Adventures of a Serial Entrepreneur

History is written by the Victors

Before the German invasion of Belgium on 4th August 1914, the German High Command had made a series of bad decisions. The redirection of much of the army to the Russian front had been insisted on by the mistaken Kaiser Wilhelm. The struggle by the German commander Gen Helmut von Moltke opposing this decision had affected the General's health which may account for his weak control of the imminent battle. Following German Army protocol, he was located far away from the battlefront at the forces Supreme HQ, then located between Koblenz and Luxembourg. From there he tried to coordinate and control the battlefield decisions of his two recalcitrant generals at the front.

On 6 August 1914, the massive German forces invaded Belgium and were trying to implement the Schlieffen plan of blitzkrieg but were slowed down by brave Belgian resistance. When the invaders met the British and French at the Battle of the Frontiers the bloodshed was historic with colossal loss of life. The French lost 27,000 soldiers in just one day on August 22nd. Faced with apparently unstoppable forces, General #Joffre ordered a retreat.

At this stage, the km advancing forces were only 50from Paris whose defense had been left to a retired ex-colonial officer Gen Joseph Gallerani. Regarded as out of date and rather odd he was merely a stopgap. However, he was a proud Frenchman and fiercely determined not to allow Paris to be occupied. He had a considerable number of trained fresh troops looking for action but had no means of transport as the railway system was inoperative. At his wit's end, he had considered every option, including bicycles and horses but had found nothing feasible. One evening while walking home from another futile meeting, he casually observed a taxi picking up some passengers.

It was a Damascene moment for him as he thought of an improbable plan, to use the sizeable Parisian taxi fleet as a 'modus operandi'. He simply called a taxi not for a ride but for a conversation: how long to drive 50 km, how much for the round trip, and how many passengers could he squeeze in? The taxi driver required assurance about pricing and payment but was agreeable. An urgent meeting of the gendarmerie and General de Trentinian commander of the 7th division of the Army met that night to agree on operational details, numbers of troops, taxis, payment, time, and marshaling areas.

On the evening of third September General Joffre, tired and battle-weary was planning a strategic retreat. This would have left Paris open to attack and was not acceptable to Gallieni. In an urgent phone call, he strongly proposed that Joffre should attack the flank of the German 1st army under Gen von Kluck who had mistakenly left himself open to such a move. Joffre took some persuading and was extremely reluctant to follow orders from an aging officer who was already retired from service.

General Gallieni was not to be denied, he would employ every method to send reinforcements to the French 6th Army under General Maunoury who would be leading the attack. His support and optimism encouraged Joffre who understood the positive effect that reinforcements would have on his tired soldiers. Seeking help from the English Minister of Defence, Lord Kitchener, he was joined by fresh soldiers from the British Expeditionary Force under General Sir John French.

On September 6th the taxis were ordered to assemble at 22:00 hours in agreed locations, the leading vehicles to assemble in the esplanade des Invalides. Before the war, Paris had about 10,000 taxis in use, but with drivers being conscripted as soldiers there were probably about 3000 taxis in service, driven mainly by older men. The popular brand was the Renault Type AG1. The army had hoped for over 1000 taxis to transport 6000 soldiers. On the night of six September, the taxis numbered 670 which could each carry 4 to 5 soldiers at a speed of 25 mph. Under instructions, they drove in single file through the darkness without headlights, following the tail lights of the previous vehicle.

They carried the men of the 103rd and 104th infantry regiments of the 7th Army division which amounted to 6000 soldiers. Many drivers did two runs. The battle they were joining was huge, the seventh Regiment had already 150,000 soldiers so that the actual contribution made by the taxi brigade was marginal if indeed they were in action at all on that occasion.

There are many different versions of the event, including one in my book 'The Clash of Giants, Rockefeller versus Gulbenkian'. What is important is not the precise statistics and facts but the much more critical effect it had on morale. At that time the Parisiens and the French generally were very frightened. With an army of nearly 1 million Germans driving into the country, the Government had relocated to Bordeaux and up to 1 million refugees had fled.

The effect of French taxis going to the front, united in their spirit and love for France was the morale booster that strengthened the national pride and fervor that helped carry the French people through four long years of trench warfare. The relevance of this narrative to my story about the two oil giants Rockefeller and Gulbenkian lies in that this was the first oil-fuelled mechanized troop movement in the history of warfare. It was also a milestone in the history of oil, which changed the practice and logistics of military operations forever. After centuries of warfare fought with horses and cavalry, future conflicts would rely on the use of oil. Incidentally, it would also raise the aspirations of our two subjects from the rank of millionaires to that of billionaires.