| rench and Germans have argued about the territories | | | | was able to seize Château Salins. On August |
| of Alsace and Lorraine for centuries. In 1871, after | | | | 18th Dubail’s 1st Army advanced into |
| losing the Franco-Prussian War, France was forced to | | | | Sarrebourg and on the same day the 2nd Army took |
| cede the territories back to Prussia. When Germany | | | | control of Dieuze. As the French armies continued to |
| invaded Belgium in 1914, France seized upon the | | | | advance, they were met with increasingly heavier |
| opportunity to restore its honor and reclaim the coal | | | | resistance from the German troops. |
| rich regions of Alsace and Lorraine. On August 14, 1914, | | | | Rupprecht grew impatient with the retreating strategy |
| the French army under the command of Generals | | | | and requested orders to attack. There are |
| Foch and Dubail marched into Lorraine. The German | | | | contradictory reports whether the order to counter |
| forces (Sixth Army) were led by Crown Prince | | | | attack came from Army Chief of Staff Helmuth von |
| Rupprecht and equipped with machine guns and heavy | | | | Moltke or if Rupprecht used his own authority. On |
| artillery. | | | | August 20th, the German Sixth Army attacked the |
| The German strategy was simple. On August 14th, | | | | French 2nd Army. Since the French army had been |
| they began a controlled retreat intending to draw the | | | | advancing extremely fast, they had no trenches or |
| French armies into attacking heavily defended areas. | | | | other defensive positions to thwart the German |
| The French First and Second Armies easily marched | | | | offensive. |
| forward. On August 17th, Foch’s XXth Corps | | | | |