France Campaign, 1914

Both the French and the Germans followed offensive plans. The French offensive in the Ardennes was to be the largest Plan XVII, consisting initially of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth armies. But on 15 August the latter was allowed to advance at the angle formed by the Meuse and Sambre rivers, meeting the part of the main German offensive - Second and Third armies - in the Schlieffen Plan. Soon, reduced in force, the French attack found the Fourth and Fifth German armies in the Ardennes forests, being defeated. This Battle of the Ardennes, together with the Battle of Alsace-Lorraine, ended Plan XVII, forcing the French armies to a general retreat that was only interrupted at the Battle of the Marne. The scenario of the wargame that will be used will reinforce four key factors for the campaign s success, and if the original Schlieffen Plan had been maintained, they would certainly have been thought and executed: more siege artillery for the early phase of the maneuver of attack on the Belgian forts; better preparation and use of communications; logistics with more support troops, particularly to the far right wing, and with the possibility of tapping into enemy sources of conquest; and fewer troops withdrawn to serve the Russian front.