Battle of the Trouée de Charmes

Battle of the Trouée de Charmes
Part of the Battle of the Frontiers on the Western Front of World War I
German objective
Date 24–26 August 1914 Location Between Lunéville and Charmes, 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 (150,000 men)	6th Army (150,000 men)
Trouée de Charmes Trouée (gap) de Charmes in the Meurthe-et-Moselle, a department of the Grand Est region of France

The Battle of the Trouée de Charmes (French: Bataille de la trouée de Charmes) or Battle of the Mortagne was fought at the beginning of World War I, between 24 and 26 August 1914 by the French Second Army and the German 6th Army, after the big German victory at the Battle of the Frontiers, earlier in August.

From 1874 to 1880, General Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières oversaw the construction of the Séré de Rivières system, a line of fortresses 65 km (40 mi) long from Belfort to Épinal and another line 65 km (40 mi) long from Toul to Verdun, about 40 km (25 mi) from the Franco–German border. The River Meuse flows northwards from Toul to Verdun, Mézières and Givet on the Belgian border and there is a tributary of the Moselle between Belfort and Épinal, the rivers running near parallel to the 1871–1919 Franco–German border. A 70 km (43 mi) wide interruption in the French fortifications was left between Épinal and Toul, known as the Trouée de Charmes (Charmes Gap), which was west of Nancy, about 12 km (7.5 mi) from the Franco-German frontier. A second series of fortifications, to prevent the main line being outflanked, was built in the south from Langres to Dijon and in the north from La Fère to Rheims, then from Valenciennes to Maubeuge, although for financial reasons these took until 1914 to complete.