Siege of Maubeuge

Siege of Maubeuge Part of the Great Retreat on the Western Front (World War I) German soldiers outside Maubeuge, September 1914. Date August 24–September 7, 1914 Location Maubeuge, France Result German victory Belligerents  France  Germany Commanders and leaders Joseph Anthelme Fournier Joseph Joffre Hans von Zwehl Karl von Bülow Alexander von Kluck Strength 45,000 men 435 guns 50,000 men Casualties and losses 5,000 dead/wounded 40,000 POW, 377 guns captured Unknown

v t e Retreat to the Marne Maubeuge Le Cateau Le Grand Fayt Étreux St. Quentin Néry 1st Marne 1st Aisne v t e Western Front Liège Frontiers Mons Namur 1st Marne Antwerp Race to the Sea 1st Ypres 1st Artois 1st Champagne Hartmannswillerkopf Neuve Chapelle 2nd Ypres 2nd Artois 2nd Champagne Loos 3rd Artois Verdun Somme Arras 2nd Aisne 3rd Champagne/Battle of the Hills Messines 3rd Ypres 1st Cambrai Spring Hundred Days

The Siege of Maubeuge took place between August 24 and September 7, 1914 when the French garrison of the Maubeuge Fortress finally surrendered to the Germans at the start of World War I on the Western Front.

• August 7: General Fournier, commander of the Maubeuge Fortress, accurately warned that a massive German offensive over the Meuse River was likely. General Joseph Joffre promptly sacked him for defeatism.
• August 12: At a British War Council [15:00–18:00], Field Marshal Lord Kitchener predicted a major German drive through Belgium, but was compelled to agree to send the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to Maubeuge as planned instead of further back to Amiens. Kitchener ordered General John French not to consider himself under the command of the French Army.
• August 20: The BEF was fully assembled around Maubeuge.
• August 21: General Karl von Bülow ordered Alexander von Kluck’s 1st Army to veer from moving west to south towards Maubeuge. Kluck angrily objected as this prevented the German 1st Army from outflanking the Allied left. The BEF began marching north from Maubeuge towards Mons - reconnaissance reported that strong German forces were heading straight for it, but the reports were discounted by the confident Sir Henry Wilson.
• August 24: Early in the morning John French briefly threatened to retreat away from the Charles Lanrezac's Fifth Army towards Amiens, until he was dissuaded by Joffre - John French also considered withdrawing the BEF into the fortress of Maubeuge. Later the same day German Second Army opened its attack on the French fortress of Maubeuge.
• August 25: The advancing German Second Army left behind a corps to cover the French fortress of Maubeuge - the fortress commander was ordered to hold on.
• August 26: German forces had completely invested the bypassed fortress.
• August 29 to September 5: The surrounded French fortress was subjected to bombardment by German heavy artillery.

Part of the ruined fort after capture by Germans

• September 5 to September 6: After a prolonged bombardment, German forces stormed four of the bypassed forts.
• September 7: During the evening, far behind the front line, the fortress complex at Maubeuge fell to the Germans, with 40,000 French soldiers taken prisoner.
• November 9, 1918: Maubeuge was re-taken by the British Guards Division and 62nd (West Riding) Division.

See also

Media related to Siege of Maubeuge at Wikimedia Commons

References

• Evans, M. M. (2004). Battles of World War I. Select Editions. ISBN 1-84193-226-4.
• August 1914 Chronology: Introduction, Contents, and Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Siege of Maubeuge.

• Charles Lanrezac