End of the battles of Morhange and Sarrebourg

On 20 August 1914 the battles of Morhange and Sarrebourg came to an end. The main offensive of the French army in Lorraine, begun on 14 August, collapsed under the blow of a German counter-attack.

The trap closes

For six days the French armies advanced deep into Lorraine almost unhindered. The German Sixth Army of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and the Seventh Army were deliberately falling back, drawing the French onto well-prepared positions. On 20 August the Germans launched a massive counter-attack along the whole front.

At Morhange the Second Army of General Noël de Castelnau came under fire from heavy artillery and machine guns on fortified heights. The French infantry, advancing in close order, suffered enormous losses. Among the dead was General Castelnau’s son. At Sarrebourg the First Army of General Auguste Dubail put up stubborn resistance, but after the defeat of the neighbouring army it too had to withdraw.

Retreat to Nancy

The French withdrew behind the border, to the wooded heights in front of Nancy. There, in the last days of August, they managed to stop the German pursuit, and at the beginning of September they held the heights of the Grand Couronné. Holding the line in front of Nancy secured the right wing of the French army during the Battle of the Marne.

Significance

The defeat at Morhange and Sarrebourg was the first great failure of the French doctrine of the offensive at any price. It showed that modern machine guns and artillery turned an infantry attack on fortified positions into a slaughter. For France it was the beginning of the darkest days of the war: soon came the defeats in the Ardennes and at Charleroi, and finally the great retreat towards Paris.