"THE RACE TO THE SEA"
The Germans, having failed in their first enveloping movement,
attempted a second after the battle of the Marne. They tried to
repeat their maneuver of August, endeavoring to overwhelm the French
left; while the French, on their side, tried to overwhelm the German
right. Each of these armies, by a converging movement, gradually
drew its forces toward the west. No sooner did the Germans bring
up a new corps on their right than the French brought up another
on their left. Thus the front of the battle ascended more and more
to the west and north until arriving at the sea it could go no
farther. This is what has been called by French military critics
"The Race to the Sea." In this race to the sea the Germans had a
great advantage over the French. A glance at the map is enough
to make it understood. The concave form of the German front made
the lines of transportation shorter; they were within the interior
of the angle, while the French were at the exterior. On the German
side this movement drew into the line more than eighteen army corps,
or twelve active corps, six reserve corps, and four cavalry corps.
On the French side it resulted in the posting of the army of Castelnau
on the left of Manoury's army, in the deployment of the army of
General de Maud'huy to the left of the army of Castelnau, in the
transference of the British army to the left of the army of Maud'huy,
in the relegation of the army of Urbal to the left of the British
army, the army of Urbal being later flanked by the Belgian army
which came out of Antwerp. In order to accomplish this new and
extended disposition of forces the French General Staff was compelled
to reduce to their extreme limits the effective strengths of the
armies of the east and of the Oise, and as a result to make the
maximum use of the means of transport. In this it succeeded. When
the great battle of Flanders was waged toward the end of October,
the Germans, trying to turn the French left and to pierce it, found
themselves facing considerable French forces, which, allied with the
British and Belgian armies, completely barred the passage against
them.
From the 15th of September, 1914, it was clear that the Germans
were making a great effort to try and overwhelm the French left.
General Joffre parried the attack, reenforcing at first the army
of Manoury by an army corps, then transferring to the left of the
army of Manoury the entire army of Castelnau that was in Lorraine.
A corps of cavalry and four territorial divisions commanded by
General Brugère received the order to establish itself on both banks
of the Somme and protect the detraining of the army of Castelnau.
From September 21 to September 26, 1914, all the French forces
that had newly arrived were engaged in the Lassigny-Roye-Péronne
region. They succeeded in withstanding, not without difficulty, the
German attack, but they could not advance. The Germans determinedly
and unweariedly continued to mass new forces on their right. On
the left of the army of Castelnau it was therefore necessary to
establish a new army. It was established on September 30, 1914,
under the command of General Maud'huy. From the first days of October
this army waged violent conflicts in the region of Arras and of
Lens. It found facing it two German cavalry corps, the Guard, four
active army corps, and two reserve corps.
General Joffre continued without intermission to send new forces
to the left. On October 4, 1914, he called on General Foch in the
north and charged him with the duty of coordinating the action of
all the armies in that region: those of De Castelnau, Maud'huy,
and the territorial divisions. At the beginning of October the
British army, which was posted on the Aisne, was transferred to
the left of the French armies and replaced by the armies of Manoury
and d'Espérey. The Belgian army, issuing from Antwerp on October 9,
1914, effected its retreat, covered by the British naval forces and
6,000 French marines. It took its place on the Yser Canal between
Nieuport and Dixmude.
The Germans continuing their efforts to turn the French left, it
was found necessary again to strengthen that left considerably;
and new French army corps were transferred to Flanders and Belgium.
It was a new French army that was established and the command of
it was intrusted to General d'Urbal. It consisted at first of two
divisions of territorials and four divisions of cavalry of the
corps of General de Mitry, along with a brigade of naval fusiliers.
But from October 27 to November 11, 1914, it received considerable
reenforcements.
During the second week in November the German attack revealing
its purpose more clearly, General Joffre sent four more battalions
of chasseurs and four more brigades of infantry. The reenforcements
sent to the French army of the north totaled as a result five army
corps, a division of cavalry, a territorial division, sixteen cavalry
regiments, and more than sixty pieces of heavy artillery.
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