CHAPTER XI
FIGHTING AT BAY
The forces of France also had been fighting to protect their retreat southward in these August days of 1914. After the passages of the Sambre were forced, during the great Mons-Charleroi battle, the Fifth French Army was placed in very perilous straits by the failure of the Fourth Army, under General Langle, to hold the Belgian river town of Givet. Hard pressed in the rear by General von Bülow's army, and on their right by General von Hausen commanding the Saxon Army and the Prussian Guard, the Fifth Army of France had to retire with all possible speed, for their path of retreat was threatened by a large body of Teutons advancing on Rocroi.
On August 23, 1914, holding their indomitable pursuers in check by desperate rear-guard action, with their two cavalry divisions under General Sordêt galloping furiously along the lines of the western flank to protect the retiring infantry and guns, the Fifth Army unexpectedly turned at Guise. At that point considerable reenforcements in troops and material arrived, making the Fifth Army the strongest in France. It now defeated and drove over the Oise the German Guard and Tenth Corps, and then continued its retirement. But the left wing of the French army was unsuccessful, and Amiens and the passages of the Somme had to be abandoned to the invaders.
On Sunday, August 23, 1914, the Fourth Army, operating from the Meuse, was heavily outnumbered by the Saxon army around the river town of Dinant. They fell back, after furious fighting for the possession of the bridges, which the French engineers blew up as the army withdrew southward to the frontier. Soon after, at Givet, the Germans succeeded in wedging their way across the Meuse. Some advanced on Rocroi and Rethel, and other corps marched along the left bank of the Meuse, through wooded country, against a steadily increasing resistance which culminated at Charleville, a town on the western bank of the river. There a determined stand was made.
On August 24, 1914, the town of Charleville was evacuated, the civilians were sent away to join multitudes of other homeless refugees, and then the French also retired, leaving behind them several machine guns hidden in houses, placed so that they commanded the town and the three bridges that connected it with Mézières.
The German advance guards reached the two towns next day, August 25, 1914, which, as we know, witnessed the British retirement toward Le Cateau. Unmolested, they rode across the three bridges into the quiet, empty streets. Suddenly, when all had crossed, the bridges were blown up behind them by contact mines, and the German cavalrymen were raked by the deadly fire of the machine guns. Nevertheless, finding their foes were not numerous, they made a courageous stand, waiting for their main columns to draw nearer. Every French machine gunner was silenced by the Guards with their Maxims; but when the main invading army swept into view along the river valley, the French artillery from the hills around Charleville mowed down the heads of columns with shrapnel. Still the Teutons advanced with reckless courage. While their artillery was engaged in a duel with the French, German sappers threw pontoon bridges across the river, and finally the French had to retire. Between Charleville and Rethel there was another battle, resulting in the abandonment of Mézières by the French.
The retreating army crossed the Semois, a tributary of the Meuse, which it enters below Mézières, and advanced toward Neufchâteau; but they were repulsed by the Germans under the Duke of Württemberg. At Nancy on August 25, 1914, there was another engagement between the garrison of Toul and the army of the Crown Prince of Bavaria; after fierce onslaughts the garrison was compelled to yield and retire. Finally, on August 27, 1914, at Longwy, a fortified town near Verdun, the army of the German crown prince succeeded in bursting into France after a long siege, and marched toward the Argonne. Thus from the western coast almost to Verdun there was a general Franco-British retreat.
On August 28, 1914, pressed by the German armies commanded by Von Kluck on the west, by Von Hausen from Dinant and Givet, by Von Bülow from Charleroi and Namur, the Allies were pushed back upon a line stretching roughly from Amiens through Noyon-Le Fère to Mézières; while their forces east of the Meuse between Mézières and Verdun were retreating before Duke Albrecht of Württemberg, and to the southeast of Verdun before the Bavarians. All northern France was thus open to the invaders.
After the battle of Le Cateau, however, the Germans slackened their pursuit for a very brief interval; partly because the terrific strain of marching and fighting was telling upon them no less than upon the Allies, partly because the engineers had blown up the bridges over every river, canal, and stream, behind the retreating armies, and partly because, under directions from the French commander in chief, General Manoury was organizing a new force on the British left, a new Sixth Army, mainly reserve troops, one corps of line troops, and General Sordêt's cavalry. On the right of the British were General Lanrezac's troops; then, between Lanrezac's Fifth Army and the Fourth Army, came a Ninth Army, under General Foch, formed of three corps from the south.
Counterattacks were ordered by the French general in chief, continued during the entire retreat and had frequently brilliant results.
On August 29, 1914, a corps of the Fifth Army and of the divisions of reserve attacked with success in the direction of St. Quentin with the object of withdrawing the pressure on the British army. Two other corps and a division of reserves joined issue with the Prussian Guard and the Tenth Corps of the German army which debouched from Guise. This was a very violent battle, known under the name of the Battle of Guise. At the end of the day, after various fluctuations in the fight, the Germans were thrown completely over the Oise and the entire British front was relieved. The Prussian Guard on that occasion suffered great losses.
August 27, 1914, the Fourth Army under General de Langle de Cary succeeded likewise in throwing the enemy across the Meuse as he endeavored to secure a footing on the left bank. The success continued on the 28th; on that day a division of this army (First Division of Morocco under the orders of General Humbert) inflicted a sanguinary defeat on a Saxon army corps in the region of Signy l'Abbaye.
Thanks to these brilliant successes, the retreat was accomplished in good order and without the French armies being seriously demoralized; as a matter of fact, they were actually put to flight at no point. All the French armies were thus found intact and prepared for the offensive.
The right wing of the German army marched in the direction of Paris at great speed, and the rapidity of the German onslaught obliged the French General Staff to prolong the retreat until they were able to establish a new alignment of forces. The new army established on the left of the French armies, and intrusted to General Manoury, was not able to complete its concentration in the localities first intended. In place of concentrating in the region of Amiens it was obliged to operate more to the south.
The situation on the evening of September 2, 1914, as a result of the vigorous onward march of the German right, was as follows:
A corps of German cavalry had crossed the Oise and had reached Château Thierry. The First German Army (General von Kluck), consisting of four active army corps and a reserve corps, had passed Compiègne. The Second Army (General von Bülow), with three active army corps and two reserve corps, had attained to the region of Laon. The Third German Army (General von Hausen), with two active army corps and a reserve corps, had crossed the Aisne and reached Château Porcin-Attigny.
Farther to the east the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh German Armies, making about twelve active army corps, four reserve corps, and numerous Ersatz companies, were in contact with the French troops (Fourth and Fifth Armies) between Vouziers and Verdun, the others from Verdun to the Vosges. Such was the situation.
It may be seen, if a map is consulted, that the Fifth French Army, commanded from August 30 by General Franchet d'Espérey, would have found itself in grave peril following on the backward bending of the British and French forces operating on its left, if the French had accepted the challenge of a decisive battle. The French commander in chief resolutely chose the alternative that obviated such a risk, that is, he decided on a postponement of the offensive and the continuation of the retreat.
Already on September 1, 1914, he prescribed as the extreme limits of the retreat the line running through Bray-sur-Seine, Nogent-sur-Seine, Arcis-sur-Aube, Vitry-le-François, and the region north of Bar-le-Duc. That line would have been reached had it been necessary. On the other hand, it was his intention to attack before it was reached if the forces could be offensively arrayed, allowing of the cooperation of the British army and the army of Manoury on the left, and on the right that of the divisions of reserve that had been held on the heights of the Meuse.
Meanwhile, late in the afternoon of August 29, 1914, the British retirement began afresh, and 10,000 French troops also withdrew from the Somme, blowing up the bridges as they went. Everywhere along the roads were crowds of country folk and villagers with wagons and carts piled high with household goods or carrying aged persons and children, all in panic flight before the dreaded invaders, fleeing for refuge in Paris. At various places these stricken multitudes joined the army ambulances, taking the shortest routes. Rumors of the coming of the uhlans ran along the straggling lines with tales of the grievous havoc and ruin which these horsemen, vanguards of the German columns, had wrought in the land. Hardly had the retirement begun, when a body of uhlans entered Amiens and demanded from the mayor the surrender of the town. This was formally given, and the civilians were ordered, on pain of death, not to create the slightest disturbance and not to take part in any action, overt or covert, against the soldiery. Afterward, cavalry, infantry, and artillery took possession of the town on August 30, 1914. On the same day a German aeroplane dropped bombs on Paris.
While retiring from the thickly wooded country south of Compiègne, the British First Cavalry Brigade were surprised while dismounted and at breakfast in the early morning of September 1, 1914. Moving figures on the distant skyline first attracted the attention of those who had field glasses, but in the dim light their identity was not at first revealed. Suddenly all doubt was resolved by a rain of shells on the camp. Many men and a large number of horses were killed. At once the order "Action front!" rang out, and the remaining horses, five to a man, were hurried to cover in the rear, while on the left a battery of horse artillery went into instant action. The German attack was pressed hard, and the battery was momentarily lost until some detachments from the British Third Corps, with the guns of the artillery brigade, galloped up to its support. Then they not only recovered their own guns, but also succeeded in capturing twelve of the enemy's.
On the eventful day of September 3, 1914, the British forces reached a position south of the Marne between Lagny and Signy-Signets. They had defended the passage of the river against the German armies as long as possible, and had destroyed bridges in the path of the pursuers. Next, at General Joffre's request, they retired some twelve miles farther southward with a view to taking a position behind the Seine. In the meantime the Germans had built pontoon bridges across the Marne, and were threatening the Allies all along the line of the British forces and the Fifth and Ninth French Armies. Consequently several outpost actions took place.
By the 1st of September, 1914, the day of the Russian victories at Lemberg, Von Kluck's army had reached Senlis, only twenty-five miles from Paris. Despite this imminent danger, the capital was remarkably quiet and calm; every day, as fateful event crowded upon event, seemed to renew the resolution and coolness of the population. It seemed advisable, however, to transfer the seat of government for the time being from Paris to Bordeaux, after assuring the defense of the city by every means that could be devised.
The defenses of Paris consisted of three great intrenched camps, on the north, east, and southwest, respectively. Of these the most important is the last, which includes all the fortified area to the south and west of the Seine. A railway over sixty miles in length connects all the works, and, under the shelter of the forts, it could not only keep them supplied with the necessary ammunition and stores, but also it could be utilized to convey troops from point to point as they might be needed. However, it was an open secret that even the outer and newer defenses were not of any great strength. If the Germans broke through the outlying circle of forts, the inner line would be of small value, and the city itself would be exposed to long-range bombardment. Paris was not ready for a siege, and if attacked it would speedily fall.
Early in the morning of September 3, 1914, President Poincaré, accompanied by all the ministers, left Paris, and was followed at noon by the members of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, and the reserves of the Banque de France. The higher courts were also transferred to Bordeaux. The municipal authority was constituted by the president of the City Council, and the Council of the Seine Department, who were empowered to direct civil affairs under the authority of General Galliéni as military governor, the prefect of Paris, and the prefect of police.
On his appointment to the command, Galliéni did what he could to strengthen the defenses. Trenches were dug, wire entanglements were constructed, and hundreds of buildings that had been allowed to spring up over the military zone of defense were demolished in order to leave a clear field of fire. The gates of the city were barred with heavy palisades backed by sandbags, and neighboring streets also were barricaded for fighting. Certain strategic streets were obstructed by networks of barbed wire, and in others pits were dug to the depth of a man's shoulders. The public buildings were barricaded with sandbags and guarded with machine guns.
But while Paris was preparing for siege and assault the French staff were concentrating their efforts on making a siege impossible by a decisive stroke against the German advance.
Hardly had the Government left the city when tidings arrived that instead of marching on Paris, General von Kluck had swung southeastward toward the crossing of the Marne. This news was obtained by the allied flying corps, which had made daring flights over the enemy's line.[Back to Contents]
CHAPTER XII
THE MARNE—GENERAL PLAN OF BATTLE FIELD
On September 4, 1914, the bugler of Destiny sounded the "Halt!" to the retreat of the armies of the Allies from the Belgian frontier. The marvelous fighting machine of the German armies, perhaps the most superb organization of military potency that has been conceived by the mind of man, seemed to reach its limit of range. Success had perched upon the German eagles, and for two weeks there had been a steady succession of victories. Nevertheless the British and French armies were not crushed. They were overwhelmed, they were overpowered, and, under stern military necessity, they were forced to fall back.
Day after day, under the swinging hammer-head blows of the German drive, the flower of the forces of the Allies had been compelled to break. A little less generalship on the part of the defenders, or a little more recklessness behind that smashing offensive might have turned this retirement into a rout. Even as it was, the official dispatches reveal that, while occasional and local retirements had been considered, such a sweeping retreat was far from contemplated by Generals Joffre and French. German official dispatches bear testimony to the intrepid character of the defenders sullenly falling back and contesting every inch of the way, as much as they do to the daring and the vivid bravery of the German attackers who hurled themselves steadily, day after day, upon positions hastily taken up in the retreat where the retirement could be partly repaid by the heaviest toll of death.
The great strategical plan of the Germans, which had displayed itself throughout the entire operations on the western theatre of war from the very first gun of the campaign, came to its apex on this September 3, 1914. If the allied armies could develop a strong enough defense to halt the German offensive at this point, and especially if they could develop a sufficiently powerful counteroffensive to strike doubt into the confident expectations of the armies of the Central Powers, then the strategical plan had reached a check, which might or might not be a checkmate, as the fortunes of war might determine. If, on the other hand, the stand made by the Allies at this point should prove ineffective, and if the counteroffensive should reveal that the German hosts had been able to establish impregnable defenses as they marched, then the original strategic plan of the attackers must be considered as intact and the peril of France would become greatly intensified.
It is idle, in a war of such astounding magnitude, to speak about any one single incident as being a "decisive" one. Such a term can only rightly be applied to conditions where the opposing powers each have but one organized army in the field, and these armies meet in a pitched battle. None the less, the several actions which are known as the Battles of the Marne may be considered as decisive, to the extent that they decided the limit of the German offensive at that point. The German General Staff, taking the ordinary and obvious precautions in the case of a possible repulse, chose and fortified in the German rear positions to which its forces might fall back in the event of retreat. These prepared positions had a secondary contingent value for the Germans in view of the grave Russian menace that might call at any moment for a transfer of German troops from the western to the eastern front.
The Battle of the Marne stopped the advance of the main German army on that line, forcing it back.
Battle of the Marne—Beginning on September 5, 1914.
The scene of the battle ground is one of the most famous in Europe, not even the plains of Belgium possessing a richer historical significance than that melancholy plain, the Champagne-Pouilleuse, upon whose inhospitable flats rested for centuries the curse of a prophecy, that there would the fate of France be decided, a prophecy of rare connotation of accuracy, for it refrained from stating what that fate should be. Yet the historic sense is amplified even more by remembrance than by prophecy, for in the territory confronting that huge arc on which 1,400,000 German and Austrian soldiers lay encamped, awaiting what even the German generals declared to be "the great decision," there lies, on the old Roman road running from Châlons a vast oval mound, known to tradition as "the Camp of Attila." In that country, a Roman general, Aetius, leading a host of soldiers of whom many were Gauls, broke a vast flood wave of the Huns as those savage Mongol hordes hurled themselves against Rome's westernmost possession. On that occasion, however, the Visigoths, under their King Theodoric, fought side by side with the Gauls. Then, the dwellers on the banks of the Rhine and on the banks of the Seine were brothers in arms, now, that same countryside shall see them locked in deadly conflict.
The morale of tradition is a curious thing, and often will nerve a sword arm when the most impassioned utterance of a beloved leader may fail. There were few among the soldiers of France who forgot that in the south of this same plain of Champagne-Pouilleuse was the home of Joan of Arc, the Maid of Orleans, patriot and saint, and more than one French soldier prayed that the same voices which had whispered in the ear of the virgin of Domremy should guide the generalissimo who was to lead the armies of France upon the morrow. Here, tradition again found old alliances severed and new ones formed, for the Maid of Orleans led the French against the English, while in the serried ranks awaiting the awful test of the shock of battle, English and French soldiers lived and slept as brothers.
The topography of the region of the battle field is of more than common interest, for modern tactics deal with vaster stretches of country than would have been considered in any previous war. This is due, partly, to the large armies handled, partly to the terrific range of modern artillery, and also to what may be called the territorial perceptiveness which aeronautical surveys make possible to a general of to-day. While war has not changed, it is true that a commander of an army in modern campaign is compelled to review and to take into account a far larger group of factors. A modern general must be capable of grasping increased complexities, and must possess a synthetic mind to be able to reduce all these complicating factors into a single whole. The first factor of the battles of the Marne was the topographical factor, the consideration of the land over which the action was to take place.
Let the River Marne be used as a base from which this topography can be determined. The Marne rises near Langres, which is the northwest angle of that pentagon of fortresses (Belfort, Epinal, Langres, Dijon, and Besançon), which incloses an almost impregnable recuperative ground for exhausted armies. From Langres the Marne flows almost north by west for about fifty miles through a hilly and wooded country, then, taking a more westerly course, it flows for approximately seventy-five miles almost northwest, across the Plain of Champagne, past Vitry-le-François and Châlons, thence almost due westward through the Plateau of Sézanne, by Epernay, Château Thierry, La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, and Meaux to join the Seine just south of Paris. In the neighborhood of Meaux, three small tributaries flow into the Marne—the Ourcq from the north, and the Grand Morin and Petit Morin from the east. The Marshes of St. Gond, ten miles long from east to west and a couple of miles across, lie toward the eastern borders of the Plateau of Sézanne, and form the source of the Petit Morin, which has been deepened in the reclamation of the marsh country.
Once more considering the source of the Marne, near Langres, it will be noted that the River Meuse rises near by, flowing north by east to Toul, and then north-northwest past Verdun to Sedan, where it turns due north, flowing through the Ardennes country to Namur, in Belgium. To the east of the Meuse lies the difficult forest clad hill barrier, known as the Hills of the Meuse; to the east extends (as far as Triaucourt) the craggy and broken wooded country of the Argonne, a natural barrier which stretches southward in a chain of lakes and forests.
West of this impassible country of the Meuse and the Argonne lies the plain of Champagne-Pouilleuse, which is almost a steppe, bare and open, only slightly undulating, overgrown with heath, and studded here and there by small copses of planted firs, naught but a small portion of the whole being under cultivation. Between the Forest of the Argonne and this great plain, which is over a hundred miles long from north to south and forty miles in width, lies a short stretch of miniature foothills, with upland meadows here and there, but crossed in every direction by small ravines filled with shrubs and low second-growth timber. Here lies the source of the Aisne, a river destined to live in history; and on the farther side begins the great plain.
On the west of the plain of Champagne rises, 300 feet, with a curious clifflike suddenness, the Plateau of Sézanne. The effect is as though a geological fault had driven the original plateau from north to south throughout its entire length, and then as though there had been a general subsidence of the plain, giving rise to the clifflike formations known as Les Falaises de Champagne, at the foot of which runs the road from La Fère-Champenoise to Rheims.
The disposition and arrangement of the German forces is next to be considered. It can be assumed that their objective was Paris. It is also worthy of remembrance that the German tactical method has always favored the envelopment of the enemy's flanks rather than a frontal attack aiming to pierce the enemy's center, which latter was a favorite method of Napoleon I to reach decision.
The tactical method of envelopment demands great numerical superiority, and on account of the extreme extension of front necessitated is apt to become dangerous as perforce the center is left weak. Attempts to envelop, with which the observer is confronted again and again when considering the military movements of the Central Powers on the western battle front, were revealed on the morning of September 3, 1914, in the position occupied by the German forces, and, correspondingly, in the arrangement of the allied armies.
The German right, on September 3, 1914, and September 4, 1914, at which time it was nearest to its desired goal of Paris, held the banks of the Marne from Epernay to the banks of the little tributary the Ourcq, which runs into the Marne from the north. This extreme right comprised the Second Corps and the Fourth Reserve Corps, encamped on the western bank of the little stream the Ourcq; while the Fourth Corps was given the honor of the tip of the right, being camped on the Marne at La Ferté-sous-Jouarre, supported by the Third Corps, the Seventh Corps and the Seventh Corps Reserve. The Ninth Cavalry Division occupied an advanced position west of Crécy and the Second Cavalry Division occupied an advanced position near the British army, north of Coulommiers. These troops constituted the First German Army, under the command of General von Kluck.
The Allies' left, confronting this position, held strong reserves, and by the nature of the ground itself, was well placed to prevent any enveloping movement, dear to the German school of military tactics. It rested securely on the fortress of Paris, believed by its constructors to be the most fully fortified city in the world, and should the German right endeavor to encircle the left wing of the Allies, should it develop a farther westerly movement, it would but come in contact with the outer line of those defenses and thence be deflected in such an enormous arc as to thin the line beyond the power of keeping it strong enough to resist a piercing attack at all points. Clearly, then, as long as the extreme left of the Allies remained in contact with the defenses of Paris, an enveloping movement was not possible on the easterly flank.
Facing the German extreme right, was the Sixth French Army, one of the great reserves of General Joffre, which had been steadily building up since August 29, 1914, with its right on the Marne and its left at Betz, in the Ourcq Valley, encamped on the western side of that stream, facing the Second and Fourth Corps of the Germans. The strengthening of that army from the forces at Paris was hourly, and while three or four days before it had been felt that the Sixth French Army was too weak to be placed in so vital a point—that it should have been supplemented with the Ninth Army—the results justified the French generalissimo's plans and more than justified his confidence in the British Army, or Expeditionary Force, which faced the tip of the German right wing drive and was encamped on a line from Villeneuve le Comte to Jouy le Chatel, the center of the British army being at a point five miles southeast of Coulommiers. This army was under the command of General Sir John French.
The right center of the German line was held by General von Bülow's army, consisting of the Ninth Corps, the Tenth Corps, the Tenth Reserve Corps, and the Guard Corps. This army also was encamped upon the Marne, stretching from the eastern end of General Von Kluck's army as far as Epernay. This army thus held the Forests of Vassy but was confronted by the marshes of St. Gond.
Confronting this right center was, first of all, General Conneau's Cavalry Corps, which was in touch with the right wing of the British army under Sir John French. Then, holding the line from Esternay to Courtaçon lay the Fifth French Army under General d'Espérey. Full in face of the strongest part of the German right center stood one of the strongest of General Joffre's new reserves, the Ninth Army under General Foch, with the marshes of St. Gond in front of him, and holding a twenty-mile line from Esternay, past Sézanne to Camp de Mailly, a remarkably well-equipped army, very eager for the fray.
The hastily replenished corps, largely of Saxons, which had been General von Hausen's army, lay next to General von Bülow, a little north of Vitry, and as it proved, a weak spot in the German line. The left center of the attacking force was under the command of the Duke of Württemberg and extended across the whole southern end of the plain of Champagne to the upper streams of the Aisne south of St. Menhould. The extreme left of this advanced line was the army of the Imperial Crown Prince, holding the old line on the Argonne to the south of Verdun. In close relation to this advanced line, but not directly concerned with the battles of the Marne, were the armies of the Bavarian Crown Prince, encamped in the plateau of the Woevre, engaged largely in the task of holding open the various lines of communication, while far to the south, in the vicinity of the much battered little town of Mulhouse, lay the remains of the decimated army of the Alsace campaigns under General von Heeringen.
Facing this left center came General Langle's Fourth French Army, covering the southern side of the plain of Châlons, it lay south of Vitry-le-François, and faced due north. On this army, it was expected, the brunt of the drive would fall. At this point the French battle line made a sharp angle, the Third French Army, commanded by General Sarrail, occupying a base from Bar-le-Duc to Verdun. It thus faced almost west, skirting the lower edge of the Forest of Argonne. At the same time it was back to back with the Second French Army, which covered the great barrier of forts from Verdun to Toul and Epinal, while the First French Army held the line from Epinal to Belfort.[Back to Contents]