The Battle of Albert (also known as the First Battle of Albert) began on 25 September 1914, in what became known as the "Race to the Sea", during the First World War. It followed the First Battle of the Aisne as both sides moved northwards, trying to turn the northern flank of their opponent. The Second Army (Noël de Castelnau), began to assemble at Amiens in mid-September and was directed by General Joseph Joffre, the Generalissimo of the French Army, to attack near Albert.
On 25 September, the Second Army advanced eastwards but instead of advancing round an open northern flank, encountered the German 6th Army attacking in the opposite direction, reaching Bapaume on 26 September and Thiepval the next day. The Germans had intended to outflank the French and drive westwards to the English Channel, seizing the industrial and agricultural regions of northern France and isolating Belgium. Neither side could defeat their opponent and the battle ended in stalemate around 29 September, as both sides made another outflanking attempt to the north of Albert, at the Battle of Arras (1–4 October).
Background
Battle of the Frontiers
On 18 August, General Albert d'Amade formed a defence line from Maubeuge to Dunkirk, to prevent the disruption of railways by German cavalry raids. The Scarpe, Escaut and Rhonelle sluices were opened to extend the floods of the Scarpe and the old forts of de Maulde, Flines, Curgies, Condé and Le Quesnoy around Valenciennes were re-occupied. On 20 August, d'Amade formed a line of three territorial divisions , with the 84th Territorial Division from the Scarpe to the Sambre, the 82nd Territorial Division from the Sambre to the Lys and the 81st Territorial Division from the Lys to the sea. When the BEF advanced to the west of Maubeuge, the 84th Territorial Division advanced to Condé and formed a new defensive line along the Escaut, from Condé to Maulde. On 23 August, the 88th Territorial Division arrived near Lille from Paris, with orders to recapture Tournai. The division was bombarded by heavy artillery when close to Cysoing the next morning and slowly retired to Templeuve and Arras. After the Battle of Charleroi (21 August) and the Battle of Mons (23 August), Amiens became vulnerable to the advance of the 1st Army as it pursued the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and the Fifth Army. At on 24 August, the Siege of Maubeuge began and the 84th Territorial Division fell back towards Cambrai and Marquion. The rearguard was attacked near Fresnes, just south of Condé and next day, the division was engaged near Haspres and defeated.
Orders came from Paris to abandon Lille, which was evacuated on 24 August and the 82nd Territorial Division formed a line from La Bassée to Corbehem, with the 81st Territorial Division forming a line from Aire to the sea. The Sixth Group of Reserve Divisions (also known as , with the 61st and 62nd Reserve divisions) were sent from Paris, increasing d'Amade's force to six divisions, to hold a line from Douai to Béthune and Aire, to the sea, with another of the Lille garrison. On 25 August, the German II Corps advanced westwards through Denain, to get behind the left flank of the BEF and after dark reached the vicinity of Cambrai, where rearguards of the 84th Territorial Division defended the Sensée Canal at Bouchain, against a German attempt to cross. During 26 August, the division slowly retreated west of Cambrai; arrived at Marquion and were then ordered by Joffre to Combles and Péronne, to become part of the Sixth Army. The divisions retreated westwards, covered by the 84th Territorial Division, in actions which diverted part of the German II Corps from the BEF during the Battle of Le Cateau (26 August).
Action of Mesnil
Early on 28 August, the two reserve divisions advanced from Bapaume, taking the German II Cavalry Corps by surprise in its billets around Péronne. The action continued into the next day and the French divisions were then driven back from Manancourt, south-west of Bapaume, by elements of II Corps and the IV Reserve Corps. Further to the east, the French II Cavalry Corps, on the left of the BEF, failed to prevent the Germans from reaching the outskirts of Péronne on the evening of 27 August. The cavalry withdrew south of the Somme and next day Péronne was captured. The German advance continued towards Amiens and on 29 August, the Sixth Army counter-attacked the German advance guards, which had reached Bray-sur-Somme, Chuignolles and Framerville near Amiens. A Moroccan Chasseur brigade, the 14th Division of VII Corps, the 45th and 55th battalions of Chasseurs and the 55th Division on the right flank near Nesle, captured Proyart as the four Territorial divisions advanced on Amiens. During the evening, a German counter-attack retook Proyart and forced the French to the south. The Territorial divisions retreated from Amiens on 30 August, skirmishing with German patrols near Cagny. On 11 September, the German garrison withdrew from Amiens and next day the Territorial divisions arrived from Rouen and captured a few stragglers. The Territorial divisions advanced to the north-east towards Péronne and Fricourt on 17 September.
Prelude
German offensive preparations General Erich von Falkenhayn replaced Colonel-General Helmuth von Moltke the Younger as Chief of the German General Staff on 14 September, when the German front in France was being consolidated in Lorraine and on the Aisne. The open western flank beyond the 1st Army and the danger of attacks from the National redoubt of Belgium, where the Siege of Antwerp had begun on 20 August, created a dilemma. The German positions in France had to be maintained, when only offensive operations could lead to decisive victory. Appeals for the reinforcement of the Eastern Front could not be ignored and Falkenhayn cancelled a plan for the 6th Army to break through near Verdun. The army was sent to the right wing of the German armies, where the flank of 1st army was at Compiègne, beyond which there were no German forces until Antwerp. Falkenhayn could reinforce the 1st Army with the 6th Army, send it to Antwerp or divide the army by reinforcing the 1st Army and the Antwerp siege with part of the army, while the rest operated in the area between. Falkenhayn chose to move the 6th Army to Maubeuge and outflank the Franco-British left wing, withdrawing the 1st, 7th and 2nd armies to La Fère, Laon and Reims while the 6th Army was redeploying. The 3rd, 4th and 5th armies were to defend if the French attacked first and then attack to the south-west beginning on 18 September.
General Karl von Bülow, the 2nd Army commander and Colonel Gerhard Tappen of the Operations Branch of the (OHL, Supreme Army Command) objected, because the time needed to move the 6th Army would concede the initiative to the French. Bülow and Tappen recommended an attack by the 1st and 7th armies, with reinforcements from the armies further to the east, for an offensive from Reims to Fismes and Soissons, since the French could redeploy troops on undamaged railways. The risk of separating the 1st and 2nd armies again would be avoided; Falkenhayn agreed and ordered the 6th Army to assemble at St Quentin. Attacks to encircle Verdun from the south and from Soissons to Reims would pin down French troops. On 21 September, Falkenhayn met Bülow and agreed that the 6th Army should concentrate close to Amiens, attack towards the Channel coast and then envelop the French south of the Somme, in a (decisive battle). The XXI Corps, which had moved from Lunéville on 15 September and the I Bavarian Corps which marched from Namur, arrived during 24 September but were diverted against the Second Army as soon as they arrived on 24 September, with orders to extend the front northwards from Chaulnes to Péronne, attack the French bridgehead and drive the French back over the Somme.
French preparations French attempts to advance after the German retirement to the Aisne were frustrated after 14 September, when German troops were discovered to have stopped their rwithdrawal and dug in on the north bank of the Aisne. Joffre ordered attacks on the German 1st and 2nd armies but attempts by the Fifth, Ninth and Sixth armies to advance from had little success. The (French Military Intelligence) reported German troop movements from east to west, which led Joffre to continue moving French troops from the east, which had begun on 2 September with IV Corps and continued on 9 September with XX Corps, 11 September with XIII Corps and XIV Corps on 18 September. The depletion of the French forces in the east, took place just before the Battle of Flirey , a German offensive against the Third Army on either side of Verdun, the Fifth Army north of Reims and the Sixth Army along the Aisne, which ended with the creation of the St Mihiel Salient. Joffre maintained the French emphasis on the western flank, after receiving intercepted wireless messages, which showed that the Germans were moving an army to the western flank. Joffre continued to send units to the Second Army, north of the Sixth Army. On 24 September, the Second Army was attacked and found difficulty in holding ground, rather than advancing round the German flank as intended.
General Ferdinand Foch ordered the left flank of the French armies to move northward to Arras, Lens and Lille, to recreate a threat to the German northern flank, by moving through Arras to Cambrai and Le Cateau and from Lens to Valenciennes and Maubeuge. If the French occupied the area between Cambrai, Valenciennes, Maubeuge and Le Cateau, the German forces on the upper Somme, Oise and the Aisne would lose the use of the two main railways to Liege, although this would not be decisive, since the line from Laon to Vervins, Hirson, Charleroi, Namur and Liege and that from Laon to Mézières and Montmédy to either Luxemburg and Treves or Thionville and Metz, would still be available to the Germans. French moves to the north were also influenced by events in the siege of Antwerp, where Termonde fell on 26 September and increased the danger that the city and the Belgian army would be lost. The new Tenth Army was ordered to concentrate around Arras and Lens.
First Battle of Picardy
On 18 September, the Sixth Army advance was stopped on a south-east to north-west line at Carlepont on the south bank of the Oise and Noyon on the north bank, which ended the first French outflanking move. Joffre dissolved the Second Army in Lorraine and sent Castelnau and the Second Army headquarters to the north of the Sixth Army, to take over the IV and XIII corps, along with the 1st, 5th, 8th and 10th Cavalry divisions of the French II Cavalry Corps (General Louis Conneau) from the Sixth Army. The XIV Corps was transferred from the First Army and XX Corps from the original Second Army, to assemble south of Amiens, behind a screen of the 81st, 82nd, 84th and 88th Territorial divisions protecting French communications. The Second Army prepared to advance on 22 September, on a line from Lassigny northwards to Roye and Chaulnes, around the German flank. Next day, the German II Corps joined the right flank of the 1st Army, for an attack to the south-west with the IV Corps, IX Reserve Corps and the 4th and 7th cavalry divisions. Bülow, ordered Kluck to cancel the offensive and withdraw the two corps behind the right flank of the 1st Army. On 16 September, the 2nd and 9th Cavalry divisions were dispatched from the Aisne front as reinforcements but before the retirement began, the French XIII and IV corps on the left flank of Sixth Army, with the 61st and 62nd divisions of the 6th Group of Reserve Divisions, began to advance along the Oise and met the right flank of the 1st Army between Carlepont and Noyon on 17 September. On the right flank, the French 17th and 45th divisions attacked near Soissons and gained a foothold on the plateau of Cuffies, just north of the city.