FIRST MOVES IN THE BATTLE
The first movement in this concerted plan was taken by the German
extreme right. This was the closing in of General von Kluck's army in a
southeasterly direction. It was a hazardous move, for it required
General von Kluck to execute a flank march diagonally across the front
of the Sixth French Army and the British Expeditionary Force. At this
time, according to the dispatches from Sir John French, the British army
lay south of the Marne between Lagny and Signy-Signets, defending the
passage of the river and blowing up the bridges before General von
Kluck.
On September 4, 1914, air reconnaissances showed that General von Kluck
had stopped his southward advance upon Paris, and that his columns were
moving in a southeasterly direction east of a line drawn through
Nanteuil and Lizy on the Ourcq. Meanwhile the French and British
generals more effectually concealed their armies in the forests, doing
so with such skill that their movements were unmarked by the German air
scouts. All that day General von Kluck moved his forces, leaving his
heavy artillery with about 100,000 men on the steep eastern bank of the
Ourcq and taking 150,000 troops south across the Marne toward La Ferte
Gaucher. He crossed the Petit Morin and the Grand Morin, all unconscious
that scores of field glasses were trained upon his troops.
Probably believing that the British army had been hurried to the aid of
General Sarrail, General von Kluck advanced confidently. Having
concealment in view, the commanders of the French army and the British
army between them had left a wide gap between the two armies. Through
one of these apparently unguarded openings a strong body of uhlan
patrols advanced, riding southward until they reached Nogent, south of
Paris, and seemingly with the whole rich country of central France laid
wide open to a sharp and sudden attack. Among the many strange features
of this series of the battles of the Marne this must certainly be
reckoned as one. Though possessing an unequaled military organization,
though priding itself on its cavalry scouts, though aided by aerial
scouts, and though well supplied with spies, yet the Allied armies, with
the age-old device of a forest, were able to cloak their movements from
this perfectly organized and powerful invading army. Much of the credit
of this may be assigned to the French and English aircraft, which kept
German scouting aircraft at a distance. But the Allied generals were
astounded at the result of their maneuver, which, as they admitted
afterward, was merely a military precautionary measure against the
discovery of artillery sites, and a device to keep the enemy in general
ignorance.
On Saturday, September 5, 1914, at the extreme north of the line of the
two armies facing each other across the Ourcq, an artillery duel began.
The offensive was taken by the French, and though in itself it was not
more striking than any of the artillery clashes that had marked the
previous month's fighting, it was significant, for it marked the
beginning of the battles of the Marne. The plans of General Joffre were
complete, but the actual point at which the furious contest should begin
was not yet determined. In the northern Ourcq section, however, the
realization by the French that they were actually on the offensive at
last, that the long period of retreat was over, could not be
restrained. The troops were eager to get to work with the bayonet, and
greatly aided by their field artillery, in which mobility had been
sacrificed to power, they quickly cleared the hills to the westward of
the Ourcq. By nightfall of September 5, 1914, the country west of the
Ourcq was in French hands. But to cross that river seemed impossible.
General von Kluck's heavy artillery had been left behind to hold that
position, and every possible crossing was covered with its own blast of
death.
Here General von Kluck's generalship was successful. It might have been
regarded as risky to leave 100,000 men to guard a river confronted by
250,000 picked and reenforced French troops. But General von Kluck's
faith in German guns and German gunnery was not ill-founded. This was
the first of the open-air siege conflicts, and the French army had no
guns which could be used against the German heavy artillery. Hence it
followed that the brilliant work of the Sixth French Army on this first
day of the battles of the Marne achieved no important result, for the
long-range hidden howitzers, manned by expert German gunners and well
supplied with ammunition, defied all attempts at crossing the little
stream of the Ourcq.
This first day's fighting on the Marne revealed one of France's chiefest
needs--heavy artillery. The French light quick-firing gun was a deadly
weapon, but France had neglected the one department of artillery in
which the Germans had been most successful--the use of powerful motor
traction to move big guns without slackening the march of an army.
General von Kluck's artillery was impregnable to the French. Indeed, the
Germans could not be dislodged from the Ourcq until the British
Expeditionary Force sent up some heavy field batteries. It was then too
late for the withdrawal from the Ourcq to be of any serious consequence
in determining the result along the battle front.
The afternoon of that day, when the Zouaves were driving the Germans
across the Ourcq with the bayonet and were themselves effectually
stopped by the German wall of artillery fire, General Joffre and Sir
John French met. At last the British commander received the welcome news
from the generalissimo that retreat was over and advance was about to be
begun.
"I met the French commander in chief at his request," runs the official
dispatch, "and he informed me of his intention to take the offensive
forthwith by wheeling up the left flank of the Sixth Army, pivoting on
the Marne, and directing it to move on the Ourcq; cross and attack the
flank of the First German Army, which was then moving in a southeasterly
direction east of that river.
"He requested me to effect a change of front to my right--my left
resting on the Marne and my right on the Fifth Army--to fill the gap
between that army and the Sixth. I was then to advance against the enemy
on my front and join in the general offensive movement. German troops,
which were observed moving southeast up the left bank of the Ourcq on
the Fourth, were now reported to be halted and facing that river. Heads
of the enemy's columns were seen crossing at Changis, La Ferte, Nogent,
Chateau-Thierry, and Mezy.
"Considerable German columns of all arms were seen to be converging on
Montmirail, while before sunset large bivouacs of the enemy were located
in the neighborhood of Coulommiers, south of Rebais, La Ferte-Gaucher,
and Dagny.
"These combined movements practically commenced on Sunday, September 6,
at sunrise; and on that day it may be said that a great battle opened on
a front extending from Ermenonville, which was just in front of the left
flank of the Sixth French Army, through Lizy on the Marne, Maupertuis,
which was about the British center, Courtacon, which was the left of the
Fifth French Army, to Esternay and Charleville, the left of the Ninth
Army under General Foch, and so along the front of the Ninth, Fourth,
and Third French Armies to a point north of the fortress of Verdun."
Sunrise on Sunday morning, on a summer day in sunny France, was the
setting for the grim and red carnage which should show in the next five
consecutive days that the German advance was checked, that the
southernmost point had been reached, and that for a long time to come it
would tax the resources of the invaders to hold the land that already
had been won. General Joffre had so arranged his forces that the most
spectacular--and the easiest--part fell to the British, and it was
accomplished with perfection of detail. But the honors of the battles of
the Marne lay with General Sarrail's army and with the "Iron Division of
Toul."
On the same morning, this special army order, issued by Sir John French,
was read to the British troops:
"After a most trying series of operations, mostly in retirement, which
have been rendered necessary by the general strategic plan of the allied
armies, the British forces stand to-day formed in line with their French
comrades, ready to attack the enemy. Foiled in their attempt to invest
Paris, the Germans have been driven to move in an easterly and
southeasterly direction with the apparent intention of falling in
strength upon the Fifth French Army. In this operation they are exposing
their right flank and their line of communications to an attack from the
combined Sixth French Army and the British forces.
"I call upon the British army in France to now show the enemy its power
and to push on vigorously to the attack beside the Sixth French Army.
"I am sure I shall not call upon them in vain, but that, on the
contrary, by another manifestation of the magnificent spirit which they
have shown in the past fortnight, they will fall on the enemy's flank
with all their strength and, in unison with the Allies, drive them
back."
As before, the day's fighting began with the efforts of the Sixth French
Army against the Ourcq. Before the Germans could be driven from the east
bank the few villages they occupied on the west bank had to be taken,
and as these were covered by heavy artillery from the farther bank, the
French loss of life was very severe. Yet these several combats--of which
there were as many as there were villages--were stationary. In every
case the Germans were compelled to cross the river; in every case the
artillery made it impossible for the French to follow them.
At dawn also every one of the French armies advanced, and within two or
three hours of sunrise found themselves engaged with the German front.
The spirited order to the troops issued that morning by General Joffre
had left no doubt in the minds of Frenchmen on the importance of the
issue. It read:
"At a moment when a battle on which the welfare of the country depends
is going to begin, I feel it incumbent upon me to remind you all that
this is no longer the time to look behind. All our efforts must be
directed toward attacking and driving back the enemy. An army which can
no longer advance must at all costs keep the ground it has won, and
allow itself to be killed on the spot rather than give way. In the
present circumstance no faltering can be tolerated."
Yet in spite of the powerful efforts of the French armies they were all
held in check, and General Sarrail was beginning to give way.
Though the fighting in the center had been stationary on this sixth of
September, 1914, it had been desperate. D'Esperey was facing the 150,000
men of Von Kluck's army, and the effect of the British attack on Von
Kluck's flank had not yet been felt. He more than held his own, but at
great cost. General Foch, with the Ninth Army, had a double problem, for
he was wrestling with General von Buelow to hold the southern edge of the
Sezanne Plateau, while General von Hausen's Saxon Army was trying to
turn his right flank. A violent attack, which, for the space of over two
hours seemed likely to succeed, was launched by the Duke of Wuerttemberg
against General Langle and the Fourth Army. The attack was repelled, but
the French losses were proportionately great. There could be no denial
that many such attacks could break through the line. General Sarrail's
army, fighting a losing game, showed marvelous stubbornness and
gameness, but even so, it could not resist being pushed south of Fort
Troyon, itself unable to support the battering it might expect to
receive when the German siege guns should be brought into place.
[Illustration: Battle of the Marne--End of German Retreat and the
Intrenched Line on the Aisne River.]
At every point but one the Germans had a right to deem the day
successful. The only reversal had been a minor one before the forest of
Crecy. Yet, of all the generals on that front Von Kluck alone was in a
position to see the gravity of the situation. The British had caught him
on the flank as he tried to pierce the left wing of General
d'Esperey's army, and if he should now retreat, that army could envelop
him and thus catch him between two fires.
Next morning, Monday, September 7, 1914, another glorious summer
morning, saw a resumption of the battle along exactly the same lines,
with the same persistent attack and defense along the eastern part of
the front, and with the British making full use of the blunder made by
the German right. General von Kluck had realized his plight, but, even
so, he had not secured an understanding of the size of the force that
was threatening his flank, and he sent as a reenforcement a single army
corps which had been intrenched near Coulommiers on the Grand Morin. The
British had three full army corps and were well supplied with cavalry
and artillery. Yet Coulommiers was Von Kluck's headquarters and
actually, when the Germans were driven back and the British troops
entered the town, Prince Eitel, the second son of the kaiser; General
von Kluck and his staff were compelled to run down to their motor cars
and escape at top speed along the road to Rebais, leaving their
half-eaten breakfast on the table, and their glasses of wine half
emptied. One of the most dramatic cavalry actions of this period of the
war took place shortly before noon, when one hundred and seventeen
squadrons of cavalry were engaged. In this action the British were
successful, but the German cavalry were tired and harassed, having been
severely handled the day before.
In this engagement between the British and the German right, all the
odds had been in favor of the British, and success meant merely the
grasping at opportunities that presented themselves. Still, by
constantly striking at General von Kluck's exposed flank, his frontal
attack of General d'Esperey was so weakened, that, toward evening at the
close of two days of continuous and very severe fighting, the Fifth
French Army was able to advance and hold the position from La
Ferte-Gaucher to Esternay. The ground gained was valuable but not
essential, yet it made a profound impression.
General d'Esperey's step forward was the Germans' step back. It meant
that the road to Paris was barred. How fully this was realized may be
seen from an order signed by Lieutenant General Tuelff von Tschepe und
Weidenbach and found in the house that had been occupied by the staff of
the Eighth German Army Corps when the victorious French entered
Vitry-le-Francois. The order was dated "September 7, 10:30 p. m." and it
read as follows:
"The object of our long and arduous marches has been achieved. The
principal French troops have been forced to accept battle, after having
been continually forced back. The great decision is undoubtedly at hand.
To-morrow, therefore, the whole strength of the German army, as well as
all that of our Army Corps, are bound to be engaged all along the line
from Paris to Verdun. To save the welfare and the honor of Germany I
expect every officer and man, notwithstanding the hard and heroic fights
of the last few days, to do his duty unswervingly and to the last
breath. Everything depends on the result of to-morrow."
Much did, indeed, depend on the result of the morrow, and for the third
day, again, it was General von Kluck's initial move that brought
disaster to the German side.
Why was it that Von Kluck, instead of marching directly on Paris, as
would have been expected, made a detour, having as his object not the
capital but the French army? It may be said in favor of it that the
decision taken by the German General Staff was in conformity with the
military doctrine of Napoleon. According to this doctrine, a capital,
whatever its importance, is never more than an accessory object,
geographical or political. What is of importance is the strategical
object. The strategical object is the essential, the geographical object
is only accessory. Once the essential object is attained, the accessory
object is acquired of itself. Once the French armies had been beaten,
thrown back, and dispersed, Von Kluck could return to the capital and
take it easily.
Conceive of him, on the other hand, attacking the capital with the army
of Manoury on his right, which constituted a serious menace to his left,
and in front of him the British army and the Fifth French Army; he might
have been caught as in a vise between these forces while all his
activity was being absorbed by his attack on the intrenchments around
Paris.
It has been said that if Von Kluck had won the French capital, as it
seemed he might, the French could not have gained the Battle of the
Marne, and the result of the war might have been very different. It was,
however, no mistake on the part of Von Kluck, no false maneuver on his
part, that determined the victory of the Marne. Von Kluck did exactly
what he ought to have done; the decision taken by the German General
Staff was exactly what it ought to have taken, and what was foreseen
during the whole course of the war.
It was on September 4, 1914, in the morning, that the observations made
by the French cavalry, as well as by British aviators and those of the
army of Manoury and the military government of Paris, made it clear that
the German right (Von Kluck's army) was bending its march toward the
southeast in the direction of Meaux and Coulommiers, leaving behind it
the road to Paris.
At this moment the Fifth French Army of the left was ready to meet the
German forces in a frontal attack, and it was flanked toward the
northwest by the British army and by General Manoury's army to the
northeast of the capital.
The disposition of forces aimed at in General Joffre's order of August
25 was thus accomplished; the French escaped the turning movement, and
they were in a position to counter with an enveloping movement
themselves. The wings of the French forces found support in their
maneuvering in their contact with the strongholds of Paris and Verdun.
Immediately the commander in chief decided to attack, and issued on the
evening of September 4 the series of general orders, which announced the
big offensive and eventually turned the tide of battle.