THE MYTH OF THE 42ND DIVISION

[68] General Canonge, in his historical sketch, confirms my own inquiries. The embryo of the myth is to be found in the “Official Résumé,” published on June 8, 1915, in the Bulletin des Armées, according to which, on the evening of September 9, Foch’s Army, “moving from west to east toward Fère Champènoise, took in flank the Prussian Guard and the Saxon Corps which were attacking south-east of this locality. This audacious manœuvre decided the success.” This was presently elaborated, with various romantic decorations.

[69] Canonge, after two inquiries on the spot, and with written evidence in addition, says that the 42nd Division left Broyes between 2 and 3 pm., reached Linthelles about 5 p.m., stopped there, and then bivouacked in the zone Linthes–Linthelles–Ognes–Pleurs, passing the night there “in general reserve,” and moving away only about 5 a.m. on September 10. Fère Champènoise, he adds, was evacuated by the Germans, after an orgie of 24 hours, at about 5.30 p.m. on the 9th, but was traversed during the greater part of the night by German troops coming from Connantre and Gourgancon. Connage thinks that, “on sight of the troops of the 42nd Division, those of General Dubois, certain now of support, advanced, and the Division then stopped and turned back to night-quarters.” Bülow, he believes, had ordered his retreat at 3.30 p.m. The first French detachment entered Fère Champènoise at 7 a.m. next day.

[70] Giraud (Histoire, p. 166) gives a rather different report of this dialogue. I rely upon an article in L’Illustration of Jan. 9, 1915, containing a long passage from the diary of “an officer who was the soul of the defence”—doubtless, Captain Heym himself.

[71] Colonel Feyler’s Avant-Propos Stratégiques (Paris: Payot. 1915) are particularly valuable for a pitiless analysis of the “moral manœuvre” represented in early German accounts of the first part of the campaign.

[72] Major-General Maurice says: “I am convinced that history will decide that it was the crossing of the Marne in the early hours of the 9th by the British Army which turned the scale against Kluck and saved Maunoury at a time of crisis.... That an army which on August 23 had been all but surrounded by an enemy who outnumbered it by two to one should have fought its way out, retreated 170 miles, and then immediately turned about and taken a decisive part in the battle which changed the course of the campaign of 1914, is as wonderful an achievement as is to be found in the history of war” (Forty Days, pp. 183–4).

[73] Hanotaux, Histoire Illustrée, vol. vii. pp. 132–8.

[74] Idem, pp. 172–5.

[75] Foch, Des Principes de la Guerre.

[76] M. Hanotaux (p. 76) regards this last part of the plan as “pure folly,” as “a few thousand resolute men holding the defiles, crests, and cliffs would break whole armies before Nancy was attained.” This appears to be an exaggeration; but it is highly probable that before Nancy, as before Mons and on other occasions at the beginning of the war, the German Armies lost, through the traditional belief in envelopment, what they might have gained by concentration on the central attack.

[77] “Choses Vues à Metz,” Revue Hebdomadaire, December 18, 1915. Colonel Feyler quotes from the Lokal Anzeiger of Berlin the following commentary on one of the Kaiser’s earlier appearances at the Front: “The presence of the Emperor demonstrates clearly what a development events have taken.... The Emperor would never have gone into France if those responsible had envisaged the possibility of the German Army being thrown back beyond the frontier. His presence among his troops in enemy country will not fail to produce a deep impression in Germany as well as abroad.”

[78] Quoted in Un Village Lorrain en Août—Septembre 1914. Réméréville, by C. Berlet.

[79] Lt.-Col. Thomasson, Le Revers, introduction.

[80] Professor Friedrich Meinecke, of Freiburg University, in the Frankfürter Zeitung, December 31, 1916.

INDEX

Air Forces, German and Allied, [18], [27], [126], [140], [141], [167], [241–2]
Aisne, German stand on the, [187–8], [192–3]
Alsace, French advance and withdrawal in, [2], [29], [56], [212]
Amade, General d’, [28], [35], [65], [66], [72]
Americans urged to leave Paris, [82], [260]
Amiens occupied by Von Kluck, [72], [80]
Antwerp, [40], [44], [88], [105]
Ardennes, Belgian, French offensive into, [24], [31–3], [36]
Armaments, German and Allied compared, [14], [215]
Artillery, German and French, [17], [18], [215];
at Namur and Maubeuge, [40], [257];
in the battle of the Marne, [104], [126], [128], [146], [180], [201], [210]
Battlefield described, [106–9], [113–4], [143–4], [170–1], [203–7]
Bavarian Corps, Prince Ruprecht and, [30], [56], [61–3], [87], [197–213]
Belgium, the surprise in, [12–13], [21], [26–7], [34], [36], [38], [41], [45], [49], [54], [215], [247–51]
Belgium’s contribution, [15], [27], [32], [37–41], [43–4]
Berthaut, General, defends the French Staff, [245–6]
Bloch, Jean de, forecasts of, [19], [242–4]
Briey coalfield, [33], [248], [249]
British Expeditionary Force, [34–44], [65–9], [80–1], [99], [118–26];
advance to the Marne begun, [123];
the Marne crossed, [131], [140–1];
a determining factor, [185], [188–9], [224–5];
M. Hanotaux’ criticisms, [253–5], [259];
General Bonnal’s criticism, [265–6]
Bülow, General von, [32], [36–43], [66], [68–9], [81], [85], [100];
compromised by Von Kluck’s retreat, [129], [134], [135–7];
attack upon the French centre, [135], [142], [146–64];
disorder and retreat, [165–8], [190–3]
Castelnau, General de, [27], [29–31], [62–3], [71], [104], [197–213], [248]
Cateau, Le, battle of, [1], [65–6], [68]
Cavalry, rôle of the, [16], [27], [66], [67], [104], [125], [134], [192–3], [264]
Châlons reoccupied, [193]
Charleroi, battle of, [37–43]
Charmes, Gap of, defence of, [31], [56], [61–3]
Château-Thierry reoccupied, [141]
Command, unity of, [25], [40], [216]
Concentration, first French, and re-grouping, [27–8], [251]
Coulommiers occupied by the British, [124]
Couronné, Grand, of Nancy, defence of, [63], [199], [205–12], [228–9], [269]
Crown Prince, the Imperial, [32–3], [63–4], [70–1], [89], [103], [169–72], [178–82], [195]
Dubail, General, [27], [29], [30–1], [62–3], [104], [197–8], [200], [203]
Eastern defences, French, [12], [31], [44], [56], [61–4], [89–90], [170], [197], [229]
Emperor, the German, [84], [205], [209], [269]
Espérey, General Franchet d’, [37], [40–1], [100], [122];
advance to the Marne begun, [137];
Marne crossed, [141–2];
helps Foch, [139], [142], [156];
a determining factor in the victory, [189–91];
on the Aisne, [193]
Fère Champènoise lost, [157];
reoccupied, [167]
Foch, General, his teaching, [22], [24], [50], [160], [202];
at head of 20th Corps, [30], [62];
of 9th Army, [61], [69–70], [101], [138];
battle of St. Gond, [142–54];
the centre broken, [155–64];
projected manœuvre and German retreat, [161–2], [165–8], [190], [193], [268]
Forces, German and Allied, compared, [15–16], [30], [32–3], [41], [65];
on eve of the battle of the Marne, [97–105], [137], [144–5], [169], [171–2], [176], [177–8], [198–201], [215–6], [240–1], [255]
Fortifications, modern, function of, [21], [229], [245]
French, Sir John, [18], [32], [35], [36], [39–43], [66–7], [69], [72], [73];
communications with Gallieni and Joffre, [93–4], [121–3];
battle order, [111];
farthest south, [119], [121];
the pursuit, [188];
criticisms of, [253–6], [258], [265–6]
Gallieni, General, [47], [49], [77–9], [81], [83], [90], [133];
order to 6th Army on September [4], [92–3];
communications with Joffre and French, [93–4];
battle of the Ourcq;
his precipitancy, [116–7], [121–3], [134], [224];
Generals Cherfils and Bonnal on, [262]
Gaps in German and Allied lines, [69], [85], [111], [136–7], [145], [166], [189], [192–3], [225–6]
Generals removed, French, [20], [49], [52], [245];
German, [83], [233]
Gond, St., marshes of, [143] et seq., [191], [226]
Guise, battle of, [68–9]
Haig, General Sir D., [37], [64], [66], [99], [141], [193]
Hanotaux, M., controverted, [41–3], [252–5]
Hausen, General von, and the Saxon Corps, [32–3], [35], [38–41], [69], [71], [101], [135], [145], [155–9], [165–6], [171], [172], [175], [191], [193]
Heeringen, General von, [30], [61–3], [192], [197], [199], [200], [203–4]
Humbert, General, at Mondemont, [149], [152–4]
Italian Frontier, [15], [25], [28]
Joffre, General, moves 5th Army and B.E.F. to Sambre (August 16), [35–6], [42];
“most unexpected” news, [41];
career and character, [46–53];
second new plan of campaign, [54–61];
tactical lessons, [58];
watches eastern frontier, [62], [64], [197];
forms 6th Army, [65];
helps the B.E.F., [65–8];
forms 9th Army, [70];
extends the retreat, [73–5];
orders for general offensive, [74–5], [93–7], [111], [121];
M. Millerand on, [77];
gains and superiority of forces, [104–5];
and Gallieni’s precipitancy, [116], [119], [121–3];
and the decisive movement between Kluck and Bülow, [135], [189];
on the victory, [195–6];
the author of the victory, [218–29], [233];
before Commission of Inquiry, [249];
General Lanrezac on, [256];
M. Messimy on, [257]
Kitchener, Lord, and Field-Marshal French, [69], [258], [259]
Kluck, General von, [32], [38–44], [66–9], [72–3], [79] et seq., [97];
withdraws Corps across Marne against Maunoury, [118], [122–4];
his farthest south positions, [119–120];
results of retreat, [135–7], [141], [185];
reaches the Aisne, [187];
his two fatal movements, [220–2];
Kluck and Bülow, [261]
Landwehr and Ersatz employed on front, [15–16], [128], [199]
Langle de Cary, General de, [28], [32–3], [48], [70], [102], [169–75], [193]
Lanrezac, General, [27], [32], [35–43], [49], [67–8], [250], [255–6], [258]
Launois, battle of, [70]
Lille, fortress of, [34], [249], [252]
Longwy, siege of, [33–4], [44]
Lorraine, first French offensive in, [29–31]
Machine guns, [18], [58], [115], [117], [253]
Maud’huy, General, [30], [100], [138], [140], [193]
Mangin, General, [37], [100], [138]
Maps, German, evidence of the, [240]
Maubeuge, [34], [44], [87], [105], [252], [256–7]
Maunoury, General, [32], [63–5], [72–3], [77], [80–1], [85], [93], [97], [116], [122], [124], [126–30], [132–4], [184–8], [248]
Michel, General, and the French Staff, [47], [49], [248]
Mondemont, [143–4], [148–54]
Mons, battle of, [37–43], [253–6]
Montmirail reoccupied, [140]
Morhange–Sarrebourg, battle of, [30–1]
Namur, siege and fall of, [27], [38], [40]
Nancy bombarded, [211]
Nivelle, Colonel, [127]
Offences, German, against rules of war, [80], [117], [124], [192], [194–5], [211], [212–3], [267]
Offensive, French doctrine of the, [21–24], [58], [201–2], [216], [218], [245–7], [251]
— from the Somme–Laon–Craonne, proposed, [58–60], [65], [71]
Ourcq, battle of the, [114–8], [126–35], [184–7]
Paris, the defence of, [55], [73], [76–9], [259–60];
the German dilemma, [82–8], [109], [221]
Pau, General, [29], [47], [48], [198], [248]
Percin, General, [248], [252]
Petain, General, [100], [138]
Plans of campaign:
the German, [10–14];
disturbed after Guise, [68–9];
the dilemma of Paris–Verdun, [84–91], [109–10], [214] et seq., [239–40];
the French, [28–9], [31], [36], [49–50], [54–61], [73–5], [88–9], [105], [110], [216] et seq.
Proyart, action at, [68]
Railways, efficiency of French, [15], [57], [241]
Reserves, German and Allied, [16], [21], [198–9], [245]
Retreat, the long, scenes on, [1–9], [72–3], [78], [237–8];
necessity of, [54–5];
advantages of, [57];
prolonged, [72–4];
end of, [81], [109], [119];
general German, ordered September [9], [185]
Revigny lost, [179];
recovered, [194]
Rheims reoccupied and bombarded, [192]
Russian victories, influence of, [44], [75], [87]
Sambre, German victory on the, [36–43]
Sarrail, General, [48], [89], [103], [169–72], [175–82], [195]
Sermaize, destruction of, [194]
Smith-Dorrien, General, [38], [64], [66], [99], [141]
Taxi-cabs and the battle of the Ourcq, [130–1]
Toul, German advance toward, [208]
Trenches:
German superiority, [18], [31], [33], [35], [58], [114], [217], [253];
Field-Marshal French on, [18], [244];
Castelnau’s defences, [201–2]
Troyon, Fort, defence of, [180–3]
Verdun, [32], [56], [71], [74], [89], [108], [169–71], [176–82], [195], [221]
Vosges, fighting in the, [203–4]
War Council, French Higher, [47–51]
“Wireless,” German, picked up, [134]
Würtemberg, Duke Albrecht of, [32], [70], [102], [169–75], [193]

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Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.

In this version of this eBook, dashes between multiple locations and within numeric ranges are shown as en-dashes (–), which are longer than hyphens (-) but shorter than em-dashes (—).

Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.

Page [99]: “Ronar’ch’s” is a misprint for “Ronarc’h’s”.

The Order of Battle lists beginning on pages [97] and [199] are in the same sequence as in the original book, but the side-by-side Allied and German units often do not align as they did in the original.

Page [272]: The Index reference to General Gallieni and the battle of the Ourcq did not include a page number.