BATTLE OF THE MARNE
_German Plans Suddenly Changed--Direction of Advance
Swings to the Southeast When Close to the French
Capital--Successful Resistance by the Allies--The
Prolonged Encounter at the Marne--Germans Retreat
With Allies in Hot Pursuit for Many Miles_.
Suddenly the German plans were changed. With Paris almost in sight,
almost within the range of their heavy artillery, the German forces on
the right of the line on September 4 changed the direction of their
advance to a southeasterly course, which would leave Paris to the west.
The people of the gay capital, who for several days had been preparing
themselves once more for the thunder of the Prussian guns, began to
breathe more freely, while all the world wondered at the sudden and
spectacular transformation in the conditions of the conflict.
What had happened? Why was the advance thus checked and the march on
Paris abandoned? Was it a trick, designed to lead the Allies into a
trap? Or were the German troops too exhausted by forced marches and lack
of rest to face the determined resistance of the allied forces before
Paris?
These were the questions on every tongue, on both sides of the Atlantic,
while the military experts sought strategic reasons for the change in
German plans.
When the movement towards the east began the right of the German forces
moved through Beaumont and L'Isle towards Meaux, apparently with the
intention of avoiding Paris. Their front some twenty-four hours later
was found to be extending across the River Marne as far south as
Conlommiers and La Ferte-Gaucher, the two opposing lines at that time
stretching between Paris on the left flank and Verdun on the right.
On Monday, September 7, there came news that the southward movement of
the German army had been arrested, and that it had been forced back
across the Marne to positions where the German right wing curved
back from La Ferté-sous-Jouarre along the bank of the River Ourcq, a
tributary of the Marne, to the northward of Chateau Thierry. All this
territory forms part of the district known as the "Bassin de Paris."
Then came a turn in the tide of war and the German plans were
temporarily lost sight of when the Allies assumed the offensive along
the Marne and the Ourcq and the Germans began to fall back. For four
days their retreat continued. Ten miles, thirty miles, forty-five miles,
back toward the northeast and east the invaders retired and Paris was
relieved. The tide of battle had thrown the Germans away from the French
capital and Frenchmen believed their retirement was permanent.
BATTLE OF THE MARNE
Important and interesting details of the battle of the Marne and the
movements that preceded it are given in an official report compiled from
information sent from the headquarters of Field Marshal Sir John French
(commander-in-chief of the British expeditionary forces), under date of
September 11. This account describes the movements both of the British
force and of the French armies in immediate touch with it. It carries
the operations from the 4th to the 10th of September, both days
inclusive, and says:
"The general position of our troops Sunday, September 6, was south of
the River Marne, with the French forces in line on our right and left.
Practically there had been no change since Saturday, September 5, which
marked the end of our army's long retirement from the Belgian frontier
through Northern France.
"On Friday, September 4, it became apparent that there was an alteration
in the advance of almost the whole of the first German army. That army
since the battle near Mons on the 23d of August had been playing its
part in a colossal strategic endeavor to create a Sedan for the Allies
by out-flanking and enveloping the left of their whole line so as to
encircle and drive both the British and French to the south.
THE CHANGE IN GERMAN STRATEGY
"There was now a change in its objective and it was observed that
the German forces opposite the British were beginning to move in a
southeasterly direction instead of continuing southwest on to the
capital, leaving a strong rear guard along the line of the River Ourcq
(which flows south of and joins the Marne at Lizy-sur-Ourcq) to keep
off the French Sixth Army, which by then had been formed and was to the
northwest of Paris. They were evidently executing what amounted to a
flank march diagonally across our front.
"Prepared to ignore the British as being driven out of the fight, they
were initiating an effort to attack the left flank of the main French
army, which stretched in a long curved line from our right toward the
east, and so to carry out against it alone an envelopment which so far
had failed against the combined forces of the Allies.
"On Saturday, the 5th, this movement on the part of the Germans was
continued and large advance parties crossed the Marne southward at
Trilport, Sammeron, La Ferte-sous-Jouarre and Chateau Thierry. There was
considerable fighting with the French Fifth Army on the French left,
which fell back from its position south of the Marne toward the Seine.
"On Sunday large hostile forces crossed the Marne and pushed on through
Coulommiers and past the British right, farther to the east. They were
attacked at night by the French Fifth, which captured three villages at
the point of bayonets.
ALLIES TAKE THE OFFENSIVE
"On Monday, September 7, there was a general advance on the part of the
Allies. In this quarter of the field our forces, which had now been
reinforced, pushed on in a northeasterly direction in co-operation with
the advance of the French Fifth Army to the north and of the French
Sixth Army to the eastward against the German rearguard along the River
Ourcq.
"Possibly weakened by the detachment of troops to the eastern theater
of operations and realizing that the action of the French Sixth Army
against the line of Ourcq and the advance of the British placed their
own flanking movement in considerable danger of being taken in the rear
and on its flank, the Germans on this day commenced to retire toward the
northeast.
"This was the first time that these troops had turned back since their
attack at Mons a fortnight before and from reports received the order to
retreat when so close to Paris was a bitter disappointment. From letters
found on dead soldiers there is no doubt there was a general impression
among the enemy's troops that they were about to enter Paris.
GERMAN RETREAT IS HASTENED
"On Tuesday, September 8, the German movement north-eastward was
continued. Their rear guards on the south of the Marne were being
pressed back to that river by our troops and by the French on our right,
the latter capturing three villages after a hand-to-hand fight and the
infliction of severe loss on the enemy.
"The fighting along the Ourcq continued on this day and was of the
most sanguinary character, for the Germans had massed a great force of
artillery along this line. Very few of their infantry were seen by the
French. The French Fifth Army also made a fierce attack on the Germans
in Montmirail, regaining that place.
"On Wednesday, September 9, the battle between the French Sixth Army and
what was now the German flank guard along the Ourcq continued.
"The British corps, overcoming some resistance on the River Petit Morin,
crossed the Marne in pursuit of the Germans, who now were hastily
retreating northwest. One of our corps was delayed by an obstinate
defense made by a strong rear guard with machine guns at La
Ferte-sous-Jouarre, where the bridge had been destroyed.
"On Thursday, September 10, the French Sixth Army continued its pressure
on the west while the Fifth Army by forced marches reached the line of
Chateau Thierry and Dormans on the Marne. Our troops also continued the
pursuit on the north of the latter river and after a considerable amount
of fighting captured some 1,500 prisoners, four guns, six machine guns
and fifty transport wagons.
"Many of the enemy were killed or wounded and the numerous thick
woods which dot the country north of the Marne are filled with German
stragglers. Most of them appear to have been without food for at least
two days.
"Indeed, in this area of the operations, the Germans seem to be
demoralized and inclined to surrender in small parties. The general
situation appears to be most favorable to the Allies.
"Much brutal and senseless damage has been done in the villages occupied
by the enemy. Property has been wantonly destroyed. Pictures in chateaus
have been ripped up and houses generally have been pillaged.
"It is stated on unimpeachable authority also that the inhabitants have
been much ill-treated.
TRAPPED IN A SUNKEN ROAD
"Interesting incidents have occurred during the fighting. On the 10th of
September part of our Second Army Corps, advancing into the north,
found itself marching parallel with another infantry force some little
distance away. At first it was thought this was another British unit.
After some time, however, it was discovered that it was a body of
Germans retreating.
"Measures promptly were taken to head off the enemy, who were surrounded
and trapped in a sunken road, where over 400 men surrendered.
"On September 10 a small party under a noncommissioned officer was cut
off and surrounded. After a desperate resistance it was decided to go
on fighting to the end. Finally the noncommissioned officer and one man
only were left, both of them being wounded.
"The Germans came up and shouted to them: 'Lay down your arms!' The
German commander, however, signed to them to keep their arms and then
asked to shake hands with the wounded noncommissioned officer, who was
carried off on his stretcher with his rifle by his side.
"Arrival of reinforcements and the continued advance have delighted our
troops, who are full of zeal and anxious to press on.
SUCCESS OF THE FLYING CORPS
"One of the features of the campaign on our side has been the success
obtained by the Royal Flying Corps. In regard to the collection of
information it is impossible either to award too much praise to
our aviators for the way they have carried out their duties or to
overestimate the value of the intelligence collected, more especially
during the recent advance.
"In due course certain examples of what has been effected may be
specified and the far-reaching nature of the results fully explained,
but that time has not arrived.
"That the services of our Flying Corps, which, has really been on trial,
are fully appreciated by our allies is shown by the following message
from the commander-in-chief of the French armies, received September
by Field Marshal Lord Kitchener:
"'Please express most particularly to Marshal French
my thanks for the services rendered on every day by the
English flying corps. The precision, exactitude and regularity
of the news brought in by its members are evidence of
their perfect organization and also of the perfect training
of the pilots and the observers.--JOSEPH JOFFRE, General,'
"To give a rough idea of the amount of work carried out it is sufficient
to mention that during a period of twenty days up to the 10th of
September a daily average of more than nine reconnaissance flights of
over 100 miles each has been maintained.
FIVE GERMAN PILOTS SHOT
"The constant object of our aviators has been to effect an accurate
location of the enemy's forces and, incidentally, since the operations
cover so large an area, of our own units. Nevertheless, the tactics
adopted for dealing with hostile air craft are to attack them instantly
with one or more British machines. This has been so far successful that
in five cases German pilots or observers have been shot while in the air
and their machines brought to ground.
"As a consequence the British Flying Corps has succeeded in establishing
an individual ascendancy which is as serviceable to us as it is
dangerous to the enemy.
"How far it is due to this cause it is not possible at present to
ascertain definitely, but the fact remains that the enemy have recently
become much less enterprising in their flights. Something in the
direction of the mastery of the air already has been gained in pursuance
of the principle that the main object of military aviators is the
collection of information.
"Bomb dropping has not been indulged in to any great extent. On one
occasion a petrol bomb was successfully exploded in a German bivouac at
night, while from a diary found on a dead German cavalry soldier it has
been discovered that a high explosive bomb, thrown at a cavalry column
from one of our aeroplanes, struck an ammunition wagon, resulting in an
explosion which killed fifteen of the enemy."
LOSSES AT THE MARNE ENORMOUS
Some idea of the terrific character of the fighting at the Marne and
of the great losses in the prolonged battle may be gained from the
following story, telegraphed on September 14 by a correspondent who
followed in the rear of the allied army:
"General von Kluck's host in coming down over the Marne and the Grand
Morin rivers to Sezanne, twenty-five miles southwest of Epernay, met
little opposition, and I believe little opposition was intended. The
Allies, in fact, led their opponents straight into a trap. The English
cavalry led the tired Germans mile after mile, and the Germans believed
the Englishmen were running away. When the tremendous advance reached
Provins the Allies' plan was accomplished, and it got no farther.
"Fighting Sunday, September 6, was of a terrible character, and began
at dawn in the region of La Ferte-Gaucher. The Allies' troops, who were
drawn up to receive the Germans, understood it would be their duty to
hold on their very best that the attacking force at Meaux might achieve
its task in security. The battle lasted all night and until late Monday.
"The Germany artillery fire was very severe, but not accurate. The
French and English fought sternly on and slowly beat the enemy back.
"Attempts of the Germans to cross the Marne at Meaux entailed terrible
losses. Sixteen attempts were foiled by the French artillery fire
directed on the river and in one trench 600 dead Germans were counted.
COUNTRY STREWN WITH DEAD
"The whole country was strewn with the dead and dying. When at last
the Germans retired they slackened their rifle fire and in once place
retired twelve miles without firing a single shot. One prisoner declared
that they were short of ammunition and had been told to spare it as much
as possible.
"Monday saw a tremendous encounter on the Oureq. In one village, which
the Germans hurriedly vacated, the French in a large house found a
dinner table beautifully set, with candles still burning on the table,
where evidently the German staff had been dining. A woman occupant said
they fled precipitately.
"There was a great deal of hand-to-hand fighting and bayonet work on
the Ourcq, which resulted in the terrible Magdeburg regiment beating a
retreat.
"Monday night General von Kluck's army had been thrown back from the
Marne and from the Morin and to the region of Sezanne and his position
was serious. Immediate steps were necessary to save his line of
communications and retreat. To this end reinforcements were hurried
north to the Meaux district and the Ourcq and tremendous efforts were
made to break up the French resistance in this section.
GERMAN GUNS ARE SILENCED
"The second attempt on the Oureq shared the fate of the first. Though
all Monday night and well on into Tuesday the great German guns boomed
along this river, the resistance of the allies could not be broken.
'Hold on!' was the command and every man braced himself to obey. While
the Ourcq was being held the struggle of Sezanne was bearing fruit.
"The German resistance on Thursday morning was broken. I heard the news
in two ways: from the silence of the German guns and from the wounded
who poured down to the bases.
"The wounded men no longer were downhearted, but eager to rejoin the
fray. On every French lip was the exclamation that 'They are in full
retreat!' and 'They are rushing back home!' and in the same breath came
generous recognition of the great help given by the British army.
"The number of wounded entailed colossal transportation work. I counted
fifteen trains in eight hours. A fine, grim set of men, terribly weary
but amiable, except for the officers.
GERMANS LEAVE SPOILS BEHIND
"The enemy crossed the Marne on the return journey north under great
difficulties and beneath a withering fire from the British troops, who
pursued them hotly. The German artillery operated from a height. There
was again much hand-to-hand fighting and the river was swollen with
dead.
"Tuesday night the British were in possession of La Ferte-sous-Jouarre
and Chateau Thierry and the Germans had fallen back forty miles, leaving
a long train of spoils behind them.
"On the same day, in the neighborhood of Vitry-le-François, the French
troops achieved a victory. Incidentally they drove back the famous
Imperial Guard of Germany from Sezanne, toward the swamps of Saint Cond,
where, a century ago, Napoleon achieved one of his last successes. The
main body of the guard passed to the north of the swamps, but I heard of
men and horses engulfed and destroyed.
"'It is our revenge for 1814,' the French officers said. 'If only the
emperor were here to see.'
BRITISH KEEP UP PURSUIT
"Wednesday the English army continued the pursuit toward the north,
taking guns and prisoners.
"On that day I found myself in a new France. The good news had spread.
Girls threw flowers at the passing soldiers and joy was manifested
everywhere.
"The incidents of Wednesday will astound the world when made known in
full. I know that two German detachments of 1,000 men each, which were
surrounded and cornered but which refused to surrender, were wiped
out almost to the last man. The keynote of these operations was the
tremendous attack of the Allies along the Ourcq Tuesday, which showed
the German commander that his lines were threatened. Then came the
crowning stroke.
"The army of the Ourcq and of Meaux and the army of Sezanne drew
together like the blades of a pair of shears, the pivot of which was in
the region of the Grand Morin. The German retreat was thus forced toward
the east and it speedily became a rout."
RETREAT SEEN FROM THE SKY
The best view of the retreating German armies was obtained, according to
a Paris report, by a French military airman, who, ascending from a point
near Vitry, flew northward across the Marne and then eastward by way of
Rheims down to the region of Verdun and back again in a zigzag course to
a spot near Soissons.
He saw the German hosts not merely in retreat, but in flight, and in
some places in disorderly flight.
"It was a wonderful sight," the airman said, "to look down upon these
hundreds and thousands of moving military columns, the long gray lines
of the Kaiser's picked troops, some marching in a northerly, others in a
northeasterly direction, and all moving with a tremendous rapidity.
"The retreat was not confined to the highways, but many German soldiers
were running across fields, jumping over fences, crawling through
hedges, and making their way through woods without any semblance of
order or discipline.
"These men doubtless belonged to regiments which were badly cut up in
the fierce fighting which preceded the general retreat. Deprived of the
majority of their officers, they made a mere rabble of fugitives, Many
were without rifles, having abandoned their weapons in their haste to
escape their French and British pursuers."
GERMANS ABANDON GUNS
The London Times correspondent describes the German retreat in a
hurricane, with rain descending in torrents, the wayside brooks swollen
to little torrents.
"The gun wheels sank deep in the mud, and the soldiers,
unable to extricate them, abandoned the guns," he said.
"A wounded soldier, returned from the front, told me
that the Germans fled as animals flee which are cornered and
know it.
"Imagine the roadway littered with guns, knapsacks, cartridge
belts, Maxims and heavy cannon. There were miles of
roads like this.
"And the dead! Those piles of horses and those stacks
of men I have seen again and again. I have seen men shot so
close to one another that they remained standing after death.
"At night time the sight was horrible beyond description.
They cannot bury whole armies.
"In the day time over the fields of dead carrion birds
gathered, led by the gray-throated crow of evil omen with a
host of lesser marauders at his back. Robbers, too, have
descended upon these fields.
"Trainload after trainload of British and French troops
swept toward the weak points of the retreating host.
"The Allies benefited by this advantage of the battle-ground;
there is a network of railways, like the network of a
spider's web."
FIGHTING DESCRIBED BY U.S. OFFICERS
Two military attaches of the United States embassy at Paris, Lieut.-Col.
H. T. Allen and Capt. Frank Parker, both of the Eleventh cavalry,
U.S.A., returned on September 15 from an automobile trip over the
battlefield where from September 8 until the night of September 11 the
French and Germans were fiercely engaged. This battle was the one which
assured the safety of Paris.
On September 1 the German left and center were separated, but like a
letter "V" were approaching each other, with Paris as their objective.
Had the Allies attacked at that time they would have had to divide their
forces and, so weakened, give battle to two armies. By retreating they
drew after them the two converging lines of the V and when the Germans
were in wedge-shaped formation, attacked them on the flank and center at
Meaux and made a direct attack at Sezanne.
The four days' battle at Meaux ended with the Germans crossing the river
Aisne and retreating to the hills north and west of Soissons. Col. Allen
and Capt. Parker saw the end of the battle north of Sezanne, which
resulted in the retreat of the Germans to Rheims.
The battles, as Col. Allen and Capt. Parker describe them, were as
follows:
On the 8th the Germans advanced from a line stretching from Epernay and
Chalons, a distance of twenty-five kilometers (sixteen miles). In this
front, counting from the German right, were the Tenth, the Guards, the
Ninth and Twelfth Army Corps. The presence of the Guards, the _corps
d'elite_ of the German army, suggested that this was intended to be a
main attack upon Paris and that the army at Meaux was to occupy the
center. The four combined corps numbered over 200,000. The French met
them, they assert, with 190,000.
The Germans advanced until their left was at Vitry-le-Francois and their
right rested at Sezanne, making a column 15 miles long, headed west
toward Paris. The French butted the line six miles east of Sezanne, in
the forests of La Fere and Champenoise. It was here that the greater
part of the fight occurred. It was fighting at long distance with
artillery and from trench to trench with the bayonet.
THIRTY THOUSAND MEN KILLED
During the four days in which fortune rested first on one flag and then
on another 30,000 men of both armies are said to have been killed and a
considerable number of villages were wiped from the map by the artillery
of both armies.
Two miles from Sezanne a French regiment was destroyed by an ambush.
The Germans had thrown up conspicuous trenches and with decoys sparsely
filled them. From the forest in the rear the mitrailleuse was trained on
the French. The French infantry charged this trench and the decoys fled,
making toward the flanks, and as the French poured over the trenches the
hidden guns swept them.
In another trench the American attaches counted the bodies of more than
900 German guards, not one of whom had attempted to retreat. They had
stood fast with their shoulders against the parapet and taken the cold
steel. Everywhere the loss of life was appalling. In places the dead lay
across each other three and four deep.
TURCOS FIERCEST FIGHTERS OF ALL
"The fiercest fighting of all seems to have been done by the Turcos and
Senegalese. In trenches taken by them from the guards and the famous
Death's Head Hussars, the Germans showed no bullet wounds. In nearly
every attack the men from the desert had flung themselves upon the
enemy, using only the butt or the bayonet. Man for man no white man
drugged for years with meat and alcohol is a physical match for these
Turcos, who eat dates and drink water," said Richard Harding Davis,
who saw the end of the fighting at Meaux. "They are as lean as starved
wolves. They move like panthers. They are muscle and nerves and they
have the warrior's disregard of their own personal safety in battle, and
a perfect scorn of the foe.
"As Kipling says, 'A man who has a sneaking desire to live has a poor
chance against one who is indifferent whether he kills you or you kill
him.'"
NIGHT BATTLE DESCRIBED BY SOLDIER
The following narrative of a night engagement during the prolonged
battle of the Marne is quoted from a French soldier's letter to a
compatriot in London:
"Our strength was about 400 infantrymen. Toward midnight we broke up our
camp and marched off in great silence, of course not in closed files,
but in open order. We were not allowed to speak to each other or to make
any unnecessary noise, and as we walked through the forest the only
sound to be heard was that of our steps and the rustling of the leaves.
It was a perfectly lovely night; the sky was so clear, the atmosphere so
pure, the forest so romantic, everything seemed so charming and peaceful
that I could not imagine that we were on the warpath, and that perhaps
in a few hours this forest would be aflame, the soil drenched by human
blood, and the fragrant herbs covered with broken limbs.
"Yet all those silent, armed men, marching in the same direction as I
did, were ever so many proofs that no peace meeting or any delightful
romantic adventure was near, and I wondered what thoughts were stirring
all those brains. Suddenly a whisper passed on from man to man. It was
the officer's command. A halt was made, and in the same whisper we
were told that part of us had to change our direction so that the two
directions would form a V. A third division proceeded slowly in the
original direction.
COMMANDS ARE WHISPERED
"I belonged to what may be called the left leg of the V. After what
seemed to be about half an hour, we reached the edge of the forest, and
from behind the trees we saw an almost flat country before us, with here
and there a tiny little hill, a mere hump four or five feet high. On the
extreme left-hand side the land seemed to be intersected by ditches and
trenches.
"Another whispered command was passed from man to man, and we all had to
lie down on the soil. A moment afterward we were thus making our way to
the above-mentioned ditches and trenches. It is neither the easiest nor
the quickest way to move, but undoubtedly the safest, for an occasional
enemy somewhere on the hills at the farther end of the field would not
possibly be able to detect us. I don't know how long it took us to reach
the ditches, which were, for the greater part, dry; nor do I know how
long we remained there or what was happening. We were perfectly hidden
from view, lying flat down on our stomachs, but we were also unable to
see anything. Everybody's ears were attentive, every nerve was strained.
The sun was rising. It promised to be a hot day.
FIRST SHOT IS HEARD
"Suddenly we heard a shot, at a distance of what seemed to be a mile or
so, followed by several other shots. I ventured to lift my body up in
order to see what was happening. But the next moment my sergeant, who
was close by me, warned me with a knock on my shoulder not to move, and
the whispered order ran, 'Keep quiet! Hide yourself!' Still, the short
glance had been sufficient to see what was going on. Our troops,
probably those who had been left behind in the forest, were crossing the
plain and shooting at the Germans on the crest of the hill, who returned
the fire.
"The silence was gone. We heard the rushing of feet at a short distance;
then, suddenly, it ceased when the attacking soldiers dropped to aim and
shoot. Some firing was heard, and then again a swift rush followed. This
seemed to last a long time, but it was broken by distant cries, coming
apparently from the enemy. I was wondering all the time why we kept
hidden and did not share in the assault.
"The rifle fire was incessant. I saw nothing of the battle. Would, our
troops be able to repulse the Germans? How strong were the enemy! They
seemed to have no guns, but the number of our soldiers in that field was
not very large.
ATTACKED WITH BAYONETS
"A piercing yell rose from the enemy. Was it a cry of triumph? A short
command rang over the field in French, an order to retreat. A swift rush
followed; our troops were being pursued by the enemy. What on earth were
we waiting for in our ditches? A bugle signal, clear and bright. We
sprang to our feet, and 'At the bayonet!' the order came. We threw
ourselves on the enemy, who were at the same time attacked on the other
side by the division which formed the other 'leg' of the V, while the
'fleeing' French soldiers turned and made a savage attack.
"It is impossible to say or to describe what one feels at such a moment.
I believe one is in a state of temporary madness, of perfect rage. It is
terrible, and if we could see ourselves in such a state I feel sure we
would shrink with horror.
"In a few minutes the field was covered with dead and wounded men,
almost all of them Germans, and our hands and bayonets were dripping
with blood. I felt hot spurts of blood in my face, of other men's blood,
and as I paused to wipe them off, I saw a narrow stream of blood running
along the barrel of my rifle.
"Such was the beginning of a summer day."
SCENES ON THE BATTLEFIELD
Writing from Sezanne a few days after the battle of the Marne a visitor
to the battlefield described the conditions at that time as follows:
"The territory over which the battle of the Marne was fought is now
a picture of devastation, abomination and death almost too awful to
describe.
"Many sons of the fatherland are sleeping their last sleep in the open
fields and in ditches where they fell or under hedges where they crawled
after being caught by a rifle bullet or piece of shell, or where they
sought shelter from the mad rush of the franc-tireurs, who have not
lost their natural dexterity with the knife and who at close quarters
frequently throw away their rifles and fight hand to hand.
"The German prisoners are being used on the battlefield in searching
for and burying their dead comrades. Over the greater part of the huge
battlefield there have been buried at least those who died in open
trenches on the plateaus or on the high roads. The extensive forest
area, however, has hardly been searched for bodies, although hundreds
of both French and Germans must have sought refuge and died there.
The difficulty of finding bodies is considerable on account of the
undergrowth.
"Long lines of newly broken brown earth mark the graves of the victims.
Some of these burial trenches are 150 yards long. The dead are placed
shoulder to shoulder and often in layers. This gives some idea of the
slaughter that took place in this battle.
"The peasants, who are rapidly coming back to the scene, are marking the
grave trenches with crosses and planting flowers above or placing on
them simple bouquets of dahlias, sunflowers and roses.
FOUGHT ON BEAUTIFUL CHATEAU LAWNS
"Some of the hottest fighting of the prolonged battle took place around
the beautiful chateau of Mondement, on a hill six miles east of Sezanne.
This relic of the architectural art of Louis XIV occupied a position
which both sides regarded as strategically important.
"To the east it looked down into a great declivity in the shape of
an immense Greek lamp, with the concealed marshes of St. Sond at
the bottom. Beyond are the downs and heaths of Epernay, Rheims and
Champagne, while the heights of Argonne stand out boldly in the
distance. To the west is a rich agricultural country.
"The possession of the ridge of Mondement was vital to either the
attackers or the defenders. The conflict here was of furnace intensity
for four days. The Germans drove the French out in a terrific assault,
and then the French guns were brought to bear, followed by hand-to-hand
fighting on the gardens and lawns of the chateau and even through the
breached walls.
"Frenchmen again held the building for a few hours, only to retire
before another determined German attack. On the fourth day they swept
the Germans out again with shell fire, under which the walls of the
chateau, although two or three feet thick, crumpled like paper."
The same correspondent described evidences on the battlefields of how
abundantly the Germans were equipped with ammunition and other material.
He saw pyramid after pyramid of shrapnel shells abandoned in the rout,
also innumerable paniers for carrying such ammunition. These paniers are
carefully constructed of wicker and hold three shells in exactly fitting
tubes so that there can be no movement.
The villages of Oyes, Villeneuve, Chatillon and Soizy-aux-Bois were all
bombarded and completely destroyed. Some fantastic capers were played by
the shells, such as blowing away half a house and leaving the other half
intact; going through a window and out by the back wall without damaging
the interior, or going a few inches into the wall and remaining fast
without exploding.
Villeneuve, which was retaken three times, was, including its fine old
church, in absolute ruins.
A SERIES OF BATTLES
The battle line along the Marne was so extended that the four-days'
fighting from Sunday, September 6, to Thursday morning, September 10,
when the Germans were in full retreat, comprised a series of bloody
engagements, each worthy of being called a battle. There were hot
encounters south of the Marne at Crecy, Montmirail and other points. At
Chalons-sur-Marne the French fought for twenty-four hours and inflicted
heavy losses on the enemy. General Exelmans, one of France's most
brilliant cavalry leaders, was dangerously wounded in leading a charge.
There was hard fighting on September 7 between Lagny and Meaux, on the
Trilport and Crecy-en-Brie line, the Germans under General von Kluck
being compelled to give way and retire on Meaux, at which point their
resistance was broken on the 9th.
General French's army advanced to meet the German hosts with forced
marches from their temporary base to the southeast of Paris.
The whole British army, except cavalry, passed through Lagny, and
the incoming troops were so wearied that many of them at the first
opportunity lay down in the dust and slept where they were.
But a few hours' rest worked a great change, and a little later the
British troops were following the German retreat up the valley with
bulldog tenacity.
The British artillery did notable work in those days, according to the
French military surgeons who were stationed at Lagny. At points near
there the bodies of slain Germans who fell before the British gunners
still littered the ground on September 10, and the grim crop was still
heavier on the soil farther up the valley, where the fighting was more
desperate.
As far as possible the bodies were buried at night, each attending to
its own fallen.
MANY SANGUINARY INCIDENTS
Sanguinary incidents were plentiful in the week of fighting to the south
of the Marne. In an engagement not far from Lagny the British captured
thirty Germans who had given up their arms and were standing under guard
when, encouraged by a sudden forward effort of the German front, they
made a dash for their rifles. They were cut down by a volley from their
British guards before they could reach their weapons.
"Among dramatic incidents in the fighting," according to an English
correspondent, "may be mentioned the grim work at the ancient fishponds
near Ermenonville. These ponds are shut in by high trees. Driving the
enemy through the woods, a Scotch regiment hustled its foes right into
the fishponds, the Scotchmen jumping in after the Germans up to the
middle to finish them in the water, which was packed with their bodies."
This scene is illustrated on another page.
VAST GRAVEYARD AT MEAUX
Some idea of how the Germans were harassed by artillery fire during
their retreat was obtained on a visit to the fields near Meaux, the
scene of severe fighting. The German infantry had taken a position in a
sunken road, on either side of which were stretched in extended lines
hummocks, some of them natural and some the work of spades in the hands
of German soldiers.
The sunken road was littered with bodies. Sprawling in ghastly fashion,
the faces had almost the same greenish-gray hue as the uniforms worn.
The road is lined with poplars, the branches of which, severed by
fragments of shells, were strewn among the dead. In places whole tops of
trees had been torn away by the artillery fire.
Beside many bodies were forty or fifty empty cartridge shells, while
fragments of clothing, caps and knapsacks were scattered about. This
destruction was wrought by batteries a little more than three miles
distant. Straggling clumps of wood intervened between the batteries
and their mark, but the range had been determined by an officer on an
elevation a mile from the gunners. He telephoned directions for the
firing and through glasses watched the bursting shells.
THE BATTLE AT CRECY
A graphic picture of the fight in Crecy wood was given by a
correspondent who said: The French and English in overwhelming numbers
had poured in from Lagny toward the River Marne to reinforce the
flanking skirmishers. One of the smaller woods southeast of Crecy
furnished cover for the enemy for a time, but led to their undoing. The
Allies' patrols discovered them in the night as the Germans were moving
about with lanterns.
Suddenly the invaders found their twinkling glow-worms the mark for a
foe of whom they had been unaware. Without warning a midnight hail storm
from Maxims screamed through the trees. The next morning scores of
lanterns were picked up in the wood, with the glasses shattered. A
dashing cavalry charge by the British finally cleared the tragic wood of
the Germans.
BRITISH BLOW UP A BRIDGE
At Lagny one of the sights of the town was a shattered bridge, which was
blown up by General French as soon as he got his army across it. At that
time British infantry and artillery had poured through the town and over
the bridge for several days. General French's idea was to keep raiding
detachments of German cavalry from incursions into the beautiful villas
and gardens of the western suburbs.
Fifteen minutes after the bridge had been reduced to a twisted mass
of steel and broken masonry a belated order came to save it, but the
British engineers who had received the order to destroy it had done
their work well.
The inhabitants were cleared out of all the neighboring houses, which
were shaken by the terrific explosion when the charge was set off. Every
window in the nearby houses was shattered.
The people of Lagny took the destruction of their beautiful bridge in
good part. They were too grateful for their deliverance from the Germans
to grumble about the wrecked bridge.
GERMAN LOSSES AT THE MARNE
There is no doubt that the German losses in the engagements at the Marne
far exceeded those of the Allies and were most severe, in both men and
material. The Germans made incredible efforts to cross the Marne. The
French having destroyed all the bridges, the Germans tried to construct
three bridges of boats. Sixteen times the bridges were on the point of
completion, but each time they were reduced to matchwood by the French
artillery.
"There is not the slightest doubt," said a reliable correspondent, "that
but for the superb handling of the German right by General von Kluck, a
large part of Emperor William's forces would have been captured at the
Marne. The allied cavalry did wonders, and three or four additional
divisions of cavalry could have contributed towards a complete rout of
the Germans."
The general direction of the German retirement was northeast, and it was
continued for seventy miles, to a line drawn between Soissons, Rheims
and Verdun.
A week after the battle the field around Meaux had been cleared of dead
and wounded, and only little mounds with tiny crosses, flowers and
tricolored flags recalled the terrible struggle.
The inhabitants of neighboring villages soon returned to their homes and
resumed their ordinary occupations.
FALL OF MAUBEUGE
While the fighting at the Marne was in progress, German troops achieved
some successes in other parts of the theater of war. Thus, the fortified
French town of Maubeuge, on the Sambre river midway between Namur in
Belgium and St. Quentin, France, fell to the Germans on September 7. The
investment began on August 25. More than a thousand shells fell in one
night near the railway station and the Rue de France was partially
destroyed. The loss of life, however, was comparatively slight.
At 11:50 o'clock on the morning of September 7 a white flag was hoisted
on the church tower and trumpets sounded "cease firing," but the firing
only ceased at 3:08 o'clock that afternoon. In the meantime the greater
part of the garrison succeeded in evacuating the town. The German forces
marched in at 7:08 o'clock that evening.
The retreat of the German forces from the Marne ended the second stage
of the great war.