[Illustration]
The Daily Telegraph
WAR BOOKS
THE FIGHTING RETREAT TO PARIS
The Daily Telegraph
WAR BOOKS
=HOW THE WAR BEGAN=
By W. L. COURTNEY, LL.D., and J. M. KENNEDY.
=THE FLEETS AT WAR=
By ARCHIBALD HURD.
=THE CAMPAIGN OF SEDAN=
By GEORGE HOOPER.
=THE CAMPAIGN ROUND LIEGE=
By J. M. KENNEDY.
=IN THE FIRING LINE=: Stories of Actual Fighting by the Men who
Fought. By A. ST. JOHN ADCOCK.
=GREAT BATTLES OF THE WORLD=
By STEPHEN CRANE, Author of “The Red Badge of Courage.”
=THE RED CROSS IN WAR=
By Miss M. F. BILLINGTON.
=FORTY YEARS AFTER=: The Story of the Franco-German War.
By H. C. BAILEY, with Introduction by W. L. COURTNEY, LL.D.
=A SCRAP OF PAPER=: The Inner History
of German Diplomacy. By Dr. E. J. DILLON.
=HOW THE NATIONS WAGED WAR=
By J. M. KENNEDY.
=BRITISH REGIMENTS AT THE FRONT=
The Glorious Story of their Battle Honours.
=HACKING THROUGH BELGIUM=
By EDMUND DANE.
=AIRCRAFT IN WAR=
By ERIC S. BRUCE.
=FAMOUS FIGHTS OF INDIAN NATIVE REGIMENTS=
By REGINALD HODDER.
=THE FIGHTING RETREAT TO PARIS=
By ROGER INGPEN.
=MOTOR TRANSPORT IN WAR=
By HORACE WYATT.
=THE RUSSIAN ADVANCE=
By MARR MURRAY.
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
THE FIGHTING
RETREAT TO PARIS
BY
ROGER INGPEN
HODDER AND STOUGHTON
LONDON NEW YORK TORONTO
MCMXIV
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
Mobilisation and transport of the British Expeditionary Force—The
King’s message to his troops—Sir John French’s order of the
day—Lord Kitchener’s address—Death of General Grierson—
Disposition of the French Forces in the North—Advance of the
Germans—Sir John French on the movements of the British troops
—Fighting at Mons—The Kaiser’s Army Order 9
CHAPTER II
The Battle of Mons, August 23rd—Sir John French’s despatch—The
West Kents in action—An aeroplane duel—A Royal Engineer’s
experience—Missing their regiment—Royal Field Artillery and
German shrapnel—Captain Grenfell 22
CHAPTER III
Fighting at Charleroi in the French lines—A railway official’s
adventure—A Zouave officer’s impressions—French artillery
—Heavy German casualties—The fall of Namur—A Belgian
soldier’s tribute 45
CHAPTER IV
The British troops retire into France—The adventures of a
Chaplain to a field ambulance—The Royal Field Artillery—A
wounded gunner—Losing his regiment—A Gordon Highlander’s
experiences—Operations of the French troops—British versus
German cavalry—Sir John French’s account of the events of
August 25—The Battle of Cambrai—The Rev. Owen S. Watkins’
adventures—Mr. Asquith announces a wonderful feat of arms 63
CHAPTER V
Sir John French on the operations of the British Army to August 28
—Lord Kitchener on the four days’ battle—Fighting in the
Valley of the Meuse—Charleville 106
CHAPTER VI
The French Army on the Oise—Sir John French on the operations of
the British troops on August 28—The fight at St. Quentin—
A sharp action at Compiègne—At Chantilly—English soldiers
shopping—A quiet day—British losses and resources—The
enemy at Senlis—The end of the retreat—A view of a great
military feat—Sir John French’s despatch 123
CHAPTER VII
The German advance on Paris—the Government quit the Capital for
Bordeaux—The fortifications of Paris—Preparations for a
siege—The German change of plan—Sir John French’s despatch
—German vengeance—The failure of the Crown Prince’s Army—
Declaration of the Triple Entente—Conclusion 160
[Illustration: WAR MAP DRAWN BY G. W. BACON AND CO., LTD., 127, STRAND,
W.C.
POSITIONS OF THE BRITISH FORCES IN THE RETREAT TOWARDS PARIS.]
The Retreat to Paris
CHAPTER I
MOBILISATION AND TRANSPORT OF THE BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE—THE
KING’S MESSAGE TO HIS TROOPS—SIR JOHN FRENCH’S ORDER OF THE
DAY—LORD KITCHENER’S ADDRESS—DEATH OF GENERAL GRIERSON—
DISPOSITION OF THE FRENCH FORCES IN THE NORTH—ADVANCE OF THE
GERMANS—SIR JOHN FRENCH ON THE MOVEMENTS OF THE BRITISH TROOPS
—FIGHTING AT MONS—THE KAISER’S ARMY ORDER.
By the middle of the third week of the war, the British Expeditionary
Force—three army corps and a cavalry division—had been mobilised and
sent across the Channel to France. Sir John French’s force was the
largest army that England had ever sent into the field at the outset of
a campaign. Its mobilisation, concentration, and transport across the
narrow seas had been carried out with silent efficiency. England waited
confidently and patiently for the tidings of its entry into the battle
line.
On August 9 the King had issued to his troops on their departure for
the front the following message:—
BUCKINGHAM PALACE,
_Aug. 9, 1914_.
You are leaving home to fight for the safety and honour of my
Empire.
Belgium, whose country we are pledged to defend, has been attacked,
and France is about to be invaded by the same powerful foe.
I have implicit confidence in you, my soldiers. Duty is your
watchword, and I know your duty will be nobly done.
I shall follow your every movement with deepest interest, and mark
with eager satisfaction your daily progress; indeed, your welfare
will never be absent from my thoughts.
I pray God to bless you and guard you and bring you back victorious.
GEORGE R.I.
Lord Kitchener also addressed to the forces these instructions,
to be kept in the Active Service Pay-book of every soldier in the
Expeditionary army:
You are ordered abroad as a soldier of the King to help our French
comrades against the invasion of a common enemy. You have to
perform a task which will need your courage, your energy, your
patience. Remember that the honour of the British Army depends on
your individual conduct. It will be your duty not only to set an
example of discipline and perfect steadiness under fire, but also
to maintain the most friendly relations with those whom you are
helping in this struggle.
The operations in which you are engaged will, for the most part,
take place in a friendly country, and you can do your own country
no better service than in showing yourselves in France and Belgium
in the true character of a British soldier.
Be invariably courteous, considerate, and kind. Never do anything
likely to injure or destroy property, and always look upon looting
as a disgraceful act. You are sure to meet with a welcome and
to be trusted; your conduct must justify that welcome and that
trust. Your duty cannot be done unless your health is sound. So
keep constantly on your guard against any excesses. In this new
experience you may find temptations both in wine and women. You
must entirely resist both temptations, and, while treating all
women with perfect courtesy, you should avoid any intimacy.
Do your duty bravely,
Fear God,
Honour the King.
(Signed) KITCHENER, Field Marshal.
On the day before the Expeditionary Forces were announced to have
landed safely in France, the British Army sustained a severe loss
through the sudden death, on August 17, of Lieut.-General Sir James
Moncrieff Grierson. This brilliant and accomplished soldier, who was
to have commanded the Second Corps (third and fifth divisions), was
succeeded by General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien. The First Corps (first
and second divisions) was commanded by Lieut.-General Sir Douglas
Haig, the Third Corps (fourth and sixth divisions) by Major-General
W. P. Pulteney, and Major-General Edmund Allenby was in command of the
Cavalry division.
After the lapse of nearly a hundred years, then, the British troops
found themselves once more on Belgian soil with a heavy task in front
of them. As in 1815, the object of the Allies was to liberate Europe
from the domination of a military despot. In the present conflict the
Prussians, whom we had so often supported on the field, were against
us, while we were ranged on the side of our old foes at Waterloo.
Our forces were placed on the left of the line on which the Allied
Armies advanced to the help of Belgium. Liège had fallen, but Namur was
holding out. The plan of campaign was that of the French staff, under
the command of General Joffre, and was based on the general idea of
a march across the Belgian frontier on the west of the Meuse with the
left towards Tournai. It was expected that, after a first battle with
the German army in Belgium near the border, the enemy would be driven
back to the north-east, hands would be joined with the heroic Belgian
army, Brussels abandoned by the invaders, and the siege of Namur raised.
Sir John French issued a stirring “order of the day” to the British
Expedition at the moment, when our forces were complete, and our
columns formed for advance. In the course of “a few brief words to the
officers, non-commissioned officers, and men I have the honour and the
privilege to command,” the Commander-in-Chief said:—
Our cause is just. We are called upon to fight beside our gallant
Allies in France and Belgium in no war of arrogance, but to uphold
our national honour, independence, and freedom.
I have in peace time repeatedly pointed out to you that the
strength and efficiency of a modern army in the field is to be
measured more by the amount of individual intelligence which
permeates throughout its ranks than by its actual numbers.
In peace time your officers and non-commissioned officers
have striven hard to cultivate this intelligence and power of
initiative. I call upon you individually to use your utmost
endeavour to profit by this training and instruction. Have
confidence in yourselves, and in the knowledge of your powers.
Having, then, this trust in the righteousness of our cause,
pride in the glory of our military traditions, and belief in the
efficiency of our Army, we go forward to do or die for GOD, KING,
and COUNTRY.
The disposition of the French forces was described by a statement
issued from the War Office at Paris as follows:
An army starting out from the Wavre in the north, and going in the
direction of Neufchâteau, is attacking the German troops which have
been pouring down the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg along the western
bank of the Semoy, and going in a westerly direction.
Another army which left from the region of Sedan and crossed the
Ardennes is attacking several German army corps that were on the
march between the Lesse and the Meuse.
A third army from the region of Chimay has been moved forward to
make an attack on the German right between the Sambre and the
Meuse, and is supported by the English army which set out from the
region of Mons.
The movement of the Germans who had sought to envelop our left
wing has been followed step by step, and their right is now being
attacked by our army forming our left wing, in junction with the
English army. At this point the battle has been raging violently
for more than a day.
The Germans had concentrated a huge mass of men for the attack on the
left of the allied lines, held by the British troops, with the object
of dealing them a smashing blow and of forcing their way south. They
were determined to carry out the Army Orders of August 19 in which the
German Emperor declared with characteristic assurance that:
It is my Royal and Imperial Command that you concentrate your
energies, for the immediate present, upon one single purpose, and
that is that you address all your skill and all the valour of my
soldiers to exterminate first the treacherous English and walk over
General French’s contemptible little army.
Headquarters,
Aix-la-Chapelle.
Men and guns were not wanting for this assault. The shrapnel was deadly
in its effect, but the marksmanship of the German rifles is stated to
have been uniformly poor. To make assurance doubly sure, the troops
pitted against our men were some of the best, as testified by the
statement of a wounded Belfast man:—
You must remember that for almost twenty-four hours we bore the
brunt of the attack, and the desperate fury with which the Germans
fought showed that they believed if they were only once past the
British forces the rest would be easy. Not only so, but I am sure
we had the finest troops in the German army against us.
On the way out I had heard some slighting comments passed on the
German troops, and no doubt some of them are not worth much, but
those thrown at us were very fine specimens indeed. I do not think
they could have been beaten in that respect.
“It was like a great river bursting its banks. The moment the Belgians
were forced to retire to their entrenched camp at Antwerp,” wrote Mr.
William Maxwell, on August 21, from Mons, “the Germans swept over the
country without check west toward Ghent, south toward Mons. The enemy
was committed to a great turning movement. It was striving to hold the
French along the Meuse between Namur and Dinant, while its armies west
of the river were marching south along a front of many miles. One army
threatens Mons with the object of penetrating the French frontier and
descending on Maubeuge and Valenciennes, another army was advancing
toward the line of Tournai—Coutrai which covers the great city of
Lille. At Ath there were indications that the enemy was advancing south
along the Enghien—Soignies, though he seemed to avoid the main road
at Jurbise. By deserted country paths from this point I came to Mons.”
Here as everywhere great fear was manifested by the citizens at the
approach of the Uhlans. The authorities had been warned by telephone
that they were near. “They pretend that they are English and then when
the villagers cry ‘Vive l’Angleterre,’ they find out their mistake.”
On the same day, a French witness, the correspondent of a Paris paper,
spoke of the German advance as extending “over a line of nearly 100
miles, spreading out in a formidable fan-like movement, preceded by
a swarm of scouts in all directions, which sweeps over the country
from Brussels to Arlon. The German hordes are on the march over five
different routes towards France. They will find men to meet them.”
M. Auguste Mellot, deputy of Namur, saw in that town on August 21
eleven German Army Corps “pass the Meuse coming from Visé, a powerful
force being detailed to mask their march.” The German troops engaged
in this action probably amounted to fewer than half that number.
The lines of the Allied Armies practically covered every assailable
point from Condé to Dinant. Mr. Maxwell thus described the position
of the British forces just before the great battle which began on
Saturday, August 22:—
The 1st British Cavalry Division (General Allenby) had its
headquarters at Givry, close to the frontier, and was moving north
in the direction of Binche. Cavalry covered the south-east of
Mons. It was pushed forward also toward Fontaine l’Evêque, west
of Charleroi, and, generally speaking, threatened to raid the
left flank of the Germans advancing rapidly from the direction of
Brussels.
An immense army was gathered on the frontier, and had passed
into Belgium. Mons was the point of greatest concentration of
the British. It was an army marching to attack, for there was no
attempt at making defensive works. From Mons the British army
extended west along the canal from Mons, from Maubeuge through
Bavay, on to Valenciennes, where the Highland regiments created
immense enthusiasm. From the western end of the canal at Mons,
Belgian territory has few defenders. Most of the men have been
withdrawn from that side. Prussian patrols swarm over the country,
and it is clear that behind them is a great army.
Sir John French, in his first admirable despatch, gives a history of
the activities of the British Expeditionary Force during that eventful
week in August from the 21st to the 28th when our troops were fighting
against overwhelming odds. We will divide the despatch into sections,
which will fall into place as our story proceeds. He says:—
The concentration [of the troops] was practically complete on
the evening of Friday, August the 21st, and I was able to make
dispositions to move the Force during Saturday, the 22nd, to
positions I considered most favourable from which to commence
operations which the French Commander-in-Chief, General Joffre,
requested me to undertake in pursuance of his plans in the
prosecution of the campaign.
The line taken up extended along the line of the canal from Condé
on the west, through Mons and Binche on the east. This line was
taken up as follows:—
From Condé to Mons inclusive was assigned to the Second Corps, and
to the right of the Second Corps from Mons the First Corps was
posted. The 5th Cavalry Brigade was placed at Binche.
In the absence of my Third Army Corps I desired to keep the Cavalry
Division as much as possible as a reserve to act on my outer
flank, or move in support of any threatened part of the line.
The forward reconnaissance was entrusted to Brigadier-General
Sir Philip Chetwode with the 5th Cavalry Brigade, but I directed
General Allenby to send forward a few squadrons to assist in this
work.
During the 22nd and 23rd these advanced squadrons did some
excellent work, some of them penetrating as far as Soignies, and
several encounters took place in which our troops showed to great
advantage.
The scouting operations of the British cavalry extended south-westward
of Brussels and south-east as far as Charleroi. The German cavalry
were well-nigh exhausted by their ceaseless exertions, but a rapid
advance was necessary for their success, and it was clear that they
would proceed without delay; while our cavalry scoured the country for
any signs of the German advance. The French were coming up from the
south. A wounded soldier in the British hussars stated that on Friday,
August 21, his party encountered some of the 4th Cuirassiers. The two
forces without any warning came face to face round the turn of a small
village street. They immediately attacked one another as quickly as
their horses could move, much to the alarm of the village people, who
made for their houses, screaming with terror. It was a genuine cavalry
charge without the discharge of a gun. The hussars were the lighter,
consequently they had the advantage as regards speed, for the horses
of the Cuirassiers were dead beat. The result of the encounter was 27
Germans killed and 12 taken prisoners.