September 4, 1914

One hundred years ago today the Battle of Grand Couronné began and would last until the 12th of September. In an effort tie down the French forces along the Franco-German border so they could not assist the French troops to the north defending Paris, the German army launched a major offensive near the French city of Nancy. The Kaiser himself would come to observe the heavy bombardment of French positions. The attack ultimate failed and in an unexpected turn of events it would be the Germans and not the French that needed assistance near Paris in the next few days and the German troops locked in this battle were unable to be relocated north where they might have had a greater impact.

After a month of fighting and the French attack into Germany, the German counterattack in the France and the German withdrawal following the Battle of Grand Couronné, the battle lines south of the city of Nancy solidified more or less along the pre-war border with neither nation making significant headway into the other. This would be a precursor for the rest of the war, because where men fought and died along the frontline running from the city of Nancy to the Swiss border on September 12, 1914 would be the exact same spot that men would continue to fight and die for the next four years.