Battle of Grand Couronné

Part of the Battle of the Frontiers on the Western Front of World War I

Grand Couronné, September 1914

Date	4–13 September 1914
Location	Grand Couronné, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France 48°40′N 06°10′E / 48.667°N 6.167°E / 48.667; 6.167Coordinates: 48°40′N 06°10′E / 48.667°N 6.167°E / 48.667; 6.167
Result	French victory

Belligerents

France

German Empire

Commanders and leaders

Noël de Castelnau

Crown Prince Rupprecht

Strength

Second Army (225,000 men)

6th Army (350,000 men)

Casualties and losses

c. 30,000

The Battle of Grand Couronné (French: Bataille du Grand Couronné) took place in France after the Battle of the Frontiers, at the beginning of World War I. After the German victories of Sarrebourg and Morhange, the German pursuit by the 6th and 7th armies took four days to regain contact with the French. The Germans attacked to break through French defences on the Moselle, from 24 August – 13 September in three phases, the Battle of the Trouée de Charmes (24–28 August), when the German offensive was met by a French counter-offensive, a period of preparation from 28 August – 3 September, when part of the French eastern armies was moved westwards towards Paris and then a final German attack against the Grand Couronné de Nancy. The battle was fought day and night from 4–13 September 1914, by the German 6th Army commanded by Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and the French Second Army commanded by Noël de Castelnau.

After the failure of the French offensives in the Battle of Lorraine on 20 August 1914, the French Second Army was ordered by Joffre on 22 August to retreat to the Grand Couronné de Nancy, heights near Nancy, on an arc from Pont-à-Mousson to Champenoux, Lunéville and Dombasle-sur-Meurthe and defend the position at all costs. On 24 August, Rupprecht and the 6th Army tried to break through the French lines on the Moselle from Toul to Épinal and encircle Nancy. After the Battle of the Mortagne, an attempt by the Germans to advance at the junction of the French First and Second armies. A lull followed from 28 August – 3 September, then the Germans simultaneously attacked Saint-Dié and Nancy in the Battle of Grand Couronné. After the failure of the Battle of Mortagne, the capture of Nancy would have been an important German psychological victory and the German Emperor Wilhelm II came to supervise the offensive. The German attack was part of an offensive of all the German armies in France in early September and a German success would have outflanked the right of the French armies from the east. Castelnau had to send several divisions westwards to reinforce the Third Army.

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