First fighting on the French border
- Category:
- Military operations
- Front:
- Western Front
- Date:
- 2 August 1914
- Author:
- Natalia
On 2 August 1914, the day before Germany formally declared war on France, the first clashes took place on the Franco-German border. The best known of them occurred in the village of Joncherey, near Belfort, on the border with Alsace, then German.
In the morning a small German cavalry patrol under Lieutenant Albert Mayer crossed the border and ventured deep into French territory. At about 10 a.m. at Joncherey it came upon a French post commanded by Corporal Jules-André Peugeot. The Frenchman called on the Germans to surrender. Mayer drew his pistol and fired, mortally wounding Peugeot. The French soldiers opened fire and killed Mayer.
Jules-André Peugeot, a 21-year-old teacher doing his military service, died shortly after the clash. He is regarded as the first French soldier killed in the First World War. Albert Mayer was the first German soldier killed on the Western Front. Both died before war had formally broken out between their countries.
The clash at Joncherey also had a political dimension. Since 30 July France had kept its troops 10 kilometres back from the border so as not to give Germany a pretext for accusations of aggression. The entry of a German patrol into French territory allowed Paris to present itself as the party attacked. Other border incidents also took place that same day, and the Germans in turn accused the French of violating their border and of aircraft overflights.
A day later, on 3 August, Germany declared war on France. Today a monument to Corporal Peugeot stands in Joncherey, and the place where he died is a symbol of the beginning of the war in the west.
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Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
- 2 August 1914 · DiplomacyBritain guarantees protection of the French coastOn 2 August 1914 the British government promised France that the Royal Navy would defend its coasts against the German fleet in the North Sea and the Channel.
- 2 August 1914 · SocietyBritain declares a moratoriumOn 2 August 1914 Britain declared a moratorium on the payment of bills of exchange to save the City of London from a wave of bankruptcies.
- 2 August 1914 · MilitaryMoltke becomes Chief of the General Staff of the Field ArmyOn 2 August 1914 General Helmuth von Moltke, Chief of the Great General Staff since 1906, took charge of the staff of Germany's field army.
- 1 August 1914 · Eastern FrontGermany mobilises and declares war on RussiaOn 1 August 1914 Germany ordered general mobilisation and in the evening declared war on Russia. The war ceased to be a Balkan conflict.
Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 3 August 1914 · Western FrontGermany declares war on FranceOn 3 August 1914 Germany declared war on France, citing invented French air raids. The war on two fronts had begun.
- 6 August 1914 · Western FrontBattle of the Frontiers beginsIn early August 1914 the Battle of the Frontiers began, a series of clashes between French and German armies that lasted until the Battle of the Marne.
- 7 August 1914 · Western FrontFrench cross the border into AlsaceOn 7 August 1914 the French VII Corps crossed the border into German Alsace. The troops took Altkirch and Thann and the next day entered Mulhouse.
- 8 August 1914 · Western FrontFrench troops take MulhouseOn 8 August 1914 French troops entered Mulhouse in Alsace. France celebrated, but within two days a German counter-attack forced the French to retreat.