Fix Bayonets

ln a late reaction to the German invasion of Belgium, French Commander Joseph Joffre sent IV and V Armies north to the Belgian frontier. When German 3rd Army forces under Max von Hausen began to turn their east flank at …

1914-08-23

2

ln a late reaction to the German invasion of Belgium, French Commander Joseph Joffre sent IV and V Armies north to the Belgian frontier. When German 3rd Army forces under Max von Hausen began to turn their east flank at the Meuse River, Joffre allowed V Army Commander Charles Lanzerae to initiate a withdrawal, but not before a local commander, Charles Mangin, took action. They called him “the butcher”. The aggressive Mangin led his brigade toward Onhaye, a vital crossroads town on the Meuse bridgehead. With bayonets fixed, his soldiers drove the Saxons from the town and temporarily interrupted the crossing area off to the east. Mangin, a colonial wars veteran, had the men follow his motto: “Concentrate all at one point; but then, right up to the limit!". Onhaye was a rare bright spot in the midst of the dismal French retreat.

Onhaye, Belgium

The Battle of Dinant was an engagement fought by French and German forces in and around the Belgian town of Dinant in the First World War, during the German invasion of Belgium. The French Fifth Army and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) advanced into Belgium and fought the Battle of Charleroi (21–23 August) and Battle of Mons (23 August), from the Meuse crossings in the east, to Mons in the west. On 15 August 1914, German troops captured the Citadel of Dinant which overlooked the town; the citadel was recaptured by a French counter-attack during the afternoon.

Wikipedia: Battle of Dinant

German

French