Siege of Maubeuge 1914
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 24 August 1914 – 7 September 1914 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1914 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | World War I era (1914–1918) | derived from year |
| Location | France | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Great Retreat | Wikidata P361 |
| Coordinates | 50.2775, 3.9733 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Maubeuge took place from 24 August – 7 September 1914, at the Entrenched Camp of Maubeuge (le camp retranché de Maubeuge) the start of the First World War on the Western Front. The railway from Thionville (Diedenhofen, 1871–1919) to Luxembourg City, Arlon and Namur into Belgium had been cut by the demolition of the rail bridge over the Meuse at Namur in Belgium. During the siege, the German armies in the north could use only the single-track line from Trier to Liège, Brussels, Valenciennes and Cambrai, which could accommodate a maximum of forty trains a day.
At the end of August the garrison made several sorties but the third was a costly failure, after which the French prepared to receive the German attack. The German bombardment began at 1:00 p.m. on 29 August, assisted by agents in the Entrenched Position who passed reports on the fall of shot, greatly increasing the accuracy of the German guns. The forts and infantry shelters (ouvrages) were wrecked by the German and Austrian super-heavy howitzers; German medium artillery proved unexpectedly effective.
Parts of Maubeuge were set on fire, causing an exodus of civilians and deserters to the village of Hautmont to the south-west.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Maubeuge (revision 1370743358), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Siege of Maubeuge (1793) 1793 · 0 km
- Battle of Wattignies 1793 · 9 km
- Battle of Grand-Reng 1794 · 9 km
- Battle of Erquelinnes 1794 · 10 km
- Battle of Malplaquet 1709 · 11 km
- Siege of Mons (1691) 1691 · 19 km
Other battles of the Great Retreat
- Battle of Le Cateau 1914
- Battle of St. Quentin (1914) 1914
- First Battle of the Aisne 1914
- Rearguard Affair of Étreux 1914
All 5 battles of the Great Retreat →
Browse more: battles in France · Europe · World War I era battles