THE FRENCH ARMY ON THE OISE—SIR JOHN FRENCH ON THE OPERATIONS OF THE BRITISH TROOPS ON AUGUST 28—THE FIGHT AT ST. QUENTIN—A SHARP ACTION AT COMPIÈGNE—AT CHANTILLY—ENGLISH SOLDIERS SHOPPING—A QUIET DAY—BRITISH LOSSES AND RESOURCES—THE ENEMY AT SENLIS—THE END OF THE RETREAT—A VIEW OF A GREAT MILITARY FEAT—SIR JOHN FRENCH’S DESPATCH.

The Press Bureau supplied, on September 7, a survey of the activities of the British Expeditionary Army which has, it stated, conformed to the general movement of the French forces and acted in harmony with the strategic conceptions of the French General Staff.

After the battle at Cambrai, on August 26, where the British troops successfully guarded the left flank of the whole line of French armies from a deadly turning attack, supported by enormous force, the 7th French Army came into operation on our left, and, in conjunction with the 5th Army on our right, this greatly relieved our men from the strain and pressure.

The 5th French Army, in particular, on August 29 advanced from the line of the Oise River to meet and counter the German forward movement, and a considerable battle developed to the south of Guise.

In this, the 5th French Army gained a marked and solid success, driving back with heavy loss and in disorder three German Army Corps, the 10th, the Guard, and a reserve corps.

It is believed that the commander of the 10th German Corps was among those killed.

In spite of this success, however, and all the benefits which flowed from it, the general retirement to the south continued, and the German armies, seeking persistently after the British troops, remained in practically continuous contact with our rearguards.

Sir John French’s despatch of September 17 describes the operations of the British Forces on August 28 and 29:—

On that evening, he says, the retirement of the Force was followed closely by two of the enemy’s cavalry columns, moving south-east from St. Quentin.

The retreat in this part of the field was being covered by the 3rd and 5th Cavalry Brigades. South of the Somme General Gough, with the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, threw back the Uhlans of the Guard with considerable loss. General Chetwode, with the 5th Cavalry Brigade, encountered the eastern column near CÉrizy, moving south. The Brigade attacked and routed the column, the leading German regiment suffering very severe casualties and being almost broken up.

The 7th French Army Corps was now in course of being railed up from the south to the east of Amiens. On the 29th it nearly completed its detrainment, and the French 6th Army got into position on my left, its right resting on Roye.

The 5th French Army was behind the line of the Oise, between La FÈre and Guise.

The pursuit of the enemy was very vigorous; some five or six German corps were on the Somme, facing the 5th Army on the Oise. At least two corps were advancing towards my front, and were crossing the Somme east and west of Ham. Three or four more German corps were opposing the 6th French Army on my left.

This was the situation at 1 o’clock on the 29th, when I received a visit from General Joffre at my headquarters.

I strongly represented my position to the French Commander-in-Chief, who was most kind, cordial, and sympathetic, as he has always been. He told me that he had directed the 5th French Army on the Oise to move forward and attack the Germans on the Somme, with a view to checking pursuit. He also told me of the formation of the 6th French Army on my left flank, composed of the 7th Army Corps, four Reserve Divisions, and SordÊt’s Corps of Cavalry.

I finally arranged with General Joffre to effect a further short retirement towards the line CompiÈgne—Soissons, promising him, however, to do my utmost to keep always within a day’s march of him.

In pursuance of this arrangement the British Forces retired to a position a few miles north of the line CompiÈgne—Soissons on the 29th.

The right flank of the German Army was now reaching a point which appeared seriously to endanger my line of communications with Havre. I had already evacuated Amiens, into which place a German reserve division was reported to have moved.

Orders were given to change the base to St. Nazaire, and establish an advance base at Le Mans. This operation was well carried out by the Inspector-General of Communications.

In spite of a severe defeat inflicted upon the Guard 10th and Guard Reserve Corps of the German Army by the 1st and 3rd French Corps on the right of the 5th Army, it was not part of General Joffre’s plan to pursue this advantage; and a general retirement on to the line of the Marne was ordered, to which the French Forces in the more eastern theatre were directed to conform.

A new Army (the 9th) had been formed from three corps in the south by General Joffre, and moved into the space between the right of the 5th and left of the 4th Armies.

Whilst closely adhering to his strategic conception to draw the enemy on at all points until a favourable situation was created from which to assume the offensive, General Joffre found it necessary to modify from day to day the methods by which he sought to attain this object, owing to the development of the enemy’s plans and changes in the general situation.

In conformity with the movements of the French Forces, my retirement continued practically from day to day. Although we were not severely pressed by the enemy, rearguard actions took place continually.

On August 30 and 31, the British covering and delaying troops were frequently engaged. In the districts of St. Quentin—Verdun and Ham—PÉronne a battle was fought lasting some days. The special correspondent to the Daily Telegraph wrote:—

St. Quentin, the scene of the British fight on Sunday, August 30, was ready for evacuation a couple of days previously. On the British right the French force, under the gallant General Pau, scored a distinct success. On Sunday and Monday the Germans were hotly pressed near Guise, and the French, once getting the upper hand, hammered away at the enemy, and completely demoralised them. One German army corps was completely broken and thrown into the Oise, and, being cut off on both sides from their supports, lost fearfully, a remnant withdrawing and leaving enormous numbers of dead, wounded, and prisoners in the valley.

A captain of a French infantry regiment reached the Gare du Nord yesterday, with his left leg shattered by a shell; but the severity of his wound did not prevent him describing the battle of Guise as he saw it. “The Germans who engaged us were,” he said, “the Élite of their army—the 10th Corps and the Imperial Guard—but our troops gave proof of their extreme bravery and of their marvellous dash. They received heroically the German thrust, and very soon took a vigorous offensive, which was crowned with success. The German masses were forced to bend back, and their losses were enormous. I am certain of that. When I fell, the German retreat increased, and our offensive movement claimed victory. But on our left the line was bent back to La FÈre, and the offensive could not therefore be persisted in.”

The correspondent to the Daily Telegraph stated that at St. Quentin, when he retired from Landrecies, General French established himself temporarily in the LycÉe Henri-Martin, named after the most patriotic historian of France. The English artillery covered the heights that command the town. It was a repetition of the battle of Saint Quentin of 1870, with this difference—that the enemy approached the town from another direction. For the space of ten days or so fierce and uninterrupted fighting took place between Saint Quentin, PÉronne, and Vervins. A French artillery regiment was at a place called Catelet, between Cambrai and Saint Quentin. However, the German column, in spite of these attacks on both its flanks, one of which was driven back on to Guise a week ago, continued to force its way towards the Oise valley, and General French moved his headquarters first to Noyon, and then to Clermont.

The English troops were then deployed all the way between Clermont and Soissons.

On Monday, August 31, the Allies’ left was brought round and southwards, their headquarters being at Aumale, where General d’Amade, the hero of the French Morocco campaign, was with his staff.

A very vigorous effort was made by the Germans on September 1, which brought about a sharp action in the neighbourhood of CompiÈgne. The action was fought principally by the 1st British Cavalry Brigade and the 4th Guards Brigade, with a body of German cavalry, preceded by a light scouting column in the forest of CompiÈgne, and was entirely satisfactory to the British. The German attack, which was most strongly pressed, was not brought to a standstill until much slaughter had been inflicted upon them, and until ten German guns had been captured. The brunt of this creditable affair fell upon our Guards Brigade, who lost in killed and wounded about 300 men.

Another corps of German cavalry advancing on the opposite flank of the column pushed its line to the railway station at Anizy-le-ChÂteau, between Laon and Soissons. The enemy, however, found that the railway line had been rendered useless.

We venture to quote the fine account of fighting at CompiÈgne which was given by a wounded Guardsman in the Evening News. In this action ten of the enemy’s guns were captured.

“We were in a field when the Germans dropped on us all of a sudden. The first hint we had of their presence was when a battery of guns on the right sang out, dropping shells into a mob of us who were waiting for our turn at the wash tub—the river.

“There was no panic as far as I saw, only some of our fellows who hadn’t had a wash for a long time said strong things about the Germans for spoiling the best chance we had had for four days. “We all ran to our posts in response to bugles which ran out all along the line, and by the time we all stood to arms the German cavalry came into view in great strength all along the left front.

“As soon as they came within range we poured a deadly volley into them, emptying saddles right and left, and they scattered in all directions. Meanwhile their artillery kept working up closer on the front and the right, and a dark cloud of infantry showed out against the sky-line on our front, advancing in a formation rather loose for the Germans.

“We opened on them, and they made a fine target for our rifle fire, which was very well supported by our artillery. The fire from our guns was very effective, the range being found with ease, and we could see the shells dropping right into the enemy’s ranks.

“Here and there their lines began to waver and give way, and finally they disappeared. Half an hour later more infantry appeared on our right front, but we could not say whether it was the same or another body. This time they were well supported by artillery, machine guns, and strong forces of cavalry on both flanks. All came on at a smart pace with the apparent plan of seizing a hill on our right. At the same moment our cavalry came into view, and then the whole Guards Brigade advanced. “It was really a race between the two parties to reach the hill first, but the Germans won easily, owing to their being nearer by half a mile.

“As soon as their guns and infantry had taken up a position, the cavalry came along in a huge mass with the intention of riding down the Irish Guards, who were nearest to them. When the shock came it seemed terrific to us in the distance, for the Irishmen didn’t recoil in the least, but flung themselves right across the path of the German horsemen.

“We could hear the crack of the rifles and see the German horses impaled on the bayonets of the front ranks of the Guardsmen; then the whole force of infantry and cavalry were mixed up in one confused heap like so many pieces from a jig-saw puzzle. Shells from the British and German batteries kept dropping close to the tangled mass of fighting men, and then we saw the German horsemen get clear and take to flight as fast as their horses would carry them. Some had no horses, and they were bayoneted where they stood.

“While this was going on there was a confused movement among the German infantry, as though they were going to the assistance of the cavalry, but evidently they did not like the look of things, for they stayed where they were. After this little interruption the whole of the Guards continued their advance, the Coldstreamers leading this time, with the Scots in reserve and the Irish in support.

“Taking advantage of the fight between the cavalry and infantry, the German artillery had advanced to a new position, from which they kept up a deadly fire from twelve guns. Our infantry and cavalry advanced simultaneously against this new position, which they carried together in the face of a galling fire.

“In the excitement the enemy managed to get away two of their guns, but the remainder fell into our hands. The infantry and cavalry supporting the guns didn’t wait for the onslaught of our men, but bolted like mad, pursued by our cavalry, and galled by a heavy fire from our infantry and artillery, which quickly found the range.

“We heard later that the Germans were in very great force, and had attacked in the hope of driving us back, and so uncovering the French left, but they got more than they bargained for. Their losses were terrible in what little of the fight we saw, and when our men captured the guns there was hardly a German left alive or unwounded. Altogether the fight lasted about seven hours, and when it was over our cavalry scouts reported that the enemy were in retreat.”

A Coldstream Guardsman, writing of the fighting near the forest of CompiÈgne, compares the sight of the Germans issuing from the trees to a cup final crowd at the Crystal Palace.

“You couldn’t miss them,” he said. “Our bullets ploughed into them, but still they came for us. I was well entrenched, and my rifle got so hot I could hardly hold it. I was wondering if I should have enough bullets when a pal shouted, ‘Up, Guards, and at ’em!’ The next second he was rolled over with a nasty knock on the shoulder. He jumped up and hissed, ‘Let me get at them!’ His language was a bit stronger than that.

“When we really did get the order to get at them we made no mistake, I can tell you. They cringed at the bayonet, but those on our left wing tried to get round us, and after racing as hard as we could for quite three hundred yards we cut up nearly every man who did not run away.”

Referring to the cavalry, he writes:—“You have read of the charge of the Light Brigade. It was nothing to our chaps. I saw two of our fellows who were unhorsed stand back to back and slash away with their swords, bringing down nine or ten of the panic-stricken devils. Then they got hold of the stirrup-straps of a horse without a rider, and got out of the mÊlÉe. This kind of thing was going on all day.

“In the afternoon I thought we should all get bowled over, as they came for us again in their big numbers. Where they came from, goodness knows; but as we could not stop them with bullets they had another taste of the bayonet. My captain, a fine fellow, was near to me, and as he fetched them down he shouted, ‘Give them socks, my lads!’ How many were killed and wounded I don’t know; but the field was covered with them.”

Private Walter Morton, of the 1st Battalion Black Watch, gave a description of a magnificent charge by his regiment at St. Quentin to the Scotsman. Private Morton, who is only 19 years of age, belongs to Camelon, Falkirk:—

We went straight (he said) from Boulogne to Mons, being one of the first British regiments to reach that place. Neither army seemed to have a very good position there, but the numbers of the Germans were far too great to give us any chance of success. We were hard at it all day on the Monday, and on Tuesday, as the French reinforcements which we had been expecting did not arrive, the order was given to retire.

In our retreat we marched close upon eighty miles. We passed through Cambrai, and a halt was called at St. Quentin. The Germans, in their mad rush to get to Paris, had seldom been far behind us, and when we came to St. Quentin the word went through the ranks that we were going into action. The men were quite jubilant at the prospect. They had not been at all pleased at their continued retirement before the enemy, and they at once started to get things ready. The engagement opened briskly, both our artillery and the Germans going at it for all they were worth. We were in good skirmishing order, and under the cover of our guns we were all the time getting nearer and nearer the enemy. When we had come to within 100 yards of the German lines the commands were issued for a charge, and the Black Watch made the charge along with the Scots Greys. Not far from us the 9th Lancers and the Cameronians joined in the attack.

It was the finest thing I ever saw. The Scots Greys galloped forward with us hanging on to their stirrups, and it was a sight never to be forgotten. We were simply being dragged by the horses as they flew forward through a perfect cloud of bullets from the enemy’s maxims. All other sounds were drowned by the thunder of the horses’ hoofs as they careered wildly on, some of them nearly driven mad by the bullets which struck them. It was no time for much thinking. Saddles were being emptied quickly as we closed on the German lines, and tore past their maxims, which were in the front ranks.

We were on the German gunners before they knew where they were, and many of them went down in their gore, scarcely realising that we were amongst them. Then the fray commenced in deadly earnest. The Black Watch and the Scots Greys went into it like men possessed. They fought like demons. It was our bayonets against the Germans’ swords. You could see nothing but the glint of steel, and soon even that was wanting as our boys got well into the midst of the enemy. The German swords were no use against us, and just clashed against the bayonets as the now blood-stained steel was sent well home time and again. They went down in hundreds, and still the deadly work of the bayonet continued.

The enemy began to waver as the carnage amongst them increased, and they soon broke and fled before the bayonets like rabbits before the shot of a gun. Still the slaughter went on, with here and there a fierce hand-to-hand exchange, where Germans with their retreat cut off fought to the last. We knew what our men had come through, and we did not forget them.

There were about 1,900 of us in that charge against 20,000 Germans, and the charge itself lasted about four hours. We took close upon 4,000 prisoners, and captured a lot of their guns. In the course of the fighting I got a cut from a German sword—they are very much like saws—and fell into a pool of water, where I lay unconscious for twenty-three hours. I was picked up by one of the 9th Lancers.

The LibertÉ gives the following details of the German occupation of PÉronne:—

The Germans arrived outside PÉronne on August 28, at five in the afternoon. French Dragoons and Alpine regiments fought with the greatest courage to oppose their advance, and enabled the French troops to retire in good order. The Germans had guns in position in the woods at Racogne, overlooking PÉronne, and from the east, on the left bank of the Somme, they shelled the town, which greatly suffered.

The enemy entered PÉronne at 5.30. The soldiers behaved disgracefully, shouting madly and firing shots at windows, in order to terrorise the inhabitants. At the Town Hall they summoned the authorities, and as none came forward the Germans burned the sub-prefecture building and surrounding houses, after having thrown petrol over them with pumps and then using grenades.

The whole of the main square would have been completely destroyed, had it not been for the courageous intervention of a priest. Canon Caron, who, after an interview with the German officers, succeeded in obtaining a promise that the passage of the enemy through PÉronne should not be marked by the complete destruction of this ancient town.

Three inhabitants were selected to take over the administration of the town, and the Germans asked for four hostages, who, however, were released after three days. During the occupation, which lasted from August 27 till September 14, the Germans behaved in the most arbitrary manner. They were constantly requisitioning provisions, and searched and looted all houses and shops, and they sent back to Germany whole trains filled with furniture stolen from deserted houses.

On September 5 the head doctor of the German ambulance gave orders to send to Amiens all the French wounded. The Amiens Red Cross sent twenty automobiles, with doctors and nurses, and the latter were on the point of restarting for Amiens when Colonel von Kosser, the Governor of the town, ordered them to be detained in PÉronne, where they remained for two days in barracks, and were then released. The Red Cross people had to walk to Amiens, as the Germans kept the motor-cars. On September 14 Colonel von Kosser hurriedly left the town, and the next morning a division of French cavalry reoccupied the place.

The Germans left so precipitately that they had to abandon the wounded and the ambulances. The staff of the latter consisted of seventy women, twenty-five doctors, 150 assistants, a Protestant chaplain, a Franciscan chaplain, and a few sisters. The latter were armed with heavy revolvers, which a German doctor said was to ensure the protection of their persons. In spite of such a gross violation of the Geneva Convention, the personnel of the ambulances were treated with the greatest respect. The women were disarmed, and the ambulance, which was splendidly organised, was sent by special train to Switzerland.

The Daily Telegraph correspondent described how the English, in their retirement, came like an avalanche on Chantilly, followed closely by the Germans, after evacuating CompiÈgne. His informant was an English trainer who escaped with his wife under the fire of the German guns, leaving all his fine racehorses, goods, and chattels behind.

“It was on Sunday last, August 30, he said, that the firing which had been coming nearer and nearer La Croix Saint-Ouen made him hurry into CompiÈgne to learn what was going on. He was surprised to find CompiÈgne become the headquarters of the retiring British Army. The sight was one of the most extraordinary he had ever seen.

At a place I am not at liberty to mention he was suddenly met by what he calls an invasion of all that might be called English. First the motor vans appeared. All London, Manchester, and Liverpool seemed to be on the roads. English brewery vans and London motor-’buses with advertisements still on some of them led the way. Along came the vans of well-known firms like an avalanche. They raced down the roads, tooted without stopping, and made a deafening noise that echoed all over the forest.

Provisions, guns, and ammunition were conveyed as fast as they could to the place assigned them in the rear. The drivers seemed to know the roads as if they had been over them every day for years.

When they reached the place assigned to them they got out, prepared to lay down and sleep on the roadside, and told each other funny stories to while away the time. One of the last who had come into CompiÈgne had missed his way. Suddenly he came upon a few Germans whom he mistook at first for English soldiers. He looked more closely, and when only within a few hundred yards he recognised his mistake. He instantly wheeled his van round, and before they were able to open fire he was racing down the road as if devils were behind him. ‘I got my van away all right and I laughed at their popping at me,’ he said.

After the vans came the soldiers, headed by the 5th Dragoons. They had blown up everything behind them, railway lines and bridges, and it would be some time before the Germans would come up. The soldiers as they reached CompiÈgne were in the best of spirits. They had been fighting all the time, killing scores of the enemy as they retired through the woods, and losing hardly a man themselves. The French people in all the villages and at CompiÈgne received them with a hearty welcome.

When they came to an inn or a ‘marchand de vin,’ they were offered any drink in the shop for nothing, or what they liked to give. As a rule the barmen offered them the best wine. The soldiers would smell it, nod their heads, as much as to convey ‘this is good,’ and down it would go. ‘Fine drink that,’ they would say to each other, and march off again. At CompiÈgne all the townsfolk came out, and exclaimed: ‘What fine men, these English!’ The fact is the people here, as well as at Chantilly, were accustomed to see, as a rule, only English jockeys and stable lads, of less than average size. They had thereby come to imagine that Englishmen mostly were smaller than the French. When they saw the Dragoons and Lancers and the Scottish troops and Highlanders, they wondered, and were beside themselves with admiration.

In the shops the English soldiers made it a point to pay for everything they got. Funny scenes were often witnessed. They would select anything they fancied, hold it up in their hands, and ask mutely by a sign ‘How much?’ Sometimes misunderstandings occurred. Tommy Atkins had not yet had time to master the simplicity of French currency. Two of them were buying bread. One paid for his, and the other laid down the same amount, thinking it was all right. The loaf was much bigger, and the baker tried to explain to him that it was two pounds. ‘What,’ exclaimed the indignant trooper, ‘two pounds for a loaf of bread. You are trying it on,’ and out he walked indignantly, clinging to his loaf nevertheless. Finally, it was explained to him what the baker meant, namely, that it weighed two pounds. The soldier at once asked a pal to return and apologise, and, as he said, ‘pay up and tell the tale.’

The Germans did not give them time to stay long at CompiÈgne. Firing was resumed during the night, and on Monday afternoon, August 31, the enemy was already swarming round La Croix-Saint-Ouen and La Morlay. In the withdrawal the English were accompanied by French chasseurs Alpins, and the country in the valley of the Oise, with its steep slopes, afforded them good opportunities of inflicting losses on the enemy.

The alarm of the advancing Germans had reached Chantilly. People went from house to house to spread the news. Most of the trainers had already left and their horses had also been got away. Still about forty or fifty animals remained in the stables. On Tuesday, September 1, the guns were heard at Chantilly. Fighting was then going on around Creil, which the Germans had reached. The English soldiers fell back methodically, eating and sleeping on the roadside, and turning back to have a shot at the enemy. He lent himself easily to this game by coming on in dense columns.

The soldiers have wonderful tales about the execution done by the Maxim guns. ‘We take up a position on the roadside and wait for them to come,’ said one of them. ‘When they are 200 or 300 yards away we are eager to fire. “Wait a bit,” says the Captain, “till I make sure they are not English.” He looks through his field-glasses, and then says, “Let ’em have it, boys!” Off it goes, and you see fifty or sixty of them fellows drop. They don’t care; others come on, and then we move our gun.’

This is the kind of fighting that was going on for three days in the forests of CompiÈgne and Chantilly. They cover about 50,000 acres of ground, and lend themselves wonderfully to small skirmishes. The woods are cut in every direction by lanes and training paths, which were used by the Germans. They even moved their artillery over them; in fact, they swarmed everywhere. On Tuesday evening Chantilly was empty.” The frightful odds which the Germans, knowing the quality of our troops, threw against our lines, caused a withdrawal to a new position.

After this engagement, says a Press Bureau statement, our troops were no longer molested. Wednesday, September 2, was the first quiet day they had had since the fighting had begun at Mons on August 23. During the whole of this period marching and fighting had been continuous, and in the whole period the British casualties had amounted, according to the latest estimates, to about 15,000 officers and men.

The fighting having been in open order upon a wide front, with repeated retirements, led to a large number of officers and men, and even small parties, missing their way and getting separated, and it was known that a very considerable number of those included in the total would rejoin the colours safely.

These losses, though heavy in so small a force, in no wise affected the spirit of the troops.

They did not amount to a third of the losses inflicted by the British force upon the enemy, and the sacrifice required of the Army had not been out of proportion to its military achievements.

In all, drafts amounting to 19,000 men reached our Army, or were approaching them on the line of communication, and advantage was taken of the five quiet days that had passed since the action of September 1 to fill up the gaps and refit and consolidate the units.

The German army on September 2 was described as having “gradually narrowed its principal attacking point, until it had become an arrow-head or a V-shaped mass pointing directly for Paris, and the southern-most end of the enemy was just before Creil, less than an hour’s run from the capital by train. Before it was a river, bridges awaiting to be blown up, an army as ready as ever to resist it, and the fortifications of Paris. Away on the sloping flanks were armies of the Allies, numerically inferior but as full of fight as their opponents.” But the Germans had advanced further south than Creil for on the night of September 1 their patrols were in action at Senlis with an Infantry Brigade of the Allies.

It is curious to note that this quiet day was the forty-fourth anniversary of the battle of Sedan, when it was expected that the Germans would have made a desperate effort—sparing no sacrifices to repeat the triumph of 1870. But the conditions that prevailed on September 2, 1914, were not quite the same. Sedan-day was, however, celebrated in Berlin, where demonstrations were said to have taken place of a character highly satisfactory to the public.

The fighting at this place was severe, as is testified by the Rev. F. Anstruther Cardew, Chaplain of St. George’s, Paris, who recently paid a visit to the battlefields of the Aisne. “Our route,” he said, “lay through Senlis, a beautiful old-world town with its venerable cathedral and monastery. I knew that the Germans had occupied this place and done much damage, but I was not prepared for what I saw. The quarter of the town through which we drove was utterly wrecked, every single house without exception was smashed to pieces by shells and gutted by fire; nothing was left to tell the passage of the German army but blackened and desolate rubble and masonry.” Other quarters of the town, however, do not appear to have suffered so heavily.

Mr. W. Maxwell, writing from Beauvais, on Wednesday, September 2, supplied the following able article on the retirement of the British Expeditionary Forces:—

I have just returned from the direction of Rheims, and have met some of the men who have been fighting in the north. The last time I saw them was on Saturday, August 22, when they were marching on Mons. Their lines stretched east toward Charleroi and west toward Tournai through Valenciennes, and army headquarters were at Le Cateau, about sixty miles to the south.

Since then they have fought a great battle and fallen back fighting over a distance of nearly 100 miles. Yet it is just the same confident and cheerful army it was ten days ago.

The retirement must have been a fearful ordeal. Everybody is aware of the tremendous efforts the enemy have been making to strike at the capital of France. They have been content with demonstrations on the east and with masking the fortress positions along that border; they have descended in hordes from the north; they have poured out their blood like water from the Meuse to the Somme; but they have reserved their greatest efforts and sacrifices for the north-west.

It is this turning movement on the left flank of the British that has forced the allied armies to retire. Never was attack made with more reckless courage nor pressed with such relentless ferocity. And never was defence conducted with greater heroism. Every mile has been contested with stubborn gallantry, British and French retiring with their faces to the foe.

Their numbers were overwhelming. They gave us no rest. Night and day they hammered away, coming on like great waves. The gaps we made were filled instantly. Their artillery, which is well handled, played upon us incessantly. Their cavalry swept down upon us with amazing recklessness. If we have heavy losses the enemy have even greater.

Officers tell me that our men fought with cool gallantry. They never wavered an instant. But the pressure was irresistible. Column after column, squadron after squadron, mass after mass, the enemy came on like a battering ram crushing everything in its way. Shattered to fragments by shot and shell, the hordes of the enemy seemed instantly to renew themselves; they swarmed on all sides. Nothing but the sheer pluck, the steadfast courage and the unflinching determination of our soldiers saved the army from annihilation.

The losses inflicted on the enemy must have been enormous. They attacked in solid formation, and whole brigades of infantry were decimated by the fire of our rifles and guns. No army of civilised men can endure such devastation as was wrought among the Germans in this long battle over scores of miles.

The retirement was effected with admirable coolness and skill. The positions of the covering troops were well chosen, and our guns shelled the advancing columns until the dead lay in heaps along the roads and in the fields.

“The enemy hung on to us like grim death,” said a wounded soldier, who insisted on remaining in the ranks. “They wanted us to retire in a direction they had determined upon. But we were not taking our marching orders from them. We went our own way, and at our own pace. We were retiring—not retreating.”

Remembering the tremendous difficulties of carrying out a retirement under such conditions, it is amazing how well the men held together. Their losses were great, but not nearly so great as the circumstances seemed to exact. Many of the missing men found their way back to their regiments, from which they were separated in the desperate rush of the fighting.

The attack on the French army on our right seems to have been heaviest in the neighbourhood of St. Quentin. But the French met it with courage and coolness, sweeping the ranks with their artillery, and advancing with the bayonet under covering fire. For a time they were able to resume the offensive, and drove thousands of the enemy across the river.

But here, as on the left wing, the story was the same. The numbers of the enemy seemed inexhaustible. No sooner was one column wiped out than another was there to take its place. There was nothing for it but to retire fighting.

In continuation of the deeply interesting despatch of Sir John French of September 17, the first portion of which is quoted at the beginning of this chapter, he says:—

On the 1st September, when retiring from the thickly-wooded country to the south of CompiÈgne, the 1st Cavalry Brigade was overtaken by some German cavalry. They momentarily lost a Horse Artillery battery, and several officers and men were killed and wounded. With the help, however, of some detachments from the 3rd Corps operating on their left, they not only recovered their own guns but succeeded in capturing 12 of the enemy’s.

Similarly, to the eastward, the 1st Corps, retiring south, also got into some very difficult forest country, and a somewhat severe rearguard action ensued at Villers-Cotterets, in which the 4th Guards Brigade suffered considerably.

On September 3rd the British Forces were in position south of the Marne between Lagny and Signy-Signets. Up to this time I had been requested by General Joffre to defend the passages of the river as long as possible, and to blow up the bridges in my front. After I had made the necessary dispositions, and the destruction of the bridges had been effected, I was asked by the French Commander-in-Chief to continue my retirement to a point some 12 miles in rear of the position I then occupied, with a view to taking up a second position behind the Seine. This retirement was duly carried out. In the meantime the enemy had thrown bridges and crossed the Marne in considerable force, and was threatening the Allies all along the line of the British Forces and the 5th and 9th French Armies. Consequently several small outpost actions took place.

On Saturday, September 5, I met the French Commander-in-Chief at his request, and he informed me of his intention to take the offensive forthwith, as he considered conditions were very favourable to success.

General Joffre announced to me his intention of wheeling up the left flank of the 6th Army, pivoting on the Marne and directing it to move on the Ourcq; cross and attack the flank of the 1st German Army, which was then moving in a south-easterly direction east of that river.

He requested me to effect a change of front to my right—my left resting on the Marne and my right on the 5th Army—to fill the gap between that army and the 6th. I was then to advance against the enemy in my front and join in the general offensive movement.

These combined movements practically commenced on Sunday, September 6th, at sunrise; and on that day it may be said that a great battle opened on a front extending from Ermenonville, which was just in front of the left flank of the 6th French Army, through Lizy on the Marne, Mauperthuis, which was about the British centre, CourtaÇon, which was the left of the 5th French Army, to Esternay and Charleville, the left of the 9th Army under General Foch, and so along the front of the 9th, 4th, and 3rd French Armies to a point north of the fortress of Verdun.

This battle, in so far as the 6th French Army, the British Army, the 5th French Army, and the 9th French Army were concerned, may be said to have concluded on the evening of September 10, by which time the Germans had been driven back to the line Soissons-Reims, with a loss of thousands of prisoners, many guns, and enormous masses of transport.

About the 3rd September the enemy appears to have changed his plans and to have determined to stop his advance south direct upon Paris, for on the 4th September air reconnaissances showed that his main columns were moving in a south-easterly direction generally east of a line drawn through Nanteuil and Lizy on the Ourcq.

On the 5th September several of these columns were observed to have crossed the Marne, whilst German troops, which were observed moving south-east up the left flank of the Ourcq on the 4th, were now reported to be halted and facing that river. Heads of the enemy’s columns were seen crossing at Changis, La FertÉ, Nogent, ChÂteau Thierry, and Mezy.

Considerable German columns of all arms were seen to be converging on Montmirail, whilst before sunset large bivouacs of the enemy were located in the neighbourhood of Coulommiers, south of Rebais, La FertÉ-Gaucher, and Dagny.

I should conceive it to have been about noon on the 6th September, after the British Forces had changed their front to the right and occupied the line Jouy—Le Chatel—Faremoutiers—Villeneuve Le Comte, and the advance of the 6th French Army north of the Marne towards the Ourcq became apparent, that the enemy realised the powerful threat that was being made against the flank of his columns moving south-east, and began the great retreat which opened the battle above referred to.

On the evening of the 6th September, therefore, the fronts and positions of the opposing armies were roughly as follows:—

Allies.

6th French Army.—Right on the Marne at Meux, left towards Betz.

British Forces.—On the line Dagny—Coulommiers—Maison.

5th French Army.—At Courtagon, right on Esternay.

Conneau’s Cavalry Corps.—Between the right of the British and the left of the French 5th Army.

Germans.

4th Reserve and 2nd Corps.—East of the Ourcq and facing that river.

9th Cavalry Division.—West of Crecy.

2nd Cavalry Division.—North of Coulommiers.

4th Corps.—Rebais.

3rd and 7th Corps.—South-west of Montmirail.

All these troops constituted the 1st German Army, which was directed against the French 6th Army on the Ourcq, and the British Forces, and the left of the 5th French Army south of the Marne.

The 2nd German Army (IX., X., X.R., and Guard) was moving against the centre and right of the 5th French Army and the 9th French Army.

On the 7th September both the 5th and 6th French Armies were heavily engaged on our flank. The 2nd and 4th Reserve German Corps on the Ourcq vigorously opposed the advance of the French towards that river, but did not prevent the 6th Army from gaining some headway, the Germans themselves suffering serious losses. The French 5th Army threw the enemy back to the line of the Petit Morin River after inflicting severe losses upon them, especially about MontÇeaux, which was carried at the point of the bayonet.

The enemy retreated before our advance, covered by his 2nd and 9th and Guard Cavalry Divisions, which suffered severely.

Our Cavalry acted with great vigour, especially General De Lisle’s Brigade with the 9th Lancers and 18th Hussars.

On the 8th September the enemy continued his retreat northward, and our Army was successfully engaged during the day with strong rearguards of all arms on the Petit Morin River, thereby materially assisting the progress of the French Armies on our right and left, against whom the enemy was making his greatest efforts. On both sides the enemy was thrown back with very heavy loss. The 1st Army Corps encountered stubborn resistance at La TrÉtoire (north of Rebais). The enemy occupied a strong position with infantry and guns on the northern bank of the Petit Morin River; they were dislodged with considerable loss. Several machine guns and many prisoners were captured, and upwards of two hundred German dead were left on the ground.

The forcing of the Petit Morin at this point was much assisted by the Cavalry and the 1st Division, which crossed higher up the stream.

Later in the day a counter-attack by the enemy was well repulsed by the 1st Army Corps, a great many prisoners and some guns again falling into our hands.

On this day (8th September) the 2nd Army Corps encountered considerable opposition, but drove back the enemy at all points with great loss, making considerable captures.

The 3rd Army Corps also drove back considerable bodies of the enemy’s infantry and made some captures.

On the 9th September the 1st and 2nd Army Corps forced the passage of the Marne and advanced some miles to the north of it. The 3rd Corps encountered considerable opposition, as the bridge at La FertÉ was destroyed and the enemy held the town on the opposite bank in some strength, and thence persistently obstructed the construction of a bridge; so the passage was not effected until after nightfall.

During the day’s pursuit the enemy suffered heavy loss in killed and wounded, some hundreds of prisoners fell into our hands and a battery of eight machine guns was captured by the 2nd Division.

On this day the 6th French Army was heavily engaged west of the River Ourcq. The enemy had largely increased his force opposing them; and very heavy fighting ensued, in which the French were successful throughout.

The left of the 5th French Army reached the neighbourhood of ChÂteau Thierry after the most severe fighting, having driven the enemy completely north of the river with great loss.

The fighting of this army in the neighbourhood of Montmirail was very severe.

The advance was resumed at daybreak on the 10th up to the line of the Ourcq, opposed by strong rearguards of all arms. The 1st and 2nd Corps, assisted by the Cavalry Division on the right, the 3rd and 5th Cavalry Brigades on the left, drove the enemy northwards. Thirteen guns, seven machine guns, about 2,000 prisoners, and quantities of transport fell into our hands. The enemy left many dead on the field. On this day the French 5th and 6th Armies had little opposition.

As the 1st and 2nd German Armies were now in full retreat, this evening marks the end of the battle which practically commenced on the morning of the 6th instant; and it is at this point in the operations that I am concluding the present despatch.

Although I deeply regret to have had to report heavy losses in killed and wounded throughout these operations, I do not think they have been excessive in view of the magnitude of the great fight, the outlines of which I have only been able very briefly to describe, and the demoralisation and loss in killed and wounded which are known to have been caused to the enemy by the vigour and severity of the pursuit.

In concluding this despatch I must call your Lordship’s special attention to the fact that from Sunday, August 23rd, up to the present date (September 17th), from Mons back almost to the Seine, and from the Seine to the Aisne, the Army under my command has been ceaselessly engaged without one single day’s halt or rest of any kind.

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