Illustration depicting French soldiers defeating German troops with the aid of an angel during the First Battle of the Marne, September 1914.
Illustration depicting French soldiers defeating German troops with the aid of an angel during the First Battle of the Marne, September 1914. Today 108 years ago, on September 5, 1914, the First Battle of the Marne began, one of the most decisive battles of the First World War. From August 4 to September 4, 1914, utilizing their Schlieffen Plan, the Germans pushed the Belgian, French and British forces back along the whole front, resulting in an Allied retreat to the Marne river just 16 km north of Paris. From the Marne, the French decided to counterattack the German forces across the Ourq river towards Château Thierry in an attempt to penetrate a gap between the German 1st and 2nd Armies. On September 5, 1914, the French 6th Army attacked the German 1st Army across the Ourq, as bloody but inconclusive battle between 5 French Armies and 5 German Armies occurred along a 225 km frontline, with a whopping 1.9 million soldiers participating in total. German artillery inflicted heavy casual...