After the French manoeuvre at the frontiers was checked and with
the threat of a German envelopment in the West, General Joffre
steadfastly withdrew from the battle and ordered a general retreat
until the moment when the French troops were reunited. As soon as a
favourable moment offered, it would be possible to take up a position
and then to drive back the enemy.
The plan was as follows: to carry out on the left a mass movement
(6th Army under Maunoury) to outflank, at the propitious moment,
the German right, while a general attack or at any rate a desperate
resistance should take place on all the rest of the front, from Paris
to the Vosges.
The enemy's objective was first of all to wipe out the allied forces,
the right having instructions to pursue the French left and the
English army, before turning upon Paris which was to be seized like
a plum ready to be picked! In the centre, the Crown Prince was in
command of the pursuit: he saw his fourth cavalry corps pushing out
their scouts towards the line, Dijon-Besançon-Belfort.
Here were dreams of triumph destined to give place to surprise, then
doubt and finally the bitterness of defeat.
On September 5th, Gallieni reported the Germans creeping towards
the South-East. The moment for the French manoeuvre had arrived and
Joffre launched the general offensive.
On September 6th-7th, the Sixth Army attacked the German right wing.
To guard himself against this flank menace, Von Kluck brought up
three army corps in succession from his frontal attack.
September 7th-8th. This diminution of strength allowed the English
Army and the second French Army under Franchet d'Esperey to advance.
September 9th-10th. The Second Army threatened to cut off the contact
between the First and Second German Armies and to take them in rear.
Under this threat they determined upon a hasty retreat the effect of
which made itself gradually felt along the whole of the German front
(September 10th-13th).
=The part played by Verdun in the defence and by the Third Army in
the battle.=
After the battle of the Frontiers, the Third Army likewise beat a
retreat. Having reached the left bank of the Meuse, the army pivoted
on its right which rested on the fortress of Verdun, stopping
frequently to delay the pursuit of the Crown Prince's army.
=September 6th, 7th and 8th.= While the Duke of Wurtemburg pressed
heavily upon the right of the Fourth Army (under Langle de Cary), the
Crown Prince vigorously set upon the left of Sarrail in an attempt to
break completely through the pivot by Trouée de Revigny, valleys of
Ornain and Saulx. He hoped to cut off Sarrail who, when attacked at
the same time in rear on the Heights of the Meuse, would find himself
surrounded and forced to surrender. But these ambitious plans were
thwarted by the vigorous action of the left of the Fifth Corps and
the Fifteenth which was withdrawn en masse from the Army of Lorraine
(under Castelnau).
[Illustration: THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE.--THE THIRD ARMY IN FRONT OF
VERDUN.]
=September 9th.= On its left the Third Army continued to engage the
Germans on the flank, while the right wing, though vigorously holding
its ground before frontal attacks, remained in a precarious position
owing to the standing menace of the German forces in rear on the
Hauts-de-Meuse. Sarrail received permission from the General-in-Chief
to withdraw his right, if need be, and to leave the permanent
garrison of Verdun to secure the defence of the Fortress. But the
General of the Third Army held fast with heroic determination and
would not give up his entrenched position as long as the Meuse was
not liberated and while a ray of hope appeared.
=September 10th.= The forts of Troyon and Genicourt, on the
Hauts-de-Meuse, continued to hold out against heavy artillery
bombardment. The barrier of the Meuse was not cleared but, to guard
against any eventuality, Sarrail transferred two divisions to the
West of Saint-Mihiel.
=September 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th.= Coming from the German right,
the advancing wave gradually overtook the armies of the Prince of
Wurtemburg and the Crown Prince. The two latter, mad with rage, were
forced to withdraw their forces in echelon, while Sarrail's army
pivoting round Verdun harassed the enemy as far as Argonne. Thus the
battle of the Marne was won by the same troops who had just undergone
the repulse of the battle of the Frontiers and, when overwrought
with fatigue, had successfully accomplished a retreat unprecedented
in history. The undaunted spirit of Commander-in-Chief Joffre, the
well-defined and masterful strategy which he planned and carried out
in strict collaboration with his highly courageous army commanders,
above all the superhuman bravery of the rank and file, to these
factors is due what to-day we call "The Miracle of the Marne".
"The fate of the War was settled at its commencement, in 1914, on
the Marne, where the French General indeed saved France against the
fierce onslaught of a whole nation."
So wrote the _Berliner Tageblatt_ after the War.