August 1914 by Bruno Cabanes

Author:Bruno Cabanes
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300208276
Publisher: Yale University Press

CHAPTER FIVE

The Shadow of Defeat

BY the third week of August, Joffre had seen his plans fall apart. He had thought that his army would be victorious and the battle short, but it all became a disaster. Never in France’s military history had so many men been killed in so short a time—twenty-seven thousand French soldiers on August 22 alone, and forty thousand overall from August 20 to the 23rd. In his General Instructions no. 2, dated August 25, 1914, the chief of staff outlined a plan to regroup. It was necessary to “rebuild our left flank,” he wrote, “by joining the 4th and 5th French armies, along with the British army and with new forces from the east, creating a mass of men capable of taking up the offensive while the other armies contain enemy efforts for as long as is needed.”1 This important document from the early days of the war is astonishing; it demonstrates an unshakable confidence even in the very midst of defeat. Even so, a ninety-five-mile retreat all the way to Amiens signified a serious reversal of fortune. The illusion of a short war had been shattered; the general staff had lessons to learn.

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