During nearly six days there was, along that far extended battle line, the flash and thunder of more than 7,000 guns. Shells rose and burst like flights of warring meteorites. Masses of infantry moved to the attack. Incessant rifle fire accompanied the bolder bass of the artillery. In and through woods, across fields, in and round blazing villages and burning farms and chateaux they fought; an incessant movement to and fro, amid an unceasing roar—the rage of nations locked in deadly embrace. There were bayonet fights on a vast scale; there were charges by clouds of horsemen; there were furious and murderous combats for points of vantage; there was the capture and recapture of towns; the rush of fire-spitting automobiles below, and the flight of bomb-dropping aeroplanes above. There was the hurried movement of troops and the wild gallop of batteries of guns along the roads. There was, too, the ever-changing kaleidoscope of the masses of transport. Along the great road from Paris to Germany a spectator might have travelled from sunrise to sunset during the whole week of battle, and yet still have found himself in the midst of this seemingly unbounded fury of a world at war.
FOOTNOTE:
[14] The following may be taken as the approximate strength of the armies engaged, allowing on the one hand for war wastage, and on the other for a filling up from reserves, which on the part of the Allies had been completed:—
| Germans. | |
| General von Kluck's Army (5 corps, Prussians) | 245,000 |
| 2nd and 9th Cavalry Divisions | 23,000 |
| General von Bülow's Army (4 corps, Prussians) | 180,000 |
| Cavalry of the Prussian Guard | 6,000 |
| General von Hausen's Army (3 corps, Saxons) | 165,000 |
| Duke Albert's Army (3 corps, Wurtembergers) | 150,000 |
| Crown Prince of Germany's Army (3 corps, Prussians) | 175,000 |
| Crown Prince of Bavaria's Army (3 corps, Bavarians) | 160,000 |
| ———— | |
| Approximate total | 1,104,000 |
| Allies. | |
| General Maunoury's Army (3 corps and reserves) | 140,000 |
| General French's Army (3 corps) | 110,000 |
| British Cavalry Divisions | 8,000 |
| General Conneau's Cavalry | 23,000 |
| General Desperey's Army (3 corps and reserves) | 150,000 |
| General Foch's Army (3 corps) | 120,000 |
| General de Langle's Army (3 corps and reserves) | 150,000 |
| General Serrail's Army (3 corps) | 120,000 |
| General Pau's Army (3 corps and reserves) | 140,000 |
| ———— | |
| Approximate total | 961,000 |
| Grand approximate total of combatants | 2,065,000 |
| ———— | |
| Approximate guns and mortars, Germans | 3,610 |
| Approximate guns and mortars, Allies | 3,680 |
| ——— | |
| Total | 7,290 |
The Allies were superior in field-guns, but had fewer howitzers, especially of the heavy type, and the aggregate weight of the German artillery was on the whole greater. The estimate given of the number of combatants is rather below than above the actual.
CHAPTER V THE GERMAN OVERTHROW
Such were the spectacular aspects of the battle. It remains to sketch its phases as, first sullenly, then swiftly, the tide of conflict rolled backward across the miles of country between Sezanne and Rheims.
These developments can best be followed day by day.