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
largely 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'Espérey 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'Espérey,
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'Espérey.
"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 Compiègne
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. Yon
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 Château 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'Espérey 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 Fère Champenoise_. Foch noted a rift between the German army of
Von Bülow 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.
[Illustration: FRENCH AND BRITISH ALLIES RALLY TO SAVE PARIS.
BRITISH INFANTRY AND LONDON SCOTTISH. DESTRUCTION AT YPRES, LILLE,
AND ANTWERP. FRENCH ARMIES
A military observer stationed in one of the many ruined chateaux
in northern France. The crumbling walls have been strengthened
by sand bags]
[Illustration: A remarkable photograph of an actual bayonet charge
by French soldiers typical of the gallantry and spirit they display
in action]
[Illustration: A British naval brigade, sent to aid in the defense
of Antwerp, holding a road at Lierre. They are supported by a Maxim
gun]
[Illustration: The city of Lille, France, under fire. During the
Great War this city has suffered bombardment by both Allies and
Germans]
[Illustration: A remarkable photograph taken during the bombardment
of Antwerp, showing the falling wall of a house that has been struck
by a German shell]
[Illustration: Drawn by R. Caton Woodville. Fighting from house to
house in Ypres, afterward but a ruin. Because of its strategic
position, Allies and Germans have battled repeatedly for its
possession. ]
[Illustration: Drawn by H. W. Koekkoek. A village in the Argonne,
occupied alternately by French and German troops in the autumn of
1914. The French finally reported "a slight advance in the Argonne"]
[Illustration: Drawn by R. Caton Woodville. The London Scottish
re-forming for a third charge, in which they succeeded in taking and
occupying Messines October 31, 1914]
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