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Saar Offensive

September 1939 - October 1939

‘If the blood of France and of Germany flows again, as it did twenty-five years ago, in a longer and even more murderous war, each of the two peoples will fight with confidence in its own victory, but the most certain victors will be the forces of destruction and barbarism.’
Edouard Daladier - Prime Minister of France - 2nd September 1939

Introduction to the Saar Offensive

The Saar Offensive was a direct response by France and Britain to the German invasion of Poland on the 1st of September 1939. Bound by a military alliance with Poland, they aimed to alleviate pressure on the Poles by attacking Germany’s western front. The plan was to breach the German border defences, which were lightly held, and advance on a broad front into the Saarland region towards Saarbrücken with a significant force. Despite the British being unable to contribute any troops and the French Army suffering challenges due to its slow mobilisation and logistical issues, the French did launch the offensive on the 7th of September with 11 divisions and made good progress, capturing a number of German towns with only minor resistance being met. However, the offensive lacked momentum and was halted short of the German West Wall, also known as the Siegfried Line, without any attempt to breach it. As German reinforcements arrived following Poland’s capitulation, the French Army began to withdraw behind the Maginot Line, marking the end of this brief and largely ineffective sortie into Germany.

September 1939

6th September 1939
French Army Group 2, under General André-Gaston Prételat and positioned along the Lorraine front opposite Germany’s Saarland and Palatinate regions, declares its mobilisation complete. Its units have been reinforced with reservists and conscripts, and forward formations have concluded their offensive preparations. Subsequently, French reconnaissance patrols conducted preliminary incursions across the border into the Saar, probing German defensive strength.
7th September 1939
The French Second Army Group launches Operation Saar, an offensive into Germany intended to support Poland. The French Third Army (General Charles Condé) and Fourth Army (General Edouard Réquin) advance into the Saar Basin along a 32-kilometre front near Saarbrücken with 11 divisions. The advance is led primarily by the 42nd and 5th Army Corps, which occupy the border areas with minimal resistance, as German forces have already withdrawn their covering units into the defensive positions of the Westwall.
9th September 1939
French forces penetrate up to 8km into Germany at various points, capturing several villages, including Wadgassen, Großrosseln, Gersheim, Medelsheim, and Lauterbach, encountering minimal German resistance. They also complete the capture of the Warndt Forest.
French Flag

Charles de Gaulle

French General

September 1939

‘We have come to fight on this soil, where the French spirit has never been extinguished. We will not yield, we will not retreat. We will hold this line, and we will drive the enemy back across the Rhine.’
10th September 1939
German forces launch a local counterattack in the Saar region, targeting the village of Apach, recapturing it and pushing back elements of the French 42nd Infantry Division. However, a swift French counterattack regains control of the village.
11th September 1939
Elements of the French 5th and 8th Infantry Divisions, having advanced through the Warndt Forest and the Blies Valley towards Merzig, Saarbrücken, and Überherrn, reach the outer defences of the Siegfried Line. Reconnaissance patrols begin to probe the German forward positions of the 1st Army (under Generaloberst von Witzleben), encountering bunkers, dragon’s teeth, and wire entanglements, triggering the first heavy artillery exchanges between French and German forces on the Western Front.
12th September 1939
French forces capture the German town of Brenschelbach. Following a conference of the French and British command, it’s decided to halt all further offensive operations into Germany just short of the Westwall. The Poles are not informed of this, but are told that a renewed offensive will begin on the 17th September.
17th September 1939
The French inform the Polish command that the planned renewal of the French offensive into the Saarland has been postponed until the 20th September.
Map of the Saar Offensive showing the French advance into Germany and the limit of gains in the Saarland during September 1939
Map of the Saar Offensive showing the extent of the French advance into the Saarland and the limit of gains reached in September 1939.
21st September 1939
With French forces having moved over to the defensive in the Saarland and with the French Command believing that Polish defeat is imminent, they order a withdrawal of the majority of offensive units back to positions on the French border in preparation for a general withdrawal.

October 1939

16th October 1939
With the French Army withdrawal from the Saarland now in progress, German forces, reinforced by units transferred from Poland, launch counter-attacks against them.
17th October 1939
French forces complete their withdrawal from the Saarland to their start positions in the Maginot Line, with German troops recapturing all the territory lost since the beginning of ‘Operation Saar’. The French have suffered approximately 2000 killed, wounded or missing and the Germans around 700 casualties.

1939-1945 Croix de Guerre - France Volunteer Combatants Cross - France Anti-Aircraft Flak Battle Badge - Germany Order of the German Eagle Cross - Germany 1939–1945 Medal - France