Germany’s Western Front: 1914: Translations from the German Official History of the Great War, Part 1

V The Battle of the Frontiers

the OHL before the start of the Battle of the frontiers While the German wheeling wing—First, Second, and Third Armies—advanced on the army’s far right, German Fourth and Fifth Armies prepared to begin their own offensive in the Army’s centre .1 Fourth Army was to deploy so as to be in position to wheel to the south to support Fifth Army if it were threatened with attack, or to later intervene in Third Army’s operations on its right . Its orders were to advance between the Boegen–Noville–Ortho–Champlon road on the right and the Mallingen–Bettembourg –Arlon road on the left, a comparatively narrow front of 35 kilometres that forced it to deploy in depth . Aerial reconnaissance revealed little about the enemy’s intentions or dispositions . By 19 August, Fourth Army had reached the line Bastogne– Attert; the next day its right corps stopped at Amberloup while its left reached the vicinity of Mellier–Thibésart . Its movements were largely uncontested, except for a skirmish with some French cavalry outside Neufchateau .2 Fifth Army’s instructions were to advance with its right wing via Bettembourg– Mamer–Arlon–Florenville; it would also have to capture the small French fortress 1 The following is a paraphrased summary of DW I, Part III, Chapter 3, Section 2: “The Advance of the German Wheeling Wing, 18–20 August: The Centre (Fourth and Fifth Armies),” 225–31, based on translations held at in the library at the U .S . Army War College in Carlisle, PA . 2 DW I:225–27. V Pp The Battle of the Frontiers 148 part i: the battle of the frontiers in the west of Longwy in its centre .3 As with Fourth Army, its initial movements were largely unopposed . On 18 August its advanced corps reached the line Mamer–Didenhofen; the next day Fifth Army began to wheel around that city . On 19 August, the French were seen to be advancing northwards from the direction of Chiers Brook; then on the 20th, stronger French forces were seen moving in the direction of Neufchâteau . By the end of the day the army’s right wing had reached the line Etalle–Châtillon–Thionville– Redingen–Deutsch-Oth . The capture of Longwy was entrusted to Generalleutnant Kaempffer, and by 20 August the 3,000-man garrison with 50 guns still remained inactive . All seemed to be going according to plan on the German right wing .4 Meanwhile, in Alsace and Lorraine, Rupprecht’s counterattack—which had been pushed back by one day following Dommes’s visit on 18 August—was set to begin on 20 August . In southern Alsace, seventeen battalions of Landwehr troops faced an attack by six French infantry divisions and one cavalry division . Although the German infantry delayed the French advance, they were soon pushed back to the Rhine as the French occupied Mulhouse for the second time on 19 August .5 The advance of the german wheeling wing had been executed as directed in the deployment instructions. A special need for intervention by the OHL had not arisen. Thus far, operations had also been executed on schedule.An examination of operational planning maps prepared in peacetime based on the deployment instructions showed that the actual course of operations had followed them exactly: the Army’s right wing extended beyond Brussels, just as had been planned under the most favourable circumstances of peacetime.The great speed of the right wing’s advance had enabled the Army to pass through the defile between Antwerp and Namur before any serious engagement with the enemy; beyond, the advance had begun to develop in depth. Thus, the situation on the decisive wing appeared favourable. 3 On the capture of Longwy see the German General Staff’s official monograph: Erhard von Mutius, Die Schlacht Bei Longwy, Unter Benutzung Amtlicher Quellen (Berlin: Gerhard Stalling , 1919). 4 DW I:227–30. 5 DW I:159–78; and for analysis, Herwig, The Marne, 1914, 90–91. See also notes on pages 132–34 of this volume . the battle of the frontiers 149 At this time, the reports that had been submitted about the French seemed to afford a clear picture of their location. Only the whereabouts of the British remained uncertain.6 On 20 August, the OHL dispatched a summary of reports about the enemy to the headquarters of First through Fifth Armies: As of 20 August, the French...