LONDON, EDINBURGH, DUBLIN, AND NEW YORK

Sound, sound the clarion, fill the fife! To all the sensual world proclaim, One crowded hour of glorious life Is worth an age without a name.

Sir Walter Scott

CONTENTS

I.[The French Army]1
II.[The First Clash of Arms]11
III.[The Fall of Namur]17
IV.[The Battle of Mons]26
V.[Soldiers' Stories of the Battle of Mons]33
VI.[The Russian People]44
VII.[The Russian Army]49
VIII.[The Eastern Theatre of War]54
IX.[Victory and Defeat]65
X.[Stories of Russian Soldiers]77
XI.[The Fighting Retreat]81
XII.[A Glorious Stand]91
XIII.["The Most Critical Day of All"]97
XIV.[Stories of the Retreat from Mons to St. Quentin]106
XV.[Valorous Deeds and Victoria Crosses]113
XVI.[Arras and Amiens]125
XVII.[The French Retreat]129
XVIII.["Those Terrible Grey Horses"]138
XIX.[The Story of Battery L of the R.H.A.]145
XX.[More Stories of the Retreat]152
XXI.[The Beginning of the War at Sea]161
XXII.[The Battle of Heligoland Bight]177
XXIII.[The Turn of the Tide]193
XXIV.[The Crossing of the Marne]205
XXV.[The Battle of the Marne]209
XXVI.[Stories of the Battle of the Marne]220
XXVII.[More Stories of the Battle of the Marne]225
XXVIII.[The Aisne Valley]236
XXIX.[The Crossing of the Aisne]241
XXX.[The Battle of the Aisne]250
XXXI.[Soldiers' Stories of the Battle of the Aisne]257
XXXII.[Verdun and Rheims]273
XXXIII.[The Race to the Sea]289
XXXIV.[The First Russian Advance to Cracow]297
XXXV.[Antwerp as it was]305
XXXVI.[The Siege and Fall of Antwerp]310

CHAPTER I.

THE FRENCH ARMY.