French Army of Alsace (WWI)

The Army of Alsace was a World War I French field army that operated between 11 August and 28 August 1914.

Formation

On 7 Augustus 1914, the French VII Corps under General Bonneau attacked and took Mulhouse, but 3 days later, they were forced out by German counter-attacks. Bonneau was dismissed by Joffre and the VII Corps was reinforced with several units and became the Army of the Alsace under command of Paul Pau. The reinforcements were

• the 44th Division,
• the 55th Reserve Division,
• the 58th Reserve division,
• the 63rd Reserve division,
• the 66th Reserve division,
• the 8th Cavalry Division

A new attack was launched, Mulhouse was taken and the Germans were even pushed over the Rhine. But French defeats in Lorraine and the Ardennes forced the Army of the Alsace to withdrew from Mulhouse to a more defensible line near Altkirch and to provide reinforcements for the French armies closer to Paris.

After the disbandment

The Army of Alsace was disbanded on 28 August and many of its units distributed among the remaining French armies.
The units that remained in the Southern Elsace, came under the First Army and received the name of Groupement des Vosges, which became the 34th Army Corps on 22 octobre 1914.
On 8 December 1914, with the stabilisation of the Western Front, more units were added to this sector and they formed the independent Army Detachment of the Vosges under General Putz. On 4 April 1915, the force became a full Army, named the Seventh Army.

Sources

This article incorporates information from the equivalent article on this wiki