On 7 August 1914, the French VII Corps (General Bonneau) captured Mulhouse but were forced out three days later by German counter-attacks.
Bonneau was dismissed by Joffre and the VII Corps was expanded, becoming the Armée d'Alsace under command of Paul Pau.
French defeats in Lorraine and the Ardennes forced the Armée d'Alsace to withdraw from Mulhouse, to a more defensible line near Altkirch and to provide reinforcements for the French armies closer to Paris.
The units that remained in Southern Alsace, came under the First Army and received the name of Groupement des Vosges, which became the XXXIV Corps on 22 October 1914.
On 8 December 1914, with the stabilisation of the Western Front, more units were added to this sector and they formed the independent détachement d'Armée des Vosges/détachement d'Armée Putz under General Henri Putz.