Battle of the Mortagne

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 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 a battle between 24 and 26 August 1914 after the Battle of the Frontiers, at the beginning of World War I.

From 1874–1880, General Raymond Adolphe Séré de Rivières (20 May 1815 – 16 February 1895) 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) back from the frontier. 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, that run near parallel to the 1871–1919 French-German border. The Trouée de Charmes (Charmes Gap), a 70 km (43 mi) wide in the line of fortifications, was left between Épinal and Toul, east of which was Nancy, 12 km (7.5 mi) from the 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 defences were not complete in 1914.

The French had suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Lorraine and were retreating in disorder.
The situation left Helmuth von Moltke the Younger the Chief of the General Staff of the German army with a difficult choice. The apparent collapse of the French Second Army opened perspectives for a "Cannae scenario": a breakthrough at the Trouée de Charmes and the encirclement of all French troops in Lorraine and the Ardennes.