Chapter Summaries

Wilhelm II placed Oscar in command of the Western Front, giving him authority over the German corps assembled for the campaign. Oscar and Falkenhayn presented a plan to defeat the Anglo-French forces and advance on Paris, leaving Kluck’s concern about the long route from Amiens answered with a promise of trucks and railway support.

• Wilhelm II appointed Oscar commander of the Western Front, and the generals pledged to cooperate with him.
• Oscar promised Wilhelm II he would defeat the Anglo-French forces and crush France.
• After Wilhelm II left, Oscar asked Falkenhayn to present the operational plan.
• Falkenhayn proposed attacks toward Rouen and Paris, a frontal assault on the Marne line, and an advance from Verdun.
• Kluck questioned the distance from Amiens to Paris, and Oscar said trucks and French railways would support the advance.

At Reims, Oscar prepared the German Central Army Group to attack the Anglo-French forces along the Marne, despite being heavily outnumbered. He left the generals confident as the first assault was set for the next morning.

• Oscar reviewed the German and Allied deployments with Manstein and cautioned that the Anglo-French forces were stronger than the Russians.
• The commanders of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Army Corps arrived and reported their troops were ready for battle.
• Oscar assigned the 2nd Army Corps to attack Châlons-en-Champagne, the 3rd to attack Épernay, the 4th to attack Thierry, and the 5th to serve as the reserve.
• Hausen said the army corps had been reinforced with armored forces and stronger infantry firepower, including semi-automatic rifles.
• Oscar ordered the Central Army Group to attack at eight the next morning and aim to break through the Marne defenses within three days.

Marshal Joseph Joffre rallied the Anglo-French commanders in Montmirail as they prepared for an imminent German offensive. The generals left the meeting fired with determination to defend the Marne front and defeat Germany.

• French forces placed Montmirail under martial law as Allied commanders gathered at City Hall.
• Marshal Joseph Joffre arrived and addressed the commanders of the Anglo-French Allied Forces.
• Joffre declared that the Germans would attack within days and argued that Allied numbers and Marne fortifications would stop them.
• Joffre urged the generals to lead their troops against the German offensive and promised victory for France and Britain.
• The generals shouted their support for the French Republic and British Empire, resolving to fight the Germans.

Marshal Joffre warned the Allied corps commanders that Germany’s coming offensive could decide the war and ordered them to hold the Marne line before launching a counterattack. The Allies lacked tanks of their own but had issued anti-tank weapons, and the commanders prepared to face the German forces.

• After the other generals left, Marshal Joffre told the corps commanders that the Allied Powers could be defeated if they failed to stop the German offensive.
• Marshal Joffre said the German Crown Prince would command more than eight hundred thousand men based near Reims, while the Allies had assembled 1.2 million troops along the Marne.
• General Maunoury said the French had built trenches and barbed-wire defenses, and General Foch raised concerns about German tanks.
• Marshal Joffre explained that Britain and France could not yet field their own tanks but had equipped troops with anti-tank guns and anti-tank rifles.
• General Nivelle questioned whether the Allies should only defend, and Marshal Joffre ordered the commanders to hold the line, wear down German forces, and prepare for a counterattack.

On March 31, 1915, Oscar inspected German preparations for an offensive across the Marne River, relying on artillery and air support to break the Anglo-French defenses while minimizing German casualties. The bombardment began at eight in the morning, and the Allied positions came under heavy fire.

• Oscar and Major General Manstein inspected the German front and observed the fortified Anglo-French positions on the south bank of the Marne River.
• Manstein reported that the Air Corps was ready to provide reconnaissance and fire support, while Oscar ordered the offensive to begin after ensuring supplies and ammunition would keep flowing.
• Oscar warned Manstein that French guerrillas could attack German supply lines in occupied northern France.
• The Anglo-French troops moved into their positions after noticing German preparations across the river.
• At eight in the morning, the German artillery opened fire, damaging Allied defenses and striking soldiers sheltering in bombproof bunkers.

The German Central Army Group unleashed a massive preparatory bombardment against the Anglo-French Allied Forces, destroying many defensive works but causing limited casualties among troops sheltered in reinforced bunkers. General de Cassy Terno ordered a counterattack, and the opposing artillery began a fierce battle.

• The German armies concentrated thousands of artillery pieces along a hundred-kilometer front and began bombarding the Anglo-French positions.
• German shells shattered barbed wire, machine-gun strongpoints, and other exposed defenses, while reinforced Allied bunkers protected most of the soldiers.
• General de Cassy Terno learned that the Germans had numerous 150mm guns and fast-firing field guns, and recognized the attack’s scale.
• General de Cassy Terno ordered his artillery to counterattack, as other Allied armies received similar orders.
• French and British guns opened fire against the German bombardment, beginning a brutal Artillery Battle.

German forces used superior artillery and air power to devastate the Anglo-French guns during the opening of the offensive at the Marne. Marshal Joffre refused to send reserve artillery to the front as German bombardments and air strikes continued.

• Anglo-French artillery opened fire, but German guns located and bombarded their positions from beyond most Allied guns’ range.
• Major General Manstein reported the German artillery strike to Oscar, who watched the Allied positions come under fire.
• General de Cassey Ternot complained about German artillery superiority as the French and British struggled to respond.
• Marshal Joffre denied the front line’s request for more artillery, ordering the troops to hold with their own strength.
• More than two hundred German fighters and bombers attacked the Allied artillery positions, sharply increasing their losses.

German aircraft and artillery devastated the Anglo-French Allied Forces’ positions, forcing their artillery to withdraw. After General de Cassy Terno reported the losses, Marshal Joffre ordered the remaining artillery to shelter and preserve its strength.

• British anti-aircraft gunners hit a German fighter, but it returned, killed the British second lieutenant, and wiped out the firing crew.
• German aircraft repeatedly attacked the Anglo-French Allied Forces’ artillery positions, inflicting severe losses and suppressing their defenses.
• Within half a day, the Anglo-French Allied Forces withdrew their surviving artillery to avoid further destruction.
• General de Cassy Terno told Marshal Joffre that the French 2nd Army Corps had lost a third of its fortifications and half its artillery.
• Marshal Joffre ordered the troops to shelter and the artillery to hold back rather than fight an artillery battle against the Germans.

As German bombardment wrecked the Anglo-French defenses along the Marne, Joffre ordered Allied aircraft to intercept German planes. Oscar ordered the Air Corps to secure the skies and support the coming river crossing, while German precision strikes continued to destroy surviving fortifications.

• General de Castelnau warned Joffre that German shelling was destroying the defenses and that German aircraft were inflicting heavy losses.
• Joffre promised to send French aircraft to intercept the Germans, though the Allied fighters were inferior to German planes.
• Bülow reported that German bombardment had severely damaged the Anglo-French fortifications, and Oscar said he wanted to spare German soldiers' lives.
• Oscar ordered the Air Corps to support the German river crossing the next morning and to shoot down any Allied aircraft.
• On March 31, German reconnaissance and observation enabled artillery and aircraft to target and destroy surviving Allied fortifications and firing points.

The German 41st Fighter Wing intercepted a much larger Anglo-French air group over the South Bank of the Marne River. German Mark II fighters seized the advantage by climbing above the French planes and shot down more than a dozen of them.

• The German 41st Fighter Wing spotted over a hundred incoming Anglo-French aircraft and signaled the 42nd Bomber Group to withdraw.
• The German fighters prepared to engage while German and Anglo-French soldiers on the ground cheered for their pilots.
• The German Mark II fighters climbed faster than the French Farman F.20s, and several French aircraft lost power and crashed.
• The French planes abandoned their climb, allowing the German fighters to dive and attack with machine guns.
• The German attack shot down more than a dozen French aircraft.

The German 41st Fighter Wing devastated the French Air Force in a one-sided battle, prompting Marshal Joffre to order more aircraft to the front. On March 31, further clashes over the South Bank of the Marne River inflicted enormous losses on the French, leaving their newly established air force badly weakened.

• German Mark II fighters shot down French planes in a heavily lopsided air battle, losing five aircraft while destroying more than seventy French planes.
• Marshal Joffre questioned the disparity in aircraft performance and ordered more planes gathered at the front to defeat the Germans.
• On the afternoon of March 31, the French sent large numbers of aircraft over the South Bank of the Marne River to stop German bombing raids.
• In the ensuing air battles, the German military lost more than fifty aircraft while the French lost over six hundred.

After German bombardment devastated the Anglo-French Allied Forces' Marne defenses, Oscar and his commanders prepared to attack. On April 1, German artillery resumed shelling while infantry and aircraft readied for the assault, leaving the crossing of the river imminent.

• The German Air Corps bombed French positions after Marshal Joffre abandoned the contest for air superiority, and German fire inflicted more than ten thousand Allied casualties.
• Oscar told General Bülow, General Hausen, and the Duke of Württemberg that they would attack after another hour of shelling, while warning them not to underestimate the more than a million Allied troops.
• The Anglo-French Allied Forces hastily rebuilt their positions overnight, but German artillery began destroying them again at eight in the morning on April 1.
• Marshal Joffre ordered front-line units to prepare for battle, while Allied commanders expected the Marne River to hinder the German crossing.
• German infantry received ammunition and rested as the four German Air Corps prepared to take off and support the coming attack.

The German military launched a massive assault across the Marne River, using artillery and aircraft support to suppress the Anglo-French Allied Forces while troops carried boats toward the opposite bank. German soldiers began crossing under fire, and the chapter left the French and allied forces ordering their artillery into action to hold the line.

• Oscar asked when the Air Corps would reach the battlefield, and Major General Manstein estimated they would arrive within minutes.
• At eight in the morning, the German military extended its bombardment and sent troops carrying boats toward the Marne River as Anglo-French Allied Forces officers rushed their soldiers into position.
• The German Central Army Group's 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Army Groups attacked at six landing points with 150,000 men in the first wave, while machine guns, mortars, and Grenade Launchers fired across the river.
• German soldiers launched their wooden boats, but surviving French and British machine-gun positions shot at the boats and killed some of the crossing troops.
• A German 120mm Heavy Mortar destroyed a French Bunker, and General de Cassigny-Ternaux ordered the French artillery to fire as other Anglo-French Allied Forces army corps issued similar orders.

German forces crossed the Marne River under heavy fire while German artillery and aircraft suppressed the Anglo-French guns. The Germans gained a foothold on the South Bank, but the brutal fighting and heavy casualties continued.

• French artillery bombarded the river crossing and German positions, inflicting casualties and easing pressure on the Anglo-French Allied Forces.
• Oscar ordered German artillery to suppress the Allied guns and awaited the Air Corps; German artillery and aircraft then devastated French artillery positions.
• Oscar told Major General Manstein to reinforce future crossing boats with iron plating to protect them from machine-gun fire.
• German soldiers reached the South Bank, where French machine guns and Allied troops inflicted heavy losses before German aircraft and grenadiers destroyed some of the defenses.
• More German boats reached the South Bank, allowing the Germans to gain a foothold and exchange fire with the Anglo-French Allied Forces as casualties mounted.

German forces crossed the Marne under heavy fire and fought to seize the Allied first defensive line so engineers could build pontoon bridges. By the evening of April 1, they had breached the line and secured positions on the south bank, allowing bridge construction to begin.

• German troops used machine-gun and mortar fire to help small boats carry soldiers across the Marne and establish a bridgehead on the south bank.
• Oscar ordered Major General Manstein to prepare engineers to build pontoon bridges as soon as the first Allied line fell.
• Marshal Joffre refused to commit his two reserve army corps and ordered frontline units to hold their positions without them.
• General de Cassis Terneau received Joffre's order and demanded that his depleted 2nd Army Corps continue defending its line.
• On the afternoon of April 1, the German 2nd Army Corps broke through the French 2nd Army Corps' first line and sent engineers to build bridges.
• By evening, German forces had breached the Allied first line along the south bank, and engineers began constructing pontoon bridges for the main forces and supplies.

German forces broke through the Anglo-French Marne Defense Line and began crossing the river, while Marshal Joffre's commanders urged him to commit the last reserves for a counterattack. Joffre agreed to launch a major attack the following morning to drive the Germans back across the Marne.

• Bülow, Hutier, and the Duke of Württemberg reported that their army corps were building pontoon bridges to move the main forces across the Marne.
• Oscar warned the German commanders to prepare for an Anglo-French counterattack as German troops crossed the river and increased pressure on the defenders.
• Roy and the French army corps commanders reported the worsening frontline situation to Joffre, who rebuked them for failing to hold the defensive line.
• Roy argued that the Allies needed reinforcements to counterattack, and Joffre agreed to commit the 8th Army Corps and 9th Army Corps the next morning.
• Joffre and the commanders decided that the four frontline army corps would also commit their main forces to drive the Germans back across the Marne.

After crossing the Marne River, German forces fortified the South Bank and prepared to repel a massive Anglo-French counterattack. Marshal Joffre and General Foch committed more than six hundred thousand troops to the battle, but doubted they could defeat Germany.

• German engineers built pontoon bridges as troops established defensive positions on the South Bank of the Marne River.
• On April 2, German reconnaissance aircraft spotted the Anglo-French forces gathering, and Oscar ordered frontline units to prepare for their attack.
• German officers woke their exhausted soldiers, who ate breakfast and received ammunition before the counterattack began.
• Marshal Joffre committed fresh French forces and reserves alongside the four frontline army corps, assembling more than two thousand guns and over six hundred thousand troops.
• Marshal Joffre and General Foch discussed the pressure from their leaders and the Germans’ growing strength, then vowed to fight to the end.

On April 2, the Anglo-French Allied Forces launched a major counterattack across the Marne, beginning with a massive artillery bombardment of German positions and pontoon bridges. German artillery and aircraft devastated the Allied guns, but the Allied infantry attacked after the bombardment ended.

• Marshal Joffre ordered the Anglo-French Allied Forces to begin their counterattack with a heavy artillery barrage against German positions and bridges on the Marne.
• Oscar ordered German artillery to suppress the Allied guns, the Air Corps to destroy them, and engineers to prepare to repair the pontoon bridges.
• German artillery and more than a thousand aircraft attacked the Allied artillery, inflicting heavy losses and easing pressure on the German front line.
• Marshal Joffre ordered the Allied artillery to hold for twenty minutes before the infantry attack, though the Allies lost more than half their guns during the bombardment.
• Anglo-French Allied Forces infantry charged toward the German defensive line after their artillery stopped firing.

The Anglo-French Allied Forces launched an assault on the German military’s defensive line and suffered devastating losses from German artillery and machine-gun fire. Their attack stalled, leaving the surviving Allied soldiers pinned down before the German positions.

• German officers prepared their troops and artillery to defend against the Anglo-French Allied Forces’ attack.
• German 75mm Field Guns, mortars, and Grenade Launchers bombarded the advancing Allied soldiers, inflicting heavy casualties.
• German machine gunners opened interlocking fire that blocked the Allied advance and killed a British officer.
• Allied mortar crews tried to silence the German machine guns, but German fire killed several crew members before one mortar destroyed a General Purpose Machine Gun.
• A British officer ordered the Allied troops to advance after the successful mortar strike, but German machine-gun fire cut down more soldiers and forced the survivors to take cover.

The German military repelled a fierce Anglo-French counterattack at the Marne, inflicting devastating losses while holding its defensive line. Marshal Joffre concluded that another counterattack was impossible in the short term, leaving the allies to rely on trench warfare.

• Anglo-French Allied Forces launched repeated attacks across the Marne, but German defensive works and firepower stopped them at heavy cost.
• Oscar ordered artillery and the Air Corps to keep supporting the front, hoping to destroy the allies’ main forces.
• The battle continued until sunset, when exhausted German troops had held their line and the Anglo-French Allied Forces had suffered appalling casualties.
• General Auguste Dubail reported that the French 8th Army Corps had lost more than fifty thousand men, while General Foch faced similarly severe losses in the French 9th Army Corps.
• Marshal Joffre accepted that the allies could not launch another counterattack soon and would have to use trench warfare to wear down the German military.