Battle of the Meuse

The Battle of the Meuse was fought at the end of August 1914 in north-eastern France, on the stretch of the river from around Mézières through Sedan to Stenay and Dun-sur-Meuse. The French 4th Army, with the 3rd Army on its right wing, defended the crossings against German troops pressing forward after their victory in the Ardennes. It was one of the first engagements in which the French, after a series of defeats in the Battle of the Frontiers, defended themselves successfully.

Dates of the battle

Sources define the time frame of the battle differently. The British chronology of the war, on which our calendar is based, gives 25–28 August. Many English-language authors date it to 26–28 August, because the first serious fighting for the crossings took place on 26 August. French accounts often extend it to 29 August, including the rearguard fighting and the action at Signy-l’Abbaye. In this article we adopt the dates 25–28 August.

Retreat behind the Meuse

On 21–24 August the 3rd Army of General Pierre Ruffey and the 4th Army of General Fernand de Langle de Cary suffered a heavy defeat in the Battle of the Ardennes. Facing them stood the German 4th Army of Duke Albrecht of Württemberg and the 5th Army of Crown Prince Wilhelm.

On 24 August the commander-in-chief Joseph Joffre ordered the 4th Army to withdraw behind the Meuse. In the evening the army staff ordered the bridges over the Meuse and the Chiers to be blown up once the last units had crossed. On 25 August the 4th Army held positions on the left bank of the river while sappers destroyed the crossings. On the same day Joffre issued General Instruction No. 2, which announced a gradual retreat of the whole front and the formation of a new army on the left wing. The 3rd Army crossed the Meuse on 26 August in pouring rain, among other places by the bridge at Dun, which was then blown up.

The left bank of the Meuse gave the defenders favourable positions. Here the river flows through a deep valley, and wooded hills rise on its western bank. Langle de Cary ordered his troops to offer determined resistance to every attempt at a crossing.

26 August

The leading units of the German 4th Army reached the river. In the area of Donchery, west of Sedan, the Germans captured an undamaged bridge and began crossing to the left bank, and soon they also built pontoon bridges. Reserve divisions and units of XI Corps were thrown against them in counter-attacks. On the extreme left wing, in the area of Rocroi, the first Saxon units of the German 3rd Army of General Max von Hausen appeared.

27 August

In the morning the German 4th Army launched a general attack. The Germans crossed on makeshift footbridges and bridges, among other places at Villers-devant-Mouzon and Martincourt and in the area of Stenay. Their first attempts broke down under the fire of French artillery and infantry, but in time, supported by heavy artillery, they seized bridgeheads on the left bank.

The French responded with counter-attacks. At Stenay colonial infantry regiments threw the Germans out of Luzy and Cesse. General Eydoux’s XI Corps repelled attacks on the heights opposite Sedan, where there was fierce fighting for the wood of La Marfée. On the left wing IX Corps fought Hausen’s Saxons.

28 August

Langle de Cary decided to push the Germans back across the Meuse. In the morning the French units launched a counter-offensive. They cleared the wood of La Marfée and retook several villages, but they could not eliminate all the German bridgeheads. On the right wing the 3rd Army, which had lost the villages of Beaufort and Beauclair, repelled a strong attack by Crown Prince Wilhelm’s troops.

The most dangerous situation arose on the left wing. Hausen’s army tried to drive a wedge between the 4th Army and Lanrezac’s 5th Army, which was retreating to the west. At Signy-l’Abbaye the Moroccan Division of IX Corps held out all day against a stronger enemy. According to French accounts it lost about 3,000 men that day, but it stopped the Saxons.

On the evening of 28 August the 4th Army received the order to retreat to the line of the river Aisne. The soldiers, who had won local successes that day, received it with disappointment. The retreat began on the night of 28–29 August, covered by IX Corps. The 3rd Army received its order to retreat a day later.

Losses

The exact losses of both sides in the Battle of the Meuse are hard to establish, because the fighting on the river merged seamlessly into further actions of the retreat. Both sides lost thousands killed and wounded. The Germans, forcing the river under fire, suffered heavy losses, and French accounts stress that their attacks were repulsed many times.

Significance

The Battle of the Meuse did not stop the Germans, but it fulfilled its task. The 4th Army delayed the march of the German centre and prevented the front from being torn apart between the French armies at the most difficult moment of the Great Retreat. At the same time, in the west, Lanrezac’s army fought the battle of Guise. After the defeats in the Battle of the Frontiers, the French troops showed that they could defend themselves and counter-attack.

At the end of August a new group under General Ferdinand Foch was formed from the left wing of the 4th Army, and from it the 9th Army was created. At the beginning of September it played an important part in the Battle of the Marne. On 30 August General Ruffey was removed from command of the 3rd Army, and his place was taken by General Maurice Sarrail.