The Long, Long Trail

By early September the French Commander-in-Chief Joffre had assembled a reserve army - a 'mass of maneouvre' - by withdrawing Divisions from the eastern frontier in Alsace-Lorraine. He moved this reserve to his left flank, to the north-east of Paris. The great German advance had deviated from the Schlieffen Plan of moving around to the west of Paris and was now moving southwards, to the east of the city. Joffre saw his moment and ordered the reserve, which he had positioned north-east of Paris, to strike eastwards into the flank of the German 1st Army. At the same time, his hard-pressed troops along the River Marne would attack frontally. He requested that the BEF, which after the long and wearisome retreat all the way from Mons was well behind the French lines and south of the Marne, to join the attack. 49 Allied Infantry Divisions faced 46 German. A similar imbalance had been achieved in cavalry: 8 Divisions to 7. British and French morale immediately soared. After the weary weeks of retreat, there were about-turning to face the enemy.

South from the Cambresis and Le Cateau the land becomes one of rolling hills, steep river valleys and woods. The weather was fine and warm. The River Marne itself is wide and meandering.

The average advance of BEF units on 6th September was 11 miles; on the 7th, 8 miles, and on the 9th, they recrossed the Marne. Tactically the battle was not fought to a finish, as the German units recovered from the initial shock of the Allied attack to begin an orderly retreat.

The BEF played only a small part in the Battle of the Marne when compared with the titanic struggle between the very much larger French and German Armies. It was nonetheless an important part, as it struck a blow at a sensitive place in the German front. In fact, it was partly due to the British advance that such consternation was caused for the German position that the enemy decided to abandon the field of battle and withdraw to the north.

The Germans withdrew to the next great river valley of the Aisne, protected to its north by the steep slopes along the top of which is the road called the Chemin des Dames. The BEF and the French Armies pursued them. Helmuth von Moltke was replaced as Chief of Staff of the German Armies, by Falkenhayn. The BEF received its first reinforcements, replacing losses to date, and was also joined by the 6th Division.

Cautiously forward to the Aisne