OTHER ASPECTS OF THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE
In dealing with a battle as important as that of the Marne points of
view are valuable. We therefore follow with an account of its general
course and description of its main features by a French military writer,
whose knowledge is based on information that is official.
"Before the German armies," he says, "became engulfed in the vast
depression that stretches from Paris to Verdun, General Joffre with
admirable foresight had brought together a powerful army commanded by
General Manoury and having as its support the fortified camp of Paris.
As soon as General von Kluck, turning momentarily from the road to the
French capital and bending his march to the southeast, laid bare his
right wing, General Joffre vigorously launched against his flank the
entire army of General Manoury. The brilliant offensive of this army
achieved success from the beginning; it threw back the German forces.
Von Kluck perceived the danger that threatened him, and the danger was
serious, for it only required that Manoury should advance a little
further and he would have been almost totally defeated. Resolutely,
energetically, and with a sang-froid to which homage must be rendered,
Von Kluck proceeded to circumvent this danger. He ordered back to the
north two of his army corps, recrossed the Marne, and threw himself with
intrepidity on Manoury.
"But the retreat of these two army corps allowed General French and
General Franchet d'Esperey both to drive forward vigorously. Something
resembling the phenomenon of a whirlwind then took place in the German
ranks. The British army made progress toward the north, the Fifth French
Army, commanded by General Franchet d'Esperey, did the same. General
Manoury, assisted by all the troops that General Gallieni was able
rapidly to put at his disposal, made headway against the furious
onslaught of Von Kluck. Thus the entire German right found itself in a
most critical situation. It could not overcome Manoury, who was
threatening its communications, and on the other hand it found itself
powerless to resist the victorious advance of Generals French and de
Franchet d'Esperey.
"It was the critical moment of the battle. The German General Staff
decided that there was only one method of putting an end to it, and that
was to direct against the army of General Foch in the center an
offensive so violent that the center would be pierced and the French
armies cut in two. If this attack succeeded it would free at once the
German right and separate into two impotent parts the entire French
military force. During the 7th, 8th, and 9th of September the Imperial
Prussian Guard directed to the compassing of that end all its energy and
courage. All in vain. General Foch not only checked the German
onslaught, but drove it back. Thus the French center was not pierced,
Von Kluck was not relieved, and he found himself in a position that grew
more and more critical. The general retreat of the German armies was the
inevitable result. To this decision the German General Staff came, and
on the evening of September 9 orders were given to all the armies of the
right and center to retire sixty kilometers to the rear. Thus the battle
of the Marne was won by the French."
The writer then goes on to say: "It was on September 5, toward the end
of the morning, that the general order of General Joffre, leading to the
great battle, reached the French armies. Each separate army immediately
turned and vigorously engaged in battle. The army of Manoury, the first
to get ready, sprang forward to the attack. It thrust back the German
forces which were at first inferior in number, and it attained on the
evening of the 5th the Pinchard--St. Soulplet--Ver front; but Von Kluck
threw two army corps over the Marne and hurled himself on Manoury. He
summoned from Compiegne all the reenforcements at his disposal, and he
placed all his heavy artillery between Vareddes and May-en-Multien.
During the day of September 6th Manoury made headway toward the Ourcq.
On the following day he advanced at a lesser pace on its left bank,
taking and then losing the villages of Marcilly and Chambry--murderous
struggles maintained amid terrible heat. General Gallieni, who followed
the battle with the utmost attention, hurriedly came to the assistance
of Manoury; he sent to him on the 7th and 8th the Seventh Division,
which had just arrived at Paris, half of the division being transferred
by rail, the other half by means of thousands of automobiles
requisitioned for the purpose. General Joffre likewise sent to Manoury
the Fourth Army Corps, recruited from the Third Army, though an almost
entire division of it was called for by the British to safeguard the
junction of forces.
"The day of September 8 turned out the most arduous for Manoury; the
Germans, making attacks of extreme violence, won some success. They
occupied Betz, Thury-en-Vallois and Nanteuil-le-Haudouin. Von Kluck
attacked all his force on the right, and it was at that time he who
threatened Manoury with an encircling movement. The Fourth French Army
Corps, sent forward at full speed by General Joffre and arriving at the
spot, had the order to allow itself to be killed to the last man, but to
maintain its ground. It maintained it. It succeeded toward evening in
checking the advance of the Germans. In a brilliant action the army of
Manoury took three standards. It rallied the main body of its forces on
the left and prepared for a new attack.
"During this time the British army, following on the retreat of part of
the forces of Von Kluck, was able to make headway toward the north. It
was the same with the Fifth French Army. The British, leaving behind it
on September 6 the Rosoy--Lagny line, reached in the evening the south
bank of the Great Morin. On the 7th and 8th they continued their march;
on the 9th they debouched to the north of the Marne below Chateau
Thierry, flanking the German forces which on that day were opposing the
army of Manoury. It was then that the German forces began to retreat,
while the British army, pursuing the enemy, took seven cannon and many
prisoners and reached the Aisne between Soissons and Longueval. The
British army continued till before Coulommiers, and after a brilliant
struggle forced the passage of the Little Morin. The Fifth French Army
under General Franchet d'Esperey made the same advance. It drove back
the three active army corps of the Germans and the reserve corps that it
found facing it. On September 7 it pressed forward to the
Courtacon--Cerneux--Monceaux--les--Provins--Courgivaux--Esternay line.
During the days that followed it reached and crossed the Marne,
capturing in fierce combats some howitzers and machine guns.
"General Foch showed admirable sang-froid and energy. At the most
critical moment, the decisive hour of the battle, he accomplished a
magnificent maneuver, which is known under the name of the _maneuver of
Fere Champenoise_. Foch noted a rift between the German army of Von
Buelow and that of Von Hausen. The German Guard was engaged with the
Tenth Division of the reserve in the region of the marshes of St. Gond.
"On September 9 Foch resolutely threw into this rift the Forty-Second
Division under General Grossetti, which was at his left, and his army
corps of the left. He thus made a flank attack on the German forces,
notably the Guard which had bent back his army corps on the right. The
effect produced by the flank attack of Manoury on the right of General
von Kluck's army was renewed here. The enemy, taken aback by this
audacious maneuver, did not resist and made a precipitate retreat. On
the evening of the 9th the game was thus lost to the Germans. Their
armies of the right and of the center were beaten and the retreat
followed. The Imperial Guard left in the marshes of St. Gond more than
8,000 men and almost all its artillery. Victory henceforth began to
perch on the Allied banners over all the vast battle field."
Such was this battle of seven days in which almost 3,000,000 men were
engaged. If it is examined in its ensemble, it will be seen that each
French army advanced step by step, opening up the road to the
neighboring army, which immediately gave it support, and then striking
at the flank of the enemy which the other attacked in front. The efforts
of the one were closely coordinated with the efforts of the other. A
deep unity of ideas, of methods, and of courage animated the whole
Allied line.