Taxis to the Marne

Imagine this, you’re a French General during the beginning months of the Great War. As of right now your armies are in full retreat, routed by the relentless German assaults. The enemy is within 30 miles of Paris and if they take the city then the war is over. There is hope however. The German armies must cross the Marne River in order to reach you, and they’re vulnerable to attack. What do you do? You quickly mobilize your troops to the front to beat back your invader, and in order to do this you will take advantage of a new technology.

The Battle

The First Battle of the Marne saw one of the first major offensives by allied forces during World War One. On September third the two advancing German Armies began crossing the Marne river, and the French began a small attack against the German Forces there. The rest of the French Armies prepared a larger offensive, mostly utilizing trains and trucks soldiers were quickly moved to the front for the coming offensive.

French Soldiers at the First Battle of the Marne, Courtesy of thoughtco

On September sixth the French launched their major offensive against the German forces crossing the river. The Germans were holding on for the moment but were slowly weakening as more French troops were being transported to the front. On September 7 and 8 roughly 600 taxis joined the transport efforts as they began bringing soldiers to the battle.

British Soldiers crossing the Marne River on pontoon barges, Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

As the French attack continued against the German First and Second Army a gap was beginning to form between them. The British Expeditionary Force took advantage of this 30 mile gap between the two German Armies, flanking the German Second Army and forcing a retreat. By September tenth German forces were in full retreat and were pushed back across both the Marne and the Aisne Rivers, no longer threatening the Capital City of Paris. (Note this is a gross oversimplification of the battle and only the high points were mentioned, many details were glossed over.)

The Taxis

The taxis used in for the transport were Renault AG1 Landaulets that were almost all owned by the G-7 cab company, who are still in business today. They were five passenger vehicles that had a top speed of 20-25 mph. Similar to a convertible they could bring their tops up or down in order to allow a closed or open cab respectively.

Renault AG1 Landaulet taxi, courtesy of Peter Sigal

When the Taxis were requisitioned by the French Government police in Paris went out and stopped any taxi they saw and sent it to pick up troops. There were actually over 10,000 taxis in the city at the time but the low number of only 600 transporting troops was because most of the drivers were already in the army.

Line of taxis, courtesy of firearmsinfo

The taxis were instructed to drive at night so they were not seen by German observers. Many of the men who rode in the taxis were ecstatic, as Max Hastings wrote, “Most had never ridden in such luxury in their lives.” One has to remember that the automobile was still a relatively new invention at this time. By the end of the taxis two days of transport duty they had brought three battalions to the battle, roughly 3,000-5,000 men in total. This being the first transport of soldiers by automobile in history.

Taxi Impact on the Battle

Despite being heavily publicized at the time and still persisting as a common legend in France today the impact the taxis made on the battle was minimal. As stated before the taxis brought at most 5,000 soldiers to the battle, but in total there were more than 1 million soldiers on the French side alone. That means that at most the taxis only transported 0.5% of the total number of French troops. To diminish the taxis impact even more the majority of soldiers transported by them were held in reserve and did not see any combat during this particular battle. Also do not think that the taxi drivers were doing all this as a “goodwill” effort, they had their meters running the entire time and the French government was sent a bill afterwards.

Courtesy of Reims1418

One might now wonder why the taxis made for such a big story if they were not really significant. It must be understood that at this time the French people were demoralized and needed something to lift their spirits. It is hard to win a war when your people do not have the will to fight. Seeing the taxi, which was by now a facet of city life, being used to help win a major battle was just the story that was needed to invigorate the French people. The generals and the government knew this and encouraged the event to be written about in newspapers and periodicals. So even though the taxis did not do much for the battle itself they did wonders for the people at home.

Personal Thoughts

The First World War is one of my favorite wars to learn about and I find just about anything that has to do with it interesting. Despite the taxis minimal impact on the battle I still found myself interested and even whimsical at how the legend has persisted in France today.

Amazon Affiliate Link to the book used for this article:

Sources

https://www.britannica.com/event/First-Battle-of-the-Marne

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/fleet-taxis-did-not-really-save-paris-germans-during-world-war-i-180952140/

Book: Catastrophe 1914: Europe Goes to War by Max Hastings, 2013