II.

First Battle of the Marne

(September 6-9, 1914), a decisive battle that halted the German advance near the Marne, less than 48 km (30 mi) from Paris. The German forces had been meeting with little resistance in their march on Paris. Then, supposedly because of an error in decoding an order, they wheeled to the south-east. Joseph Simon Gallieni, the military governor of Paris, persuaded the French commander in chief, Joseph Joffre, to attack the flank thus exposed. Under Joffre's orders troops were rushed from Paris to the front by all available means, including 600 taxicabs, and the Allied attack began on September 6. By September 9 the German armies had retreated, and the threat to Paris was ended.