Germans retake Mulhouse
- Category:
- Military operations
- Front:
- Western Front
- Date:
- 11 August 1914
- Author:
- Łukasz Skowroń
- Battle:
- Battle of Mulhouse
Contemporary war chronicles record the recapture of Mulhouse by German troops under the date of 11 August 1914. The French, who had entered the town on the evening of 8 August, left it as early as 10 August, and the Germans returned immediately after their departure.
Counter-attack
After taking Mulhouse, General Louis Bonneau’s French VII Corps found itself in a dangerous position. Reinforcements of the German 7th Army were approaching from Strasbourg. On 9 August the Germans struck in the area of Cernay, west of the town, threatening the French units with encirclement. Bonneau, fearing he would be cut off from Belfort, gave the order to retreat.
On 10 August the French troops left Mulhouse and withdrew towards Belfort. The reserve division that the commander-in-chief Joseph Joffre had sent to help arrived too late. The town, which only two days earlier had greeted the French with flowers, was once again in German hands.
Disappointment
In France the news was received with bitterness. The joy at the first victory, as the capture of Mulhouse had seemed, quickly turned into disappointment. Joffre regarded the retreat as a sign of indecision and removed Bonneau from command. He formed a new Army of Alsace under General Paul Pau, which was to renew the offensive.
Further fighting
The French returned to Mulhouse on 19 August, this time in greater strength. The defeats in Lorraine and the Ardennes and the German thrust through Belgium, however, forced them to withdraw a second time as well, at the end of August. Mulhouse remained in German hands until the end of the war in November 1918.
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Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
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Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 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.
- 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.
- 19 August 1914 · Western FrontFrench retake MulhouseOn 19 August 1914 General Paul Pau's Army of Alsace re-entered Mulhouse after heavy fighting. This time the French held the town for a week.
- 25 August 1914 · Western FrontGermans retake Mulhouse for the second timeOn 25 August 1914, after the French withdrawal, German troops occupied Mulhouse for the second time. The city remained in their hands until the end of the war.