer of 1919), and General Maurice's Forty Days in 1914," have not been taken into account. The temptation to enter into the controversies raised by General Baumgarten-Crusius's work has been avoided, although it undoubtedly contains facts of great import- ance; so also with the books of Field-Marshal von Billow and General von Hausen. Only opinions formed at the time are recorded; those arrived at later have been omitted. These limitations seem most necessary in order that the appreciation of the situation as it appeared to the headquarters of the First Army in 1914 may be recorded, unaffected by other influences. With this in view, the more important orders and documents have been re- produced verbatim in the text. The point of view of the Army Commander as regards the dangers of a crossing of the Marne at the beginning of September, 1914, is set forth in the third part of this review. Major-General v. Nordenswan, a Swede, has " made many apposite remarks in his book Strategisches aus dem Weltkriege," and has developed them as much as the information at his disposal allowed. vi AUTHOR'S PREFACE The mutual relations between the headquarters of the First and Second Armies were as helpful as possible. Where opinions differed each stood by its own, and it is for future historians to inquire which party had the greater reason on its side. The general situation after " " the necessary regrouping of the German Western Army seemed by no means unfavourable, inasmuch as the political and strategic objectives of the war became limited to taking the greatest possible advantage of the strategic weakness of the enemy. To discover where this lies is the principal duty of the supreme command in war. VON KLUCK, Generaloberst. BERLIN, February, 1920. CONTENTS PER PAGE AUTHOR'S PREFACE v BIBLIOGRAPHY - x NOTE ON VON K LUCK'S MILITARY CAREER - - xi INTRODUCTORY - 1 [. BRUSSELS ANTWERP 4 - [. BRUSSELS SOMME 34 THE BATTLES WITH THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE THE PURSUIT GENERAL D ? AMADE's ARMY 34 III. THE INWARD WHEEL AGAINST THE ENEMY'S MAIN FORCES PARIS CROSSING THE MARNE - 80 THE MARCHING AND FIGHTING CAPACITY OF THE ARMY - 84 THE 31 ST AUGUST - - 85 THE INTENTION OF THE SUPREME COMMAND TO FORCE THE FRENCH SOUTH-EASTWARDS FROM PARIS - 94 ATTACK OF THE IV. RESERVE CORPS TOWARDS DAM- MARTIN - - 107 CONCERNING THE MEANS OF COMMUNICATION WITH THE SUPREME COMMAND AND THEIR INSTRUCTIONS 109 IV. THE BATTLE ON THE OURCQ - 115 THE CRISIS AND THE BREAK-AWAYTHE MARCH BACK TO THE AISNE - 115 THE RIGHT-FLANK MARCH OF THE FIRST ARMY 119 THE FRENCH ATTACK 124 vii viii CONTENTS CHATTER PAI| IV. THE BATTLE ON THE OURCQ Continued. THE BRITISH ADVANCE - 132! THE GAP IN THE WESTERN WING OF THE GERMAN ARMIES - 134 1 THE WITHDRAWAL TO THE AISNE - - 139| CROSSING THE AISNE - - 151 THE FIRST ARMY IN POSITION NORTH OF THE AISNE 1 THE ATTACK BY THE ARMIES OF MAUNOURY AND - FRENCH ACROSS THE AISNE 155; RETROSPECT - 159 ' APPENDIX: ORDER OF BATTLE OF THE FIRST ARMY, 1914 - 169! LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS POKTRAIT - GENERAL VON KLUCK Frontispieee MAPS MAP OP THE BATTLE OF MONS, 23RD AND 24ra AUGUST, 1914 Facing page 46 MAP OF THE BATTLE OF SOLESMES LE GATEAU Between pages 56 and 57 GENERAL MAP In pocket at vnd BIBLIOGRAPHY Secret and other papers of the First Army Commander from 9th I August to 15th September, 1914. Memorandum the Chief of the General Staff of the First on by Army | the operations during the same period, dated 29th May, 1915. v Despatches of Sir John French of 1914. Die Schlachten an der Marne vom 6 bis 12 1914. September 5 Mittlel und Sohn, 1916. Author anonymous. Hermann Stegemann. Der Krieg. First volume, 1917. Colonel K. Egli. Zwei Jahre Weltkrieg. August, 1914, to August, 1916. Daily notes of the First Army Commander. Die Marneschlacht. Professor Dr. Walter Kolbe. Rostock, 1917. I Strategisches aus dem Weltkrieg. V. Nordenswan, Major-General in the Swedish Army. Stegemann's Weltkrieg und die Marneschlacht. Karl Bleibtreu. Der 1914. Die Marneschlacht. in French Feldzug, Original bjj Major Gedel. 1916. La Victoire de la Marne. Louis Madelin, in the Revue des deux mondes. September, 1916. I?Illustration of llth September, 1915. Je sais tout. Magasin de Vactivite et de I'energie nationales. 15th September, 1917. NOTE ON VON KLUCK'S MILITARY CAREER ALEXANDER VON KLUCK was born OD 20th May, 1846, at Minister in Westphalia, and was therefore two months younger than his rival, von Billow. His father was a Government architect. He joined the 55th Infantry Regiment on 13th October, 1865, and a few months later took part in the Main Campaign of the war of 1866 as Pahnrich (probationary officer). He was promoted Second Lieutenant on 16th August, 1866. In this rank he served in the Franco-German War, and was wounded in the arm and body at the Battle of Colombey- Nouilly on the east side of Metz on 14th August, 1870, receiving the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. He was promoted Lieutenant in October, 1873, and married Baroness Fanny von Donop a year later. He became Captain in 1878, Major in 1887, Lieutenant-Colonel in 1893, com- manding in the last rank an Infantry N.C.O. School for some time. In 1896 he was ennobled by the Kaiser, and given command of Landwehr District No. 1 Berlin. He was promoted Colonel in 1896, given command of the 24th Fusilier Regiment, and shortly afterwards promoted Major-General and made Commander of the 23rd Infantry Brigade. His next step to Lieutenant- General and Commander of the 37th Division came in April, 1902. He remained in this position four years, when he was advanced to General and the command of xii VON KLUCK'S MILITAEY CAREER the V. Army Corps. On 1st October, 1913, he was made an Army Inspector, and on 27th January, 1914, promoted to the rank of Generaloberst. It will be observed that, unlike von Biilow, he had no Staff service, and practically his whole career was spent with troops . On outbreak of war he was appointed Commander of the First Army. Early in 1915 he was, after being wounded, it is believed, relieved of his com- mand and not re-employed in the field. THE MARCH ON PARIS INTRODUCTORY THE following reflections are based on the daily notes of the Army Commander, the official documents, and other sources mentioned in the Bibliography. Their object, so far as the provisional state of historical investigation permits, is to explain and supplement the books and pamphlets already published. Of these, the first volume of Stegemann's history frequently unveils the secret motives of the higher command with striking per- spicacity, and skilfully brings out the strategic coher- ence of the operations. They are founded on a Memorandum by the com- mander of the First Army, the original of which was drafted by the Chief of the Staff. It was written during the position warfare on the Aisne in the winter months of 1914-1915, whilst the main events were still vivid in the memories of all those who had taken part in them. This Memorandum was completed and circulated to certain of the higher leaders for their comments, so that any doubts or contradictory reports as to the work and leading of the First Army might be finally disposed of, and the great achievements of all its corps, its cavalry corps, and their commanders placed definitively in their true light. For the purpose of this Memorandum, the campaign was divided up into sections Brussels, the Somme, the Grand Morin, the Ourcq, and the Aisne. Such a division 1 1 INTRODUCTORY seems suitable, and this review of those great times will practically conform to it. The stage which historical research has reached up to that time (about April, 1915) is shown by the introduction to the Memorandum, which is therefor; quoted verbatim: " This account of the operations of the First Army: from the of the advance until the position beginning j along the Aisne was occupied is based entirely on the records of Army Headquarters. It was possible to give an unbiased description of each situation, as it appeared to Army Headquarters, from the intelli- and in their at the gence operation reports possession | time and in the light of which their decisions were formed. It was, however, not possible to consider and* criticize these in their connection with the general situation as a whole; neither could the fighting of each corps be described by any means without bias in this respect, nor the results adequately appreciated. To do this it would have been necessary to examine the records. of the neighbouring armies and of Great Head- quarters, as also those of corps and divisions, which were not available at Army Headquarters. The historical accuracy of the account given in this Memorandum has been concurred in by the corps commanders of the First Army, or, if they were not available, by General Staff officers of their staff/' The time now seems to have arrived to review the sources of information already available, in order to amplify them from the point of view of the commander, and to exhibit the documents, orders, and appreciations put aside at an earlier period owing to lack of time and space, and to place in a clearer light the events which took place on the western flank of the German Armies INTRODUCTORY 3 during August and September, 1914.