Great Retreat
The Great Retreat is the name given to the slow, fighting retreat by Allied forces to the River Marne, early in World War I, after their defeat by the Imperial German Armies at the Battle of Mons on 23 August 1914. The Allies were closely pursued by the Germans, acting under the Schlieffen Plan.
Le Cateau
The Allies retreated from Mons, past Maubeuge (which fell to the Germans on 7 September after a successful siege), to the town of Le Cateau.
On 25 September, Corps Commander Horace Smith-Dorrien ordered British II Corps to stand and fight. The Allies set up defensive positions around the town and prepared for the inevitable attack. On the morning of the 26th, the Germans launched a heavy assault on the British positions. Soon both British flanks began to break. The Allied lines were only kept together by the arrival of French cavalry.
Of the 40,000 Allied troops fighting at Le Cateau, 7,812 were killed, captured or wounded. Many British regiments had disappeared from the rolls altogether. About 2,600 men became prisoners of war, although in one lucrative German account it is suggested that 12,000 prisoners had been taken. Thirty eight Allied artillery guns were also lost.
Some notable Allied losses at Le Cateau were Lt-Col Charles Brett, OC 2nd Suffolks, Lt-Col Alfred Dykes, OC 1st King's Own, and Lt-Col Edward Panter-Downes, OC 2nd Royal Irish Regiment, who were all killed in action. Although none of the men have a known grave, all are commemorated on the Memorial to the Missing at La Ferté sous Jouarre.
That night, the Allies retreated to St. Quentin.
St. Quentin
On the 27th, the Germans launched an all-out attack on St. Quentin (also called the Battle of the Guise ). The Belgians counter-attacked the Germans to slow them down and give the embattled British a much needed respite. The French and Belgian reserves managed to push the German 1st Army back enough to stall its advance. Once again, the Allies managed to disengage and withdraw successfully. The stunned Germans soon recovered and changed their route to push south towards the River Marne and Paris, in close pursuit of the retreating Allies.
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The Marne
The Allied retreat finally ended at the River Marne where they prepared to make a stand to defend Paris. This led to the First Battle of the Marne, which was fought from September 5 to 10, 1914. This battle would prove to be the major turning point of the war by denying the Germans an early victory.
Field Marshal John French, commander of the British Expeditionary Force, began to make contingency plans for a full retreat to the ports on the English Channel followed by an immediate British evacuation. The French Military Governor of Paris, General Joseph Simon Gallieni, was tasked with the defence of the city. He wanted to organise the French and British armies to counter the weight of the German advance. So, after consulting with Lord Kitchener, Gallieni managed to secure overall command of the BEF, and ordered Marshall French not to withdraw to the channel.
Gallieni's plan was a very simple one: All allied units would counter-attack the Germans along the Marne, hopefully halting their advance. As this was going on, allied reserves would be thrown in to restore the ranks and attack the German flanks. At Noon on September 5, the battle commenced when the French 6th Army, led by General Michel-Joseph Maunoury, accidentally stumbled into the forward guard of the German 1st Army under General Alexander von Kluck.
The British would not join the battle until September 9, until von Kluck made a huge mistake in his tactics. As the French 6th Army retreated back towards the Marne that day, von Kluck ordered his forces to pursue and annihilate them. In doing so, he opened up a 50 km gap between the German 1st and 2nd Armies on his right flank. Seeing such a great opportunity the Allies; all three infantry corps and the two cavalry divisions of the BEF and the French 5th Army, quickly moved into this gap and attacked both the German Armies' exposed flanks with full force.
German Chief of the General Staff Helmuth von Moltke suffered a nervous breakdown upon hearing of the danger to his two armies. His subordinates took over both German 2nd and 1st Armies were ordered to withdraw to the Aisne River and regroup. Von Moltke is said to have reported to the Kaiser: "Your Majesty, we have lost the war."
The total British casualties amounted to 1,701 of all ranks, killed, wounded or missing between 6 September and 10 September.
Some notable casualties for the British Army were Brig.-Gen. Neil Findlay, CRA 1st Division, who died as a result of wounds received on 10 September 1914 and is buried at Vailly British Cemetery and Lt-Col Guy Knight, OC 1st Loyal North Lancs. Knight died the next day and was buried at Priez Communal Cemetery.
The German retreat between September 9 and September 13 signaled the abandonment of the Schlieffen Plan. In the battle's aftermath, both sides dug in for trench warfare and four years of grueling stalemate ensued. The defeat of the German Army on the River Marne was decisive. Their war plan, to quickly overcome France before turning attentions to Russia, had come to nothing despite the enormous efforts expended. It has sometimes been argued that Germany could no longer win the war after their defeat on the Marne in 1914.
Around six hundred Paris taxicabs, mainly Renault AG, were commandeered by Gallieni and used to transport six thousand French reserve infantry troops to the battle.
The tables were now turned with the Allies pursuing the retreating Germans. Their next major clash was to be the First Battle of the Aisne.