Battle of the Marne

The end of August 1914, Germany's armies were sweeping South towards Paris. The French 5th and 6th armies along with the British Epiditionary Force ( BEF) were retreating. Expecting the Germans to capture Paris the French government and about 500,000 French civilians fled Paris by September 3rd. The Commander-in-Chief of the French forces, Joseph Joffre ordered his men to retreat to a spot along the River Seine. The spot Joffre chose was only about 60km south of the Marne River. On September 6, General Maunoury leading the French 6th army, attacked the German 1st army. The Germany 1st army turned their army around to meet the attack. This opened a gap between the two German forces. The French 5th and British armies advanced into this gap and fought the Germans on both sides of them.

At one point in time, the French 6th army became so desperate for men that they had to bring in 600 men by taxi from Paris. On September 9th, the German commander in chief ordered the German forces to retreat. This allowed the British and French forces to now cross the Marne River. This first battle of the Marne ended on September 10th, of 1914. Map of the BATTLE

Information taken from the pages of Sparatacus Educational.

Ypres

October 18-November 12, 1914

This attack was ordered personally by the Kaiser of the German army. They attacked in November of 1914. "They attacked at Ypres and conducted a close order frontal assault on British trenches, losing hundreds of men and officers without having secured an inch of ground." The French seventh division entered the war with 12,000 men and 400 officers. After five days of battle, the French were down to a little more than 3,000 men.

1915

The second battle of Ypres occurred in February of 1915. The Germans attacked north of Paris, but gained little ground. The British then broke through at Neuve Chapelle. It was during this battle, in April of 1915, that the Germans used gas for the first time. The French attempted another attack and ended up with 300,000 casualties. The two sides fought at this location for a year and either side gained little ground.

Gallipoli

On the 26th of December, the ward council of Britain discussed the possibility of attacking Turkey in order to re-open the Dardanelles Straights. The attack on the Gallipoli Peninsula, was the third stage of operation in an attack against Turkey. The men that composed the allied forces were from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, and France.

Attacking Gallipoli was thought to be an impossibility to many. Gallipoli is a long peninsula with narrow beaches, sheer cliffs, and commanding ridges and peaks. On top of that the allied forces had to be dropped off onto the peninsula by boats and landing craft. The Turkish soldiers had a clear advantage in defending the peninsula. The Allied forces landed on two beachheads at Helles and Gaba Tepe, at around 3am on the morning of the 25 of April, 1915.

From the moment the allied troops landed on the beaches they were bombarded with artillery fire. The men had no where to go! There was no cover for them!

At some places the trenches the two sides were fighting in were really close. Some spots there were only eight or ten meters between the two trenches. The two sides were close enough so they could hear each other talk and sing. The two sides even exchanged gifts. Canned beef and food were offered by the Allies in exchange for tobacco, from the Turks. There were even exchanges of letters between the two sides.

It is estimated that about 480,000 Allied troops fought at Gallipoli. The British reported 205,000 casualties, 43,000 of those were killed. Austria and New Zealand reported more than 33,600, over one third killed, and France had 47,000 casualties with 5,000 killed. The Turkish casualties are estimated to be about 250,000, with 65,000 killed.

Battle of the Somme

This battle was a joint French and British operation. The British Expeditionary Force commander General Douglas Haig, was in charge of the operation. Haig called for an eight-day preliminary bombardment that would destroy the German's front line of defenses. Haig strategically placed 27 divisions of men (75,000), at different points against the German front line, which was composed of 16 divisions of men.

The bombardment failed to destroy the barbed wire of the Germans and their concrete bunkers. This meant the Germans were able to hold off the allied forces without great difficulty. The attack was headed up by the fourth army. The British attacked at 7:30 on the morning of July 1st. On that day, the British Expeditionary Force suffered 58,00 casualties, a third of those men died. This day was considered the worse day in the history of the British army.

On September 15, 1916, General Micheler and the tenth army joined the battle. Micheler brought with him twelve divisions of men. Micheler's men also used Tanks for the first time.

Go to a map of the battle:

Information on this battle taken from Sparatacus Educational