Major Military Losses:
The Battles of the Frontiers:
The Battle of the Ardennes was the second of the so-called Battles of the Frontiers—four bloody conflicts fought over the course of as many days between German, French and British forces on the Western Front in France. After French forces were destroyed by the advancing German left wing in Lorraine on August 20, two simultaneous actions were launched on August 21 and 22, in the Ardennes and further north, at the village of Charleroi. The Battle of Charleroi saw General Charles Lanrezac and the French 5th Army take on General Karl von Bulow’s 2nd German Army.
Over the course of a single day, August 22, some 27,000 French soldiers died at Ardennes and Charleroi. In the latter battle, von Bulow’s men were joined by the German 3rd Army, led by General Max Klemens von Hausen, which over the night of August 22 brought four fresh corps and 340 new guns into action. The French 5th Army, in turn, was due to be supported by the newly arrived British Expeditionary Force (BEF); a British delay and poor relations between Lanrezac and the BEF’s commander, Sir John French, however, meant that instead of supporting the French at Charleroi, the British were forced to fight their own action, the Battle of the Mons, beginning on August 23, as Lanrezac’s men continued to fight alone.
At Charleroi, with the roads swollen with Belgian refugees heading for French army headquarters, Lanrezac learned on August 23 that the French army was collapsing all along the line, from Lorraine to the Meuse. With his own army pushed to its limits at Charleroi, he made the decision, without consulting French headquarters, to order a general retreat. According to his own written account, Lanrezac believed that destruction of the 5th Army would mean catastrophe for France, as he told one of his officers. “We have been beaten but the evil is reparable. As long as the 5th Army lives, France is not lost.”
Major Military Victories:
The Battle of the Marne, 1914 -
Undoubtedly the most significant French victory of the war and one which changed the course of it significantly. Between the 5th and 12th of September 1914, the French (with some British help) stopped the previously invincible Germans in their tracks and saved Paris. In a brilliantly planned counter-offensive, General Joseph Joffre exploited a weakness on the German right flank and pushed his forces between two German armies, causing the German offensive to break down in confusion. It was still a hard-fought battle, at one stage reinforcements for the French were brought from Paris in taxis, a feat which has become a major rallying point for French patriots ever since. However, the Germans came close to being surrounded and had to withdraw, effectively ending their chances of capturing Paris. They changed tactics and set themselves up for a war of attrition which would last for four bloody years. However, there is no doubt that the “Miracle of the Marne” saved France from certain defeat in 1914, and as such has assumed a sacred status in the annals of French military history.
(debatable) The Battle of Verdun, 1916-1917 -
Generally not considered a victory because of the enormously high losses on both sides, the fact is that the German offensive around Verdun failed to secure its twin objectives of capturing the city and inflicting crippling losses on the French. The city remained in French hands and French losses were not much higher than the Germans’ own. Along the way the French soldiers showed tremendous character and resolve to hold on even after the Germans seized the key forts of Vaux and Douaumont and inflict huge punishment on the German forces who paid heavily in blood for each metro they advanced. The battle comes to seem much more like a French victory when one considers the two little-known offensives which the French conducted in late 1916 and 1917, successfully recapturing virtually all the German gains and capturing some 11,000 German prisoners. Verdun has been described as France’s Stalingrad, which effectively captures both the horrendous slaughter and the refusal of the defenders to yield.
The Battles of the Frontiers:
The Battle of the Ardennes was the second of the so-called Battles of the Frontiers—four bloody conflicts fought over the course of as many days between German, French and British forces on the Western Front in France. After French forces were destroyed by the advancing German left wing in Lorraine on August 20, two simultaneous actions were launched on August 21 and 22, in the Ardennes and further north, at the village of Charleroi. The Battle of Charleroi saw General Charles Lanrezac and the French 5th Army take on General Karl von Bulow’s 2nd German Army.
Over the course of a single day, August 22, some 27,000 French soldiers died at Ardennes and Charleroi. In the latter battle, von Bulow’s men were joined by the German 3rd Army, led by General Max Klemens von Hausen, which over the night of August 22 brought four fresh corps and 340 new guns into action. The French 5th Army, in turn, was due to be supported by the newly arrived British Expeditionary Force (BEF); a British delay and poor relations between Lanrezac and the BEF’s commander, Sir John French, however, meant that instead of supporting the French at Charleroi, the British were forced to fight their own action, the Battle of the Mons, beginning on August 23, as Lanrezac’s men continued to fight alone.
At Charleroi, with the roads swollen with Belgian refugees heading for French army headquarters, Lanrezac learned on August 23 that the French army was collapsing all along the line, from Lorraine to the Meuse. With his own army pushed to its limits at Charleroi, he made the decision, without consulting French headquarters, to order a general retreat. According to his own written account, Lanrezac believed that destruction of the 5th Army would mean catastrophe for France, as he told one of his officers. “We have been beaten but the evil is reparable. As long as the 5th Army lives, France is not lost.”
Major Military Victories:
The Battle of the Marne, 1914 -
Undoubtedly the most significant French victory of the war and one which changed the course of it significantly. Between the 5th and 12th of September 1914, the French (with some British help) stopped the previously invincible Germans in their tracks and saved Paris. In a brilliantly planned counter-offensive, General Joseph Joffre exploited a weakness on the German right flank and pushed his forces between two German armies, causing the German offensive to break down in confusion. It was still a hard-fought battle, at one stage reinforcements for the French were brought from Paris in taxis, a feat which has become a major rallying point for French patriots ever since. However, the Germans came close to being surrounded and had to withdraw, effectively ending their chances of capturing Paris. They changed tactics and set themselves up for a war of attrition which would last for four bloody years. However, there is no doubt that the “Miracle of the Marne” saved France from certain defeat in 1914, and as such has assumed a sacred status in the annals of French military history.
(debatable) The Battle of Verdun, 1916-1917 -
Generally not considered a victory because of the enormously high losses on both sides, the fact is that the German offensive around Verdun failed to secure its twin objectives of capturing the city and inflicting crippling losses on the French. The city remained in French hands and French losses were not much higher than the Germans’ own. Along the way the French soldiers showed tremendous character and resolve to hold on even after the Germans seized the key forts of Vaux and Douaumont and inflict huge punishment on the German forces who paid heavily in blood for each metro they advanced. The battle comes to seem much more like a French victory when one considers the two little-known offensives which the French conducted in late 1916 and 1917, successfully recapturing virtually all the German gains and capturing some 11,000 German prisoners. Verdun has been described as France’s Stalingrad, which effectively captures both the horrendous slaughter and the refusal of the defenders to yield.