The First Battle of the Marne was a World War I battle fought September 5 - 9, 1914. It was a French-British victory against the German army under General von Moltke.
The First Battle of the Marne was a turning point in the First World War. Up to this point, the Germans had successfully penetrated far into France with a sweeping advance from the north. But on September 5, northeast of Paris, the French 6th Army under General Michel-Joseph Maunoury attacked German forces who were advancing on the capital. At the First Battle of the Marne the French and British successfully halted the German advance, saving Paris from occupation. The German retreat that followed between September 9 and September 13 signified the abandonment of the Schlieffen Plan of invasion. In the aftermath of the First Battle of the Marne both sides dug in, and four years of stalemate ensued.
Around 600 Paris taxicabs, mainly Renault AG, were commandeered by the French authorities and used to transport 6,000 French reserve infantry troops to the First Battle of the Marne.
Over 2 million troops fought in the First Battle of the Marne and 100,000 were killed or wounded.
The Second Battle of the Marne, was a World War I battle fought from July 15 to July 18, 1918 near the Marne River. The Second Battle of the Marne began with a German attack (under General Erich Ludendorff) on two sides of Reims. On one side little advance was made, and on the other side the Germans succeeded in crossing the Marne River, but nothing else. On July 18th American, British and French forces counterattacked under the lead of General Ferdinand Foch, and stopped Ludendorff's plan to launch a massive attack on Flanders.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Second Battle of the Marne"
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "First Battle of the Marne"