FRONTIER, BATTLES OF THE. The generic name of "battles of the frontier" covers the whole of the actions fought at the opening of the World War in Aug. 1914, on or near the French frontiers. For convenience, these are here divided into six sections, each of which deals with a more or less distinct part of the series of operations. These are : I. Early battles in Uppei Alsace; II. First battles in Lorraine; III. Battle of the Ardennes; IV. Charleroi and Mons; V. Le Cateau; and VI. Guise.
It was laid down in the original French plan (see WORLD WAR) that the action of their right wing would be much assisted by a preliminary operation in Upper Alsace to be carried out by the VII. Corps and 8th Cavalry Division; this force was to advance by Mulhouse on Colmar, so holding fast the hostile forces in that area, besides encouraging the Francophile elements of the popula tion to throw off the German yoke. In accordance with this plan, Gen. Dubail, commanding the I. Army on the right of the French line, issued orders on Aug. 5 for this operation to commence on the 7th, and by the evening of the 8th the French had secured Mulhouse and taken up a defensive position around that town, the weak German covering troops falling back before them to the east bank of the Rhine. Their success, however, was short-lived ; Gen. von Heeringen, commanding the German VII. Army, was already planning a counter offensive with the XIV. and XV. Corps, then detraining in the area Colmar-Breisach, and on the loth the French, heavily attacked by these superior forces, were forced to evacuate Mulhouse and commence a retreat which by the 12th had brought them back to within Tom. of Belfort. On neither side had the conduct of the operations been a model of skill, but the Germans had at least the satisfaction of having scored the advantage in the first clash of arms.
The French high command now decided to entrust the execu tion of the task in which the VII. Corps had so completely failed to a newly formed army of Alsace under Gen. Pau, comprising, besides that corps, one additional regular division, and three re serve divisions. The concentration of this new army and the prep arations for a renewed advance could not be completed before Aug. 14, by which date the German VII. Army, in expectation of the main French offensive in Lorraine, was concentrating all its forces to the north, leaving in Upper Alsace only three weak bri gades of second line troops. These were, of course, easily driven back by Pau's army, which by Aug. 20 had reoccupied Mulhouse, together with Munster to the north and Altkirch to the south, and had cleared Upper Alsace entirely of the enemy. But the object of holding to their ground important hostile forces and so assisting Dubail's army now engaged in the main offensive had not been achieved ; nor could Pau from his present position even cover its right flank effectively. It was therefore decided to withdraw him. On Aug. 20 the short-lived Army of Alsace was dissolved, the troops comprising it being placed under Dubail or despatched to other parts of the front. The early French operations in Upper Alsace had been unproductive of either political or military ad vantage and had absorbed forces which might have found more useful employment elsewhere. (E. W. S.)