Places of the war
The Oise in the First World War
A river flowing from Belgium towards Paris: an invasion route in 1914, for thirty months the axis of the front near Noyon, in 1918 a flank of German offensives.
- Type:
- River
- In 1914:
- France
- Today:
- France
- Author:
- Łukasz Skowroń
- Updated:
- 31 October 2026
The Oise rises in the Belgian province of Hainaut, south of Chimay, and flows south-west across northern France, past Guise, La Fère, Noyon and Compiègne, to the Seine near Paris. At Compiègne it receives its largest tributary, the Aisne. During the war the Oise valley was the shortest road from Belgium to the French capital. In 1914 German armies marched down it, then for two and a half years the front cut across it, and in 1918 the southern flank of the German spring offensives fought along the river.
Retreat and pursuit (1914)
In the last days of August 1914 the French Fifth Army of General Charles Lanrezac and the British Expeditionary Force were falling back across the Oise. On 28 August units of the German Second Army attacked the crossings at Guise, and the next day they got over the river. Lanrezac struck at them in the valley and in the Battle of Guise halted their advance for a day and a half. Late in the evening of 29 August, however, he was allowed to retreat and destroy the bridges, and by 31 August at the latest the Germans had taken the fortress of La Fère where the Serre joins the Oise. Meanwhile the First Army of Alexander von Kluck turned towards Noyon and Compiègne and went on south towards the Marne.
After the Battle of the Marne the Germans halted on the heights beyond the Aisne, and on 12 September the Allies reached the river on the stretch from Compiègne. From 17 September the French Sixth Army attacked along the Oise towards Noyon, and from 22 September the new Second Army of General Noël de Castelnau tried to outflank the Germans north of the river in the First Battle of Picardy. So began the Race to the Sea. Neither side turned the other’s flank, and the front set on a line from Roye through Lassigny and Ribécourt on the Oise to Soissons.
The Noyon salient (1914–1917)
For thirty months the front crossed the river at Ribécourt, downstream from Noyon. The Germans held Noyon and the north-eastern part of the Oise department, and the people of the villages near the front line were evacuated. The salient with Noyon at its tip was the point of the German front nearest to Paris, and Georges Clemenceau reminded his readers of it with the sentence: “The Germans are at Noyon.”
In the spring of 1917 the French were preparing a great attack between the Oise and the Avre, but the Germans forestalled them and withdrew to the Hindenburg Line. On 18 March the French entered Noyon, and on this stretch the Oise valley was free for the first time. La Fère, however, stayed on the German side, close to the new front line. At the beginning of 1918, at the request of Philippe Pétain, the British took over from the French a long sector south of Saint-Quentin, as far as Barisis beyond the Oise.
1918
On 21 March 1918 three German armies attacked from the Oise to near Arras. In the river valley the fog was so thick that columns of soldiers vanished from sight after ten or twelve metres. The Germans crossed the Oise near La Fère and broke the right wing of the British Fifth Army. Operation Michael pushed the front far to the west, and the Eighteenth Army of General Oskar von Hutier, advancing between the Oise and the Somme, took Noyon on 25 March. The French, however, held the hill of Mont Renaud, one of the main bulwarks of the Oise valley. On 25 March France’s leaders conferred with the British minister Lord Milner at Pétain’s headquarters in Compiègne, and the next day at Doullens the coordination of the Allied armies was entrusted to Ferdinand Foch.
On 9 June Hutier attacked again, between Montdidier and Noyon. In the Battle of the Matz his troops reached the Oise on 10 June about 10 kilometres from Compiègne, but a counter-attack by General Charles Mangin stopped the advance.
In August the French went over to the offensive. In the Second Battle of Noyon the armies of Mangin and Humbert attacked between the Oise and the Aisne and on 29 August entered the ruined Noyon. On 13 October the French First Army crossed the Oise and took La Fère. A month later, on 11 November, in Foch’s railway carriage in the forest of Compiègne, not far from where the Aisne flows into the Oise, the armistice was signed.
Sources
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Battles here and nearby
(33)- 29–30 August 1914Battle of GuiseOn 29–30 August 1914 Lanrezac's French Fifth Army counter-attacked Bülow's army on the Oise. It halted the Germans and led Kluck to turn before Paris.
- 5–9 September 1914Battle of the OurcqFighting between the French Sixth Army and Kluck's army north-east of Paris in September 1914. It opened the Battle of the Marne and drew the Germans west.
- 12–15 September 1914First Battle of the AisneIn September 1914 the Germans, retreating from the Marne, held the heights above the Aisne against the French and British. Trench warfare began in the west.
- 15 September – 19 October 1914Race to the SeaAfter the Aisne the French, British and Germans tried to outflank each other to the north. By mid-October 1914 the front had reached the North Sea.
- 22–25 September 1914First Battle of AlbertIn September 1914 the French and Germans clashed between Bapaume and Albert. On the hills above the Somme and Ancre a front formed that lasted until July 1916.
- 22–26 September 1914First Battle of PicardyFirst stage of the Race to the Sea. In September 1914 the French tried to outflank the Germans between the Oise and the Somme, but met arriving German corps.
- 8–14 January 1915Battle of SoissonsIn January 1915 the French took Hill 132 at Crouy, north of Soissons. A German counter-attack and the flooded Aisne pushed them back across the river.
- 1 July – 18 November 1916Battle of the SommeFrom 1 July to 18 November 1916 the British and French attacked on the Somme. They gained 10 km at most, and the two sides together lost over a million men.
- 1–13 July 1916Battle of Albert (1916)First phase of the Somme, 1–13 July 1916. In bloody fighting the British took La Boisselle, Contalmaison and Mametz Wood, below the German second line.
- 14–17 July 1916Battle of Bazentin RidgeOn 14–17 July 1916 the British 4th Army, after a night approach and dawn assault, took the German second line from Longueval to Bazentin-le-Petit on the Somme.
- 15 July – 3 September 1916Battle of Delville WoodFrom 15 July to 3 September 1916 the British and Germans fought on the Somme for Delville Wood by Longueval. The South Africans faced their hardest test there.
- 3–6 September 1916Battle of GuillemontOn 3–6 September 1916 the British on the Somme took Guillemont, Falfemont Farm and Leuze Wood, for which they had fought without success since late July.
- 9 September 1916Battle of GinchyOn 9 September 1916 the Irish 16th Division took the ruins of Ginchy on the Somme, which the British had attacked in vain for a week. The flanks stalled.
- 25–28 September 1916Battle of MorvalOn 25–28 September 1916 the British Fourth Army took Morval, Lesbœufs and Gueudecourt on the Somme, and Combles with the French. Its best attack since July.
- 22 February – 5 April 1917German retreat to the Hindenburg LineFrom 22 February to early April 1917 the Germans fell back from the Ancre and Somme to the Hindenburg Line, shortening the front and leaving devastation behind.
- 16 April – 9 May 1917Second Battle of the AisneFrom 16 April to 9 May 1917 the French assaulted the Chemin des Dames. Nivelle promised a breakthrough in 48 hours; he won a few km for over 100,000 men.
- 23 October – 1 November 1917Battle of La MalmaisonOn 23 October 1917, after a six-day bombardment, Maistre's French 6th Army took Fort La Malmaison. The Germans had to give up the whole Chemin des Dames ridge.
- 21–23 March 1918Battle of St QuentinOn 21–23 March 1918 three German armies broke through the British Fifth Army in fog at Saint-Quentin and drove it back behind the Crozat Canal and the Somme.
- 21 March – 5 April 1918Operation MichaelFrom 21 March to 5 April 1918 three German armies broke the British front on the Somme and advanced more than 60 km, but did not take Amiens.
- 24–25 March 1918First Battle of BapaumeOn 24–25 March 1918 the British Third Army fell back across the old Somme battlefield. It lost Bapaume and on the night of 25 March withdrew behind the Ancre.
- 25–26 March 1918Battle of NoyonOn 25–26 March 1918 Hutier's German 18th Army took Noyon on the Oise and drove back French reinforcements, but stopped at Mont Renaud on the road to Paris.
- 26–27 March 1918Battle of RosièresOn 26–27 March 1918 British XIX Corps held the Santerre on the road to Amiens. The Germans took Albert, Chaulnes, Roye and Montdidier but did not break through.
- 4 April 1918Battle of the AvreOn 4 April 1918 the Germans struck at Amiens for the last time. The French lost villages on the Avre, but Australians and British held Villers-Bretonneux.
- 24–25 April 1918Battle of Villers-BretonneuxOn 24 April 1918 the Germans, helped by A7V tanks, took Villers-Bretonneux near Amiens. In the night of 25 April, Anzac Day, the Australians retook the town.
- 1–26 June 1918Battle of Belleau WoodOn 1–26 June 1918 the US 2nd Division, with a Marine brigade, halted the Germans near Château-Thierry and after three weeks of fighting took Belleau Wood.
- 9–14 June 1918Battle of the MatzOn 9–14 June 1918 the German 18th Army struck between Montdidier and Noyon towards Compiègne. After early success it was halted by Mangin's counter-attack.
- 4 July 1918Battle of HamelOn 4 July 1918 Monash's Australians, with Mark V tanks and four American companies, took Hamel and the woods by the Somme in 93 minutes, capturing 1,600.
- 23 July – 2 August 1918Battle of the Soissonnais and of the Ourcq23 July – 2 August 1918 the British 15th and 34th Divisions fought in Mangin's army south of Soissons until the Germans fell back behind the Vesle.
- 17–29 August 1918Second Battle of NoyonOn 17–29 August 1918 Mangin's and Humbert's armies struck between the Oise and the Aisne, pushed the Germans behind the Ailette and retook ruined Noyon.
- 21–23 August 1918Battle of Albert (1918)On 21–23 August 1918 the British Third and Fourth Armies broke the German line on the Albert–Arras railway, retook Albert and won the heights above the Ancre.
- 21 August – 3 September 1918Second Battle of the SommeFrom 21 August to 3 September 1918 the British Third and Fourth Armies drove the Germans across the old Somme battlefield, retaking Albert, Bapaume and Péronne.
- 18 September 1918Battle of ÉpehyOn 18 September 1918 the British Fourth Army and part of the Third took the outworks of the Hindenburg Line. The Australians went furthest; Épehy fell late.
- 29 September – 2 October 1918Battle of the St Quentin CanalOn 29 September – 2 October 1918 the British Fourth Army, with Americans and Australians, broke through the Hindenburg Line on the St Quentin Canal.