August 23rd, 1914

- The French 5th Army fights a desperate battle for survival, as crises mount by the hour.  The roads were choked with Belgian refugees, making rapid redeployment of units impossible.  At noon news arrived that the Belgians were evacuating Namur, which was to fall to the Germans later in the day.  The German 2nd Army launches a series of ferocious attacks which push elements of 5th Army southwards, while during the day the full force of the German 3rd Army is felt, as it seizes river crossings on the Meuse and directly threatens 5th Army's right flank.  Bits of news arriving by telegram of action elsewhere on the frontiers suggest the Germans are gaining all along the line, leaving him without any support.  He sees his worst nightmares coming true before his eyes - 5th Army trapped and annihilated between the two German armies, leaving France completely exposed to the German invasion of the north.  Lanrezac feels that the survival of 5th Army is essential to the survival of France itself.  At 930pm, Lanrezac informs Joffre that he has given the order to retreat.

As bad as the days events have been for 5th Army, they could have gone much worse.  General Bülow of the German 2nd Army had instructed General Hausen of 3rd Army to attack directly westwards across the Meuse, in support of his own push from the north.  Hausen complied with Bülow's order, instead of with a directive from OHL to move southwest towards Givet.  Had 3rd Army attempted OHL's manoeuvre instead, they would have been able to advance into the French 5th Army's rear, cutting its line of retreat and forcing its destruction.  By attacking frontally, Lanrezac's army is able to escape.

- When the commanders of the 3rd and 4th Armies report this morning on the devastating results of the prior day's fighting, Joffre at first cannot believe it.  So much has been invested in Plan XVII, in the notion that French infantry with sufficient elan can sweep all before them, that he can hardly comprehend that the attacks have failed.  Joffre orders both armies to resume the offensive.  As both armies struggle to resume the attack, German counter-attacks worsen the situation.  Just after noon, V Corps of 3rd Army is driven back eight miles, and to avoid envelopment the rest of 3rd Army retires the same distance.  To the north, the battered Colonial Corps of 4th Army withdraws from Neufchâteau at 5am, uncovering the flank of XII Corps which is also forced to retreat.  By the end of the day, all but two corps of 3rd and 4th armies have been driven back to the line from which they had started their offensive.

- The only decent news for the French comes from Lorraine where, despite its mauling, the French 2nd Army has managed to extricate itself and form a strong defensive line west of the Meurthe River, its northern flank anchored at Nancy and its southern linked to 1st Army.

- This evening, as the terrible news from along the front accumulates, Joffre struggles to understand the magnitude of what has transpired.  In a telegram to the War Minister, he suggests that he has been only 'momentarily checked' and that the offensive will be resumed.  The reality is that the French army has been defeated.  All of its pre-war planning and training, its emphasis on morale and infantry assaults, its unyielding faith in elan and the offensive, has been for nought.  In four days fighting, from Rupprecht's counterattack on the 20th to Lanrezac's order to retreat this evening, Plan XVII has disastrously miscarried.  Over those four days, the French army has suffered more than 140 000 casualties, and is now in retreat.

- As the French army endures a series of defeats, the British Expeditionary Force sees its first fighting of the campaign.  Acceding to Lanrezac's request, the BEF holds the line of the Mons Canal.  They are significantly outnumbered - the German 1st Army bearing down on them has four corps and three cavalry divisions, to the BEF's two corps.  Further, Smith-Dorrien's II Corps, on the left of the line, bears the brunt of the fighting, while Haig's I Corps on the right is not attacked at all.  Balancing the numbers are the quality of the British soldiers.  While the BEF is pitifully small compared to the armies of the Continental powers, it is also the only army composed of long-service regulars, instead of conscripts.  These are men who have made soldiering their profession - they train constantly, with a particular emphasis on rapid and accurate rifle fire.  Further, experience in the Boer War taught the British army the crucial importance of entrenchment and rifle accuracy.  Together this means the BEF is able to punch above its weight despite being heavily outnumbered.

The battle opens at 9am when German artillery begin firing on the British entrenchments south of the canal, followed shortly by infantry attacks.  Kluck's orders to maintain contact with 2nd Army to the east means he is unable to stretch his army westward to find and turn the BEF's flank.  As a result, 1st Army spends the day throwing itself at the British in frontal attacks.  Further, the attacks come in piecemail - 1st Army is still in marching formation, strung out along the Belgian road network, and is unable to concentrate when they stumble across the British.  Two corps of 1st Army never even engage the enemy today.  The German infantry who do enter the battle find themselves under intense rifle fire of such accuracy and frequency that some regiments report being halted by machine-gun fire instead.  By afternoon sections of the British line are being painfully forced back from the canal line, but the BEF is able to execute an orderly withdrawal to a second line of prepared entrenchments.  The Germans, for their part, are too exhausted to give chase.

German infantry advance towards Mons in the dense formations that made
them such easy targets for the British regulars, Aug. 23rd, 1914.

As evening falls, the soldiers of the BEF take satisfaction in having blunted a major German attack.  Though the British have suffered 1600 casualties, German casualties have been approximately 5000.  Further, a day has been lost for 1st Army, which has the furthest to travel.  Sir John French and his staff plan for a second day of fighting at Mons, continuing to cover the left flank of the French army.

- At 4am, the train carrying Ludendorff stops at Hanover station, where Hindenburg boards.  It is the first time the two men have met.  On the train Ludendorff explains the orders he has already issued, and Hindenburg approves, setting the pattern of the relationship between the two men.  Later today they arrive at 8th Army headquarters in East Prussia.  Meanwhile, I Corps completes its entrainment, an operation that has required precise coordination between five different railway stations.  The corps now begins its movement to the south to face the Russian 2nd Army.

- Russian operations in East Prussia reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the strategic situation.  Zhilinskii at North-West Front, as well as both Rennenkampf (1st Army) and Samsonov (2nd Army) believe that the Germans have been beaten, and are withdrawing behind the Vistula River.  Thus Zhilinskii's top priority is to hurry the advance of 2nd Army, so it can cut off the German 8th Army before it can extract itself from East Prussia.  To achieve this, one corps of 2nd Army is left in Poland to cover the western flank, and a second corps is detailed to the Masurian Lakes to cover the eastern flank.  This reduces the strength of 2nd Army to three corps as its advance continues.

Meanwhile, Rennenkampf is in no hurry to advance westwards.  Indeed, he fears that a rapid advance to allow 1st Army to catch up to the Germans would result in another German defeat that hastens their withdrawal from East Prussia before 2nd Army can close the trap.  Thus, though 1st Army begins to move today, its progress is extremely slow, and its cavalry is completely unable to discern that the German 8th Army is no longer in front of them - indeed, there is only a single German cavalry division left.  Moreover, Rennenkampf directs 1st Army northwestward towards the major German fortress of Königsberg in order to lay siege and potentially trap a portion of the German 8th Army he believes may have retreated there.  This movement draws 1st Army even further away from 2nd Army, leaving the latter increasingly exposed.

- The first major encounter on the Galician frontier begins today when the Russian 4th Army, advancing south, runs into the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army, moving north, in the Battle of Kraśnik.  In the pitched battle near the San River just inside Russian territory, it is the Austro-Hungarians who draw first blood.  Russian cavalry had completely failed to find the approaching enemy, and the corps of 4th Army were strung out and unable to provide mutual assistance.  One Russian corps is badly mauled, one of its divisions losing half its strength.  The Russians, however, do not view the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army as part of an invasion of Russian Poland, but rather the northern flank of the expected Austro-Hungarian concentration around Lemberg.  Pre-war expectations thus sow confusion among the Russian command structure.  In particular, there is no awareness that a second Austro-Hungarian army - 4th - is also advancing north on 1st Army's eastern flank.

- Their ultimatum having expired, Japan declares war on Germany. Japan feels no special attachment to the cause of the Entente - their war aims are limited to the Pacific, and indeed would have been equally pleased if Germany had acceded to Japanese demands peacefully.  As it is, Japan begins preparations for a campaign against Tsingtao.

August 22nd, 1914

- Almost since the start of the war, General Charles Lanrezac has been warning Joffre that the Germans are making a major push through Belgium.  Other than minor adjustments, Joffre has dismissed Lanrezac's fears.  Today, Lanrezac and his 5th Army discover just how right he was.

Belatedly recognizing the importance of the German bridgeheads over the Sambre River, Lanrezac orders a major counterattack by two of his corps.  The attack is a dismal failure.  Advancing against German infantry that spent the night digging in, the French soldiers are mowed down by machine-gun and rifle fire.  By the afternoon, German counterattacks were forcing the two corps back, and by nightfall 5th Army has been completely driven from the Sambre.  To make matters worse, 5th Army had lost contact with 4th Army on its right, while three French cavalry divisions on his left had broken and retreated.  Lanrezac was now faced with the possibility of both his flanks being turned.  Finally, losses had been terrible - some French regiments had lost almost 50% of their strength, while the Germans had seized the initiative.  Lanrezac now found himself fighting precisely the desperate defensive battle that he had long feared he would have to.

The Battles of Charleroi and Mons, Aug. 21st to 24th, 1914

-  To the west of the French 5th Army, the British Expeditionary Force has continued to march northwards.  During the day, British cavalry ahead of the main columns encounter for the first time German cavalry, and the realization of imminent battle dawns.  Late in the evening, a request arrives from a beleaguered Lanranzac requesting the BEF to attack the flank of the German force attacking him from the north.  This is not practical, but Field Marshal Sir John French agrees to hold the line of the Mons Canal for twenty-four hours.  By midnight the BEF is entrenching on the south side of the canal, expecting battle in the morning.  Despite aerial reconnaissance indicating otherwise, the British believe that there are only one or two German corps before them, giving the BEF superiority and a sense of confidence.

British soldiers of the 18th Hussars with Belgian civilians, Aug. 22nd, 1914

If they had known what was advancing towards them, the BEF might not have had such confidence.  The German 1st Army, the most powerful of the armies arrayed against France, and the one with the most vital role in the Schlieffen Plan, was bearing down upon them.  The one saving grace for the BEF was that the Germans had absolutely no idea where the British were.  German cavalry had utterly failed to find anything - one German regiment, when just three miles north of Mons and the BEF, was told by a cavalry commander there were no enemy forces within eighty miles.  OHL, for its part, was not even sure the BEF was on the Continent at all.  Rumours abounded of where the BEF might have landed, from Antwerp to Calais to ports further afield.  Thus the first encounters with British cavalry on the 22nd come as a complete surprise to General von Kluck of the German 1st Army.  His first instinct is to move southwestward, in an effort to move around the western flank of whatever force had appeared before him.  Bülow, who has been given a supervisory role over the two armies adjacent to his own, instead orders Kluck to cover his own westward flank as he continues the fight.  1st Army thus moves south on the 22nd, which will carry it directly to Mons.  The most important army in the Schlieffen Plan was about to fight its first major battle.

- After yesterday's scattered encounters, the French 3rd and 4th armies today find themselves in pitched battles with the German 4th and 5th armies in the Ardennes.  Along the entire front the French infantry throw themselves at the German defenders, with terrible results.  IV and V Corps of 3rd Army attack entrenched positions in a heavy fog that prevents artillery fire, and are repulsed, with one division in each corps fleeing under German artillery fire.  VI Corps, the last belonging to 3rd Army, does better, but by the end of the day is yielding ground to the enemy.  4th Army to the north is faring no better.  Its rightmost corps - II - encounters heavy German resistance and makes no forward progress.  On its left the Colonial Corps suffers the worst of any French unit involved in the day's battles.  Composed of long-service regulars who had served in colonial wars in Africa and Asia, the corps' experience proves its undoing.  Able to advance under heavy fire without breaking, as was frequently the case with conscripts, the Colonial Corps is able to advance farther than its adjacent units, and finds itself in a mass of Germans.  Battalion after battalion launch bayonet attacks, broken up by concentrated machine-gun fire.  By the end of the day, the Colonial Corps has lost 11 000 of its strength of 15 000, the highest casualties of any French unit fighting in the Battle of the Frontiers, and twelve kilometre gaps existed on either side.  To the north the remaining corps of 4th Army are suffering varying fates.  Of crucial importance was the plight of XVII Corps, whose 33rd Division had been attacked in its rear, lost all its artillery, and fled the battlefield, forcing the rest of the corps to pull back.

Though the Germans have suffered heavily as well, the fighting is disastrous for the French.  The main attack of Plan XVII had been launched, and failed to dislodge the German defenders.  Prospects for the next day's fighting were dim, but Joffre remained supremely confident.  He informs the War Minister this evening that the French armies are well-positioned to strike at the Germans, and all that remains is for the officers to execute their orders.  This foreshadows Joffre's future explanations for the failures of August 1914 - it was due to the weakness of subordinates, not any mistakes either on his part or in Plan XVII.

- The French disasters continue to the south in Lorraine.  After the crushing defeat inflicted on 2nd Army on the 20th, it again comes under devastating attack by the German 6th Army.  At midmorning, 2nd Army's right is crushed and forced into a precipitate retreat.  Again 2nd Army's link to 1st Army in the south is severed, and again 1st Army has to retire to reestablish the front line.  2nd Army is now pulling back to the fortifications around Nancy, hoping to use them to anchor a defensive line.

The attack by the German 6th Army of today is the product of another deviation from the Schlieffen Plan.  Under pressure from Prince Rupprecht, Moltke has agreed to expand 6th Army's counterattack into a full offensive.  After the relatively quick fall of Liège, it is hoped that the French forts around Nancy and Epinal will prove equally susceptible to attack.  Beyond that, the possibility of enveloping the entire French army via breakthroughs on the left as well as the right has proven too seductive to Moltke.  6th and 7th armies are thus committed to an invasion of France itself, instead of leaving their forces available for redeployment to the right.  One of the most important decisions Moltke would make, placing in a day of victories the seeds of defeat.

- The Russian 2nd Army under General Alexander Samsonov today completes its crossing of the Russo-German frontier, but it is already in trouble.  Its concentration zone during mobilization was fifty kilometres from the border, which means that the exhausted Russian columns have been marching ten to twelve hours each day for a week.  Further, the supply situation was collapsing - there were no railways reaching to the border along the route of 2nd Army, and it was already being forced to live off the land.  Finally, the communication situation is disastrous.  2nd Army's corps lacked sufficient telephone wire to connect themselves to their own divisions, while Samsonov was effectively disconnected from his superior, General I. G. Zhilinskii of North-West Front - telegrams from the latter could only reach the former by car from Warsaw, rendering null Zhilinskii's ability to co-ordinate the actions of the two armies invading East Prussia.

- The summons from OHL reaches Ludendorff at Namur at 9am, and within fifteen minutes he departs for Coblenz, where he arrives at 6pm.  He is briefed on the situation in East Prussia, and meets with Moltke and the Kaiser.  His first orders are to confirm Hoffman's plan of transferring I Corps by rail to face the Russian 2nd Army, while XVII and I Reserve Corps are to rest tomorrow, to allow them to be better capable of joining the rest of 8th Army in battle.  At 9pm, Ludendorff departs Colbenz on a special train for East Prussia.  Meanwhile, OHL has also decided on the new commander for 8th Army - General Paul von Hindenburg.  A veteran of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, he had retired in 1911, but on August 3rd had informed Moltke of his willingness to take a field command if one was available.  OHL decides that Hindenburg is the ideal man for the job - from a long line of Prussian Junkers, Hindenburg's career had demonstrated a solidity and imperturbability that would match perfectly with Ludendorff's imagination and excitedness.  It was Ludendorff who could develop brilliant operations, while Hindenburg would ensure their execution through moments of crisis that might rattle Ludondorff.  Moltke and the Kaiser approve of Hindenburg's appointment, and he receives a telegram at his home in Hanover at 3pm informing him of his appointment.  He is instructed to board Ludendorff's train as it passes through Hanover the next morning as it travels east.

- As the Austro-Hungarian invasion of Russian Poland begins, the Russian army is preparing its own invasion of Galicia.  Four armies are deployed against Austria-Hungary - 4th, 5th, 3rd, and 8th (the latter commanded by General Alexei Brusilov) - stretching from the northwest to the southeast.  The pre-war plans, assuming that the Austro-Hungarians deploy their forces close to the border, calls for 3rd and 8th armies to advance westward and engage the enemy in a defensive battle near Lemberg (modern Lvov).  Once the Austro-Hungarian army is fixed by this attack, 4th and 5th armies are to attack south behind the enemy forces and rout them.  The pre-war plans are nullified almost the instant war is declared.  Grand Duke Nicholas, appointed commander of the Russian army, responds to pleas from France by ordering the advance of 4th Army prematurely.  Conversely, the advance of 3rd Army westward is painstakingly slow - its commander believes that the Austro-Hungarians have deployed near the border, when in fact they have deployed far to the rear.  It is only on the 21st that 3rd Army has crossed the border, and progress remains glacial.  Thus the pre-war plan is being in practice reversed - it is the attack south of 4th and 5th armies that will hit the enemy first, a situation complicated by the Austro-Hungarian deployment in the rear and Conrad's decision to invade Russian Poland.  Thus the first Russian invasion of Galicia is heading directly towards the Austro-Hungarian invasion heading in the opposite direction.

Initial plans of Austro-Hungarian and Russian armies in Galicia, Aug. 1914.

- The advance of the Gold Coast Regiment northwards from Lome to Kamina in German Togoland encounters German resistance along the Chra River.  Entrenched on the northern bank, the Germans pour fire on the advancing Imperial troops, who suffer 17% casualties.  Despite the victory, the outnumbered Germans withdraw northwards this evening.

August 21st, 1914

- The British Expeditionary Force is today marching northeast from Le Cateau and Maubeuge, with an objective of Soignes.  Field Marshall Sir John French does not expect serious fighting before the 24th, and believes the overall position of the BEF is favourable.  However, his force is about a days march behind the French 5th Army on his right, and is not yet in a position to support them.

- This morning Joffre orders 5th Army to cross the Sambre River and advance north and engage the German forces moving through Belgium, in concert with the British Expeditionary Force on his left.  His plan is to fix the German forces in Belgium so they cannot counter the French offensive in the Ardennes to the south.  When General Lanrezac of 5th Army informs Joffre that the BEF will not be in position to advance until the 23rd, Joffre orders 5th Army to attack by itself.

As this conversation is ongoing, however, the Germans are beginning both to upset the French plans and realize Lanrezac's worst fears.  The French 5th Army finds itself in the path of the 2nd and 3rd German armies - the former moving south towards the Sambre and the latter moving southwest against the Meuse.  In addition to attacking the demoralized Belgian garrison at Namur, where the Sambre and Meuse meet, advance elements of the German 2nd Army seize several bridges over the Sambre, pushing back French forces at the river's edge in the first action of what will come to be known as the Battle of Charleroi.  The seizure of the river crossings is relatively uncontested by 5th Army, Lanrezac believing that only small outposts have fallen, with most of the defenders of the Sambre entrenched on high ground south of the river.

- Joffre's primary focus is not on 5th Army today - to the south, the offensive by the French 3rd and 4th Armies begins as they advance into the Ardennes.  Between them the French armies have nine infantry and one cavalry corps, and expect to outnumber the Germans, believing significant forces have been pinned to the south by 1st and 2nd Armies while the Germans also appear to have committed heavily to the Belgian invasion.  They are disastrously misinformed, however.  Opposing the French in the Ardennes are the German 4th and 5th Armies, who form the pivot of the Schlieffen Plan, and include ten infantry corps plus reserve forces.  Unlike the three armies to the north, 4th and 5th Armies had less distance to travel, were moving more slowly, and had been entrenching as they advanced.

The advance begins in a thick fog which prevents any accurate reconnaissance by French cavalry.  Further, the French advance was poorly coordinated in the rough terrain of the Ardennes, with corps losing contact with their neighbours and gaps opening in the French lines.  Blundering through the woods and hills, lead elements of the French armies encounter their German counterparts, fighting a series of short, sharp preliminary engagements.  In these small fights, French officers are reluctant to order their soldiers to entrench as the Germans have, fearing that doing so will make them reluctant to attack.  It is clear that tomorrow the major clash will occur.  To the Minister of War, Joffre telegrams that 'the moment of decisive action is near.'  Joffre is correct, but not in the way he imagines.

Operations in the Ardennes, Aug. 21st to 26th, 1914.

- The Russian 1st Army remains stationary today, recovering from its victory of the day before.  In this rest, Colonel Max Hoffman, Deputy Chief of Operations of the German 8th Army, senses opportunity.  He had argued the night before that if 1st Army did not move for several days, 8th Army could use interior lines to redeploy against the Russian 2nd Army, which today is crossing the German border southwest of the Masurian Lakes.  When aerial reconnaissance confirms the lack of activity by the Russians at Gumbinnen, Hoffman convinces his superior to execute his plan.  I Corps, with the longest to go to reach the Russian 2nd Army, is to move by train to the western flank of XX Corps, the only unit currently in the south.  8th Army's other two corps - XVII Corps and I Reserve Corps - are to disengage from the Russian 1st Army and march to the eastern flank of XX Corps.  In doing so, the units of 8th Army were aided by their familiarity with East Prussia - I and XVII Corps had previously executed these precise movements during manoeuvres in 1910.  Hoffman's plan leaves open the ability to face the Russian 1st Army again should it advance in the next couple of days - as I and XVII Corps are to march on foot, they can reverse course if necessary - but allows for a revival of the original war plan of 8th Army; namely, the defeat of invading Russian armies in detail.

Simultaneously, officers of Moltke's staff at Colblenz have been in touch with 8th Army's corps commanders, who have painted a more optimistic picture of the situation than Prittwitz's report of the previous day.  With Moltke once again paralyzed by indecision - it never occurred to him that when he received Prittwitz's report, he could simply overrule his subordinate and order 8th Army to stand its ground - it is the officers of the operations staff who conclude that Prittwitz and his chief of staff must go.  For the latter post, they desired someone who had already proven himself in action, and had the imagination and temperament essential to deal with the fluid situation in East Prussia.  They select General Erich Ludendorff, whose star is in the ascent after his success at Liège.  He is currently overseeing 2nd Army's attack on the Belgian forts at Namur, so an officer is dispatched by car to summon him to OHL headquarters.

- The offensive of the Austro-Hungarian 6th Army, which General Potiorek had intended to be the main axis of advance, has achieved local successes along the Drina.  However, the prior defeat of the 5th Army to the north allows General Putnik to concentrate most of the Serbian army against the Austro-Hungarian 6th Army, and under pressure 6th Army is forced to fall back.

- Minister of Defence Jan Christian Smuts finalizes today his plan for the South African campaign against German South-West Africa.  South African forces would be divided in three: Force A at Port Nolloth and Force B at Upington would advance north across the border, while Force C will land at Lüderitz on the coast and advance inland.  Total strength of the three forces will be five thousand men and fourteen guns.

German South-West Africa