BATTLE OF THE MARNE

German Plans Suddenly Changed—Direction of Advance Swings to the Southeast When Close to the French Capital—Successful Resistance by the Allies—The Prolonged Encounter at the Marne—Germans Retreat With Allies in Hot Pursuit for Many Miles.

Suddenly the German plans were changed. With Paris almost in sight, almost within the range of their heavy artillery, the German forces on the right of the line on September 4 changed the direction of their advance to a southeasterly course, which would leave Paris to the west. The people of the gay capital, who for several days had been preparing themselves once more for the thunder of the Prussian guns, began to breathe more freely, while all the world wondered at the sudden and spectacular transformation in the conditions of the conflict.

What had happened? Why was the advance thus checked and the march on Paris abandoned? Was it a trick, designed to lead the Allies into a trap? Or were the German troops too exhausted by forced marches and lack of rest to face the determined resistance of the allied forces before Paris?

These were the questions on every tongue, on both sides of the Atlantic, while the military experts sought strategic reasons for the change in German plans.

When the movement towards the east began the right of the German forces moved through Beaumont and L'Isle towards Meaux, apparently with the intention of avoiding Paris. Their front some twenty-four hours later was found to be extending across the River Marne as far south as Conlommiers and La Ferte-Gaucher, the two opposing lines at that time stretching between Paris on the left flank and Verdun on the right.

On Monday, September 7, there came news that the southward movement of the German army had been arrested, and that it had been forced back across the Marne to positions where the German right wing curved back from La FertÉ-sous-Jouarre along the bank of the River Ourcq, a tributary of the Marne, to the northward of Chateau Thierry. All this territory forms part of the district known as the "Bassin de Paris."

Then came a turn in the tide of war and the German plans were temporarily lost sight of when the Allies assumed the offensive along the Marne and the Ourcq and the Germans began to fall back. For four days their retreat continued. Ten miles, thirty miles, forty-five miles, back toward the northeast and east the invaders retired and Paris was relieved. The tide of battle had thrown the Germans away from the French capital and Frenchmen believed their retirement was permanent.

BATTLE OF THE MARNE

Important and interesting details of the battle of the Marne and the movements that preceded it are given in an official report compiled from information sent from the headquarters of Field Marshal Sir John French (commander-in-chief of the British expeditionary forces), under date of September 11. This account describes the movements both of the British force and of the French armies in immediate touch with it. It carries the operations from the 4th to the 10th of September, both days inclusive, and says:

"The general position of our troops Sunday, September 6, was south of the River Marne, with the French forces in line on our right and left. Practically there had been no change since Saturday, September 5, which marked the end of our army's long retirement from the Belgian frontier through Northern France.

"On Friday, September 4, it became apparent that there was an alteration in the advance of almost the whole of the first German army. That army since the battle near Mons on the 23d of August had been playing its part in a colossal strategic endeavor to create a Sedan for the Allies by out-flanking and enveloping the left of their whole line so as to encircle and drive both the British and French to the south.

THE CHANGE IN GERMAN STRATEGY

"There was now a change in its objective and it was observed that the German forces opposite the British were beginning to move in a southeasterly direction instead of continuing southwest on to the capital, leaving a strong rear guard along the line of the River Ourcq (which flows south of and joins the Marne at Lizy-sur-Ourcq) to keep off the French Sixth Army, which by then had been formed and was to the northwest of Paris. They were evidently executing what amounted to a flank march diagonally across our front.

"Prepared to ignore the British as being driven out of the fight, they were initiating an effort to attack the left flank of the main French army, which stretched in a long curved line from our right toward the east, and so to carry out against it alone an envelopment which so far had failed against the combined forces of the Allies.

"On Saturday, the 5th, this movement on the part of the Germans was continued and large advance parties crossed the Marne southward at Trilport, Sammeron, La Ferte-sous-Jouarre and Chateau Thierry. There was considerable fighting with the French Fifth Army on the French left, which fell back from its position south of the Marne toward the Seine.

"On Sunday large hostile forces crossed the Marne and pushed on through Coulommiers and past the British right, farther to the east. They were attacked at night by the French Fifth, which captured three villages at the point of bayonets.

ALLIES TAKE THE OFFENSIVE

"On Monday, September 7, there was a general advance on the part of the Allies. In this quarter of the field our forces, which had now been reinforced, pushed on in a northeasterly direction in co-operation with the advance of the French Fifth Army to the north and of the French Sixth Army to the eastward against the German rearguard along the River Ourcq.

"Possibly weakened by the detachment of troops to the eastern theater of operations and realizing that the action of the French Sixth Army against the line of Ourcq and the advance of the British placed their own flanking movement in considerable danger of being taken in the rear and on its flank, the Germans on this day commenced to retire toward the northeast.

"This was the first time that these troops had turned back since their attack at Mons a fortnight before and from reports received the order to retreat when so close to Paris was a bitter disappointment. From letters found on dead soldiers there is no doubt there was a general impression among the enemy's troops that they were about to enter Paris.

GERMAN RETREAT IS HASTENED

"On Tuesday, September 8, the German movement north-eastward was continued. Their rear guards on the south of the Marne were being pressed back to that river by our troops and by the French on our right, the latter capturing three villages after a hand-to-hand fight and the infliction of severe loss on the enemy.

"The fighting along the Ourcq continued on this day and was of the most sanguinary character, for the Germans had massed a great force of artillery along this line. Very few of their infantry were seen by the French. The French Fifth Army also made a fierce attack on the Germans in Montmirail, regaining that place.

"On Wednesday, September 9, the battle between the French Sixth Army and what was now the German flank guard along the Ourcq continued.

"The British corps, overcoming some resistance on the River Petit Morin, crossed the Marne in pursuit of the Germans, who now were hastily retreating northwest. One of our corps was delayed by an obstinate defense made by a strong rear guard with machine guns at La Ferte-sous-Jouarre, where the bridge had been destroyed.

"On Thursday, September 10, the French Sixth Army continued its pressure on the west while the Fifth Army by forced marches reached the line of Chateau Thierry and Dormans on the Marne. Our troops also continued the pursuit on the north of the latter river and after a considerable amount of fighting captured some 1,500 prisoners, four guns, six machine guns and fifty transport wagons.

"Many of the enemy were killed or wounded and the numerous thick woods which dot the country north of the Marne are filled with German stragglers. Most of them appear to have been without food for at least two days.

"Indeed, in this area of the operations, the Germans seem to be demoralized and inclined to surrender in small parties. The general situation appears to be most favorable to the Allies.

"Much brutal and senseless damage has been done in the villages occupied by the enemy. Property has been wantonly destroyed. Pictures in chateaus have been ripped up and houses generally have been pillaged.

"It is stated on unimpeachable authority also that the inhabitants have been much ill-treated.

TRAPPED IN A SUNKEN ROAD

"Interesting incidents have occurred during the fighting. On the 10th of September part of our Second Army Corps, advancing into the north, found itself marching parallel with another infantry force some little distance away. At first it was thought this was another British unit. After some time, however, it was discovered that it was a body of Germans retreating.

"Measures promptly were taken to head off the enemy, who were surrounded and trapped in a sunken road, where over 400 men surrendered.

"On September 10 a small party under a noncommissioned officer was cut off and surrounded. After a desperate resistance it was decided to go on fighting to the end. Finally the noncommissioned officer and one man only were left, both of them being wounded.

"The Germans came up and shouted to them: 'Lay down your arms!' The German commander, however, signed to them to keep their arms and then asked to shake hands with the wounded noncommissioned officer, who was carried off on his stretcher with his rifle by his side.

"Arrival of reinforcements and the continued advance have delighted our troops, who are full of zeal and anxious to press on.

SUCCESS OF THE FLYING CORPS

"One of the features of the campaign on our side has been the success obtained by the Royal Flying Corps. In regard to the collection of information it is impossible either to award too much praise to our aviators for the way they have carried out their duties or to overestimate the value of the intelligence collected, more especially during the recent advance.

"In due course certain examples of what has been effected may be specified and the far-reaching nature of the results fully explained, but that time has not arrived.

"That the services of our Flying Corps, which, has really been on trial, are fully appreciated by our allies is shown by the following message from the commander-in-chief of the French armies, received September by Field Marshal Lord Kitchener:

"To give a rough idea of the amount of work carried out it is sufficient to mention that during a period of twenty days up to the 10th of September a daily average of more than nine reconnaissance flights of over 100 miles each has been maintained.

FIVE GERMAN PILOTS SHOT

"The constant object of our aviators has been to effect an accurate location of the enemy's forces and, incidentally, since the operations cover so large an area, of our own units. Nevertheless, the tactics adopted for dealing with hostile air craft are to attack them instantly with one or more British machines. This has been so far successful that in five cases German pilots or observers have been shot while in the air and their machines brought to ground.

"As a consequence the British Flying Corps has succeeded in establishing an individual ascendancy which is as serviceable to us as it is dangerous to the enemy.

"How far it is due to this cause it is not possible at present to ascertain definitely, but the fact remains that the enemy have recently become much less enterprising in their flights. Something in the direction of the mastery of the air already has been gained in pursuance of the principle that the main object of military aviators is the collection of information.

"Bomb dropping has not been indulged in to any great extent. On one occasion a petrol bomb was successfully exploded in a German bivouac at night, while from a diary found on a dead German cavalry soldier it has been discovered that a high explosive bomb, thrown at a cavalry column from one of our aeroplanes, struck an ammunition wagon, resulting in an explosion which killed fifteen of the enemy."

LOSSES AT THE MARNE ENORMOUS

Some idea of the terrific character of the fighting at the Marne and of the great losses in the prolonged battle may be gained from the following story, telegraphed on September 14 by a correspondent who followed in the rear of the allied army:

"General von Kluck's host in coming down over the Marne and the Grand Morin rivers to Sezanne, twenty-five miles southwest of Epernay, met little opposition, and I believe little opposition was intended. The Allies, in fact, led their opponents straight into a trap. The English cavalry led the tired Germans mile after mile, and the Germans believed the Englishmen were running away. When the tremendous advance reached Provins the Allies' plan was accomplished, and it got no farther.

"Fighting Sunday, September 6, was of a terrible character, and began at dawn in the region of La Ferte-Gaucher. The Allies' troops, who were drawn up to receive the Germans, understood it would be their duty to hold on their very best that the attacking force at Meaux might achieve its task in security. The battle lasted all night and until late Monday.

"The Germany artillery fire was very severe, but not accurate. The French and English fought sternly on and slowly beat the enemy back.

"Attempts of the Germans to cross the Marne at Meaux entailed terrible losses. Sixteen attempts were foiled by the French artillery fire directed on the river and in one trench 600 dead Germans were counted.

COUNTRY STREWN WITH DEAD

"The whole country was strewn with the dead and dying. When at last the Germans retired they slackened their rifle fire and in once place retired twelve miles without firing a single shot. One prisoner declared that they were short of ammunition and had been told to spare it as much as possible.

"Monday saw a tremendous encounter on the Oureq. In one village, which the Germans hurriedly vacated, the French in a large house found a dinner table beautifully set, with candles still burning on the table, where evidently the German staff had been dining. A woman occupant said they fled precipitately.

"There was a great deal of hand-to-hand fighting and bayonet work on the Ourcq, which resulted in the terrible Magdeburg regiment beating a retreat.

"Monday night General von Kluck's army had been thrown back from the Marne and from the Morin and to the region of Sezanne and his position was serious. Immediate steps were necessary to save his line of communications and retreat. To this end reinforcements were hurried north to the Meaux district and the Ourcq and tremendous efforts were made to break up the French resistance in this section.

GERMAN GUNS ARE SILENCED

"The second attempt on the Oureq shared the fate of the first. Though all Monday night and well on into Tuesday the great German guns boomed along this river, the resistance of the allies could not be broken. 'Hold on!' was the command and every man braced himself to obey. While the Ourcq was being held the struggle of Sezanne was bearing fruit.

"The German resistance on Thursday morning was broken. I heard the news in two ways: from the silence of the German guns and from the wounded who poured down to the bases.

"The wounded men no longer were downhearted, but eager to rejoin the fray. On every French lip was the exclamation that 'They are in full retreat!' and 'They are rushing back home!' and in the same breath came generous recognition of the great help given by the British army.

"The number of wounded entailed colossal transportation work. I counted fifteen trains in eight hours. A fine, grim set of men, terribly weary but amiable, except for the officers.

GERMANS LEAVE SPOILS BEHIND

"The enemy crossed the Marne on the return journey north under great difficulties and beneath a withering fire from the British troops, who pursued them hotly. The German artillery operated from a height. There was again much hand-to-hand fighting and the river was swollen with dead.

"Tuesday night the British were in possession of La Ferte-sous-Jouarre and Chateau Thierry and the Germans had fallen back forty miles, leaving a long train of spoils behind them.

"On the same day, in the neighborhood of Vitry-le-FranÇois, the French troops achieved a victory. Incidentally they drove back the famous Imperial Guard of Germany from Sezanne, toward the swamps of Saint Cond, where, a century ago, Napoleon achieved one of his last successes. The main body of the guard passed to the north of the swamps, but I heard of men and horses engulfed and destroyed.

"'It is our revenge for 1814,' the French officers said. 'If only the emperor were here to see.'

BRITISH KEEP UP PURSUIT

"Wednesday the English army continued the pursuit toward the north, taking guns and prisoners.

"On that day I found myself in a new France. The good news had spread. Girls threw flowers at the passing soldiers and joy was manifested everywhere.

"The incidents of Wednesday will astound the world when made known in full. I know that two German detachments of 1,000 men each, which were surrounded and cornered but which refused to surrender, were wiped out almost to the last man. The keynote of these operations was the tremendous attack of the Allies along the Ourcq Tuesday, which showed the German commander that his lines were threatened. Then came the crowning stroke.

"The army of the Ourcq and of Meaux and the army of Sezanne drew together like the blades of a pair of shears, the pivot of which was in the region of the Grand Morin. The German retreat was thus forced toward the east and it speedily became a rout."

RETREAT SEEN FROM THE SKY

The best view of the retreating German armies was obtained, according to a Paris report, by a French military airman, who, ascending from a point near Vitry, flew northward across the Marne and then eastward by way of Rheims down to the region of Verdun and back again in a zigzag course to a spot near Soissons.

He saw the German hosts not merely in retreat, but in flight, and in some places in disorderly flight.

"It was a wonderful sight," the airman said, "to look down upon these hundreds and thousands of moving military columns, the long gray lines of the Kaiser's picked troops, some marching in a northerly, others in a northeasterly direction, and all moving with a tremendous rapidity.

"The retreat was not confined to the highways, but many German soldiers were running across fields, jumping over fences, crawling through hedges, and making their way through woods without any semblance of order or discipline.

"These men doubtless belonged to regiments which were badly cut up in the fierce fighting which preceded the general retreat. Deprived of the majority of their officers, they made a mere rabble of fugitives, Many were without rifles, having abandoned their weapons in their haste to escape their French and British pursuers."

GERMANS ABANDON GUNS

The London Times correspondent describes the German retreat in a hurricane, with rain descending in torrents, the wayside brooks swollen to little torrents.

FIGHTING DESCRIBED BY U.S. OFFICERS

Two military attaches of the United States embassy at Paris, Lieut.-Col. H. T. Allen and Capt. Frank Parker, both of the Eleventh cavalry, U.S.A., returned on September 15 from an automobile trip over the battlefield where from September 8 until the night of September 11 the French and Germans were fiercely engaged. This battle was the one which assured the safety of Paris.

On September 1 the German left and center were separated, but like a letter "V" were approaching each other, with Paris as their objective. Had the Allies attacked at that time they would have had to divide their forces and, so weakened, give battle to two armies. By retreating they drew after them the two converging lines of the V and when the Germans were in wedge-shaped formation, attacked them on the flank and center at Meaux and made a direct attack at Sezanne.

The four days' battle at Meaux ended with the Germans crossing the river Aisne and retreating to the hills north and west of Soissons. Col. Allen and Capt. Parker saw the end of the battle north of Sezanne, which resulted in the retreat of the Germans to Rheims.

The battles, as Col. Allen and Capt. Parker describe them, were as follows:

On the 8th the Germans advanced from a line stretching from Epernay and Chalons, a distance of twenty-five kilometers (sixteen miles). In this front, counting from the German right, were the Tenth, the Guards, the Ninth and Twelfth Army Corps. The presence of the Guards, the corps d'elite of the German army, suggested that this was intended to be a main attack upon Paris and that the army at Meaux was to occupy the center. The four combined corps numbered over 200,000. The French met them, they assert, with 190,000.

The Germans advanced until their left was at Vitry-le-Francois and their right rested at Sezanne, making a column 15 miles long, headed west toward Paris. The French butted the line six miles east of Sezanne, in the forests of La Fere and Champenoise. It was here that the greater part of the fight occurred. It was fighting at long distance with artillery and from trench to trench with the bayonet.

THIRTY THOUSAND MEN KILLED

During the four days in which fortune rested first on one flag and then on another 30,000 men of both armies are said to have been killed and a considerable number of villages were wiped from the map by the artillery of both armies.

Two miles from Sezanne a French regiment was destroyed by an ambush. The Germans had thrown up conspicuous trenches and with decoys sparsely filled them. From the forest in the rear the mitrailleuse was trained on the French. The French infantry charged this trench and the decoys fled, making toward the flanks, and as the French poured over the trenches the hidden guns swept them.

In another trench the American attaches counted the bodies of more than 900 German guards, not one of whom had attempted to retreat. They had stood fast with their shoulders against the parapet and taken the cold steel. Everywhere the loss of life was appalling. In places the dead lay across each other three and four deep.

TURCOS FIERCEST FIGHTERS OF ALL

"The fiercest fighting of all seems to have been done by the Turcos and Senegalese. In trenches taken by them from the guards and the famous Death's Head Hussars, the Germans showed no bullet wounds. In nearly every attack the men from the desert had flung themselves upon the enemy, using only the butt or the bayonet. Man for man no white man drugged for years with meat and alcohol is a physical match for these Turcos, who eat dates and drink water," said Richard Harding Davis, who saw the end of the fighting at Meaux. "They are as lean as starved wolves. They move like panthers. They are muscle and nerves and they have the warrior's disregard of their own personal safety in battle, and a perfect scorn of the foe.

"As Kipling says, 'A man who has a sneaking desire to live has a poor chance against one who is indifferent whether he kills you or you kill him.'"

NIGHT BATTLE DESCRIBED BY SOLDIER

The following narrative of a night engagement during the prolonged battle of the Marne is quoted from a French soldier's letter to a compatriot in London:

"Our strength was about 400 infantrymen. Toward midnight we broke up our camp and marched off in great silence, of course not in closed files, but in open order. We were not allowed to speak to each other or to make any unnecessary noise, and as we walked through the forest the only sound to be heard was that of our steps and the rustling of the leaves. It was a perfectly lovely night; the sky was so clear, the atmosphere so pure, the forest so romantic, everything seemed so charming and peaceful that I could not imagine that we were on the warpath, and that perhaps in a few hours this forest would be aflame, the soil drenched by human blood, and the fragrant herbs covered with broken limbs.

"Yet all those silent, armed men, marching in the same direction as I did, were ever so many proofs that no peace meeting or any delightful romantic adventure was near, and I wondered what thoughts were stirring all those brains. Suddenly a whisper passed on from man to man. It was the officer's command. A halt was made, and in the same whisper we were told that part of us had to change our direction so that the two directions would form a V. A third division proceeded slowly in the original direction.

COMMANDS ARE WHISPERED

"I belonged to what may be called the left leg of the V. After what seemed to be about half an hour, we reached the edge of the forest, and from behind the trees we saw an almost flat country before us, with here and there a tiny little hill, a mere hump four or five feet high. On the extreme left-hand side the land seemed to be intersected by ditches and trenches.

"Another whispered command was passed from man to man, and we all had to lie down on the soil. A moment afterward we were thus making our way to the above-mentioned ditches and trenches. It is neither the easiest nor the quickest way to move, but undoubtedly the safest, for an occasional enemy somewhere on the hills at the farther end of the field would not possibly be able to detect us. I don't know how long it took us to reach the ditches, which were, for the greater part, dry; nor do I know how long we remained there or what was happening. We were perfectly hidden from view, lying flat down on our stomachs, but we were also unable to see anything. Everybody's ears were attentive, every nerve was strained. The sun was rising. It promised to be a hot day.

FIRST SHOT IS HEARD

"Suddenly we heard a shot, at a distance of what seemed to be a mile or so, followed by several other shots. I ventured to lift my body up in order to see what was happening. But the next moment my sergeant, who was close by me, warned me with a knock on my shoulder not to move, and the whispered order ran, 'Keep quiet! Hide yourself!' Still, the short glance had been sufficient to see what was going on. Our troops, probably those who had been left behind in the forest, were crossing the plain and shooting at the Germans on the crest of the hill, who returned the fire.

"The silence was gone. We heard the rushing of feet at a short distance; then, suddenly, it ceased when the attacking soldiers dropped to aim and shoot. Some firing was heard, and then again a swift rush followed. This seemed to last a long time, but it was broken by distant cries, coming apparently from the enemy. I was wondering all the time why we kept hidden and did not share in the assault.

"The rifle fire was incessant. I saw nothing of the battle. Would, our troops be able to repulse the Germans? How strong were the enemy! They seemed to have no guns, but the number of our soldiers in that field was not very large.

ATTACKED WITH BAYONETS

"A piercing yell rose from the enemy. Was it a cry of triumph? A short command rang over the field in French, an order to retreat. A swift rush followed; our troops were being pursued by the enemy. What on earth were we waiting for in our ditches? A bugle signal, clear and bright. We sprang to our feet, and 'At the bayonet!' the order came. We threw ourselves on the enemy, who were at the same time attacked on the other side by the division which formed the other 'leg' of the V, while the 'fleeing' French soldiers turned and made a savage attack.

"It is impossible to say or to describe what one feels at such a moment. I believe one is in a state of temporary madness, of perfect rage. It is terrible, and if we could see ourselves in such a state I feel sure we would shrink with horror.

"In a few minutes the field was covered with dead and wounded men, almost all of them Germans, and our hands and bayonets were dripping with blood. I felt hot spurts of blood in my face, of other men's blood, and as I paused to wipe them off, I saw a narrow stream of blood running along the barrel of my rifle.

"Such was the beginning of a summer day."

SCENES ON THE BATTLEFIELD

Writing from Sezanne a few days after the battle of the Marne a visitor to the battlefield described the conditions at that time as follows:

"The territory over which the battle of the Marne was fought is now a picture of devastation, abomination and death almost too awful to describe.

"Many sons of the fatherland are sleeping their last sleep in the open fields and in ditches where they fell or under hedges where they crawled after being caught by a rifle bullet or piece of shell, or where they sought shelter from the mad rush of the franc-tireurs, who have not lost their natural dexterity with the knife and who at close quarters frequently throw away their rifles and fight hand to hand.

"The German prisoners are being used on the battlefield in searching for and burying their dead comrades. Over the greater part of the huge battlefield there have been buried at least those who died in open trenches on the plateaus or on the high roads. The extensive forest area, however, has hardly been searched for bodies, although hundreds of both French and Germans must have sought refuge and died there. The difficulty of finding bodies is considerable on account of the undergrowth.

"Long lines of newly broken brown earth mark the graves of the victims. Some of these burial trenches are 150 yards long. The dead are placed shoulder to shoulder and often in layers. This gives some idea of the slaughter that took place in this battle.

"The peasants, who are rapidly coming back to the scene, are marking the grave trenches with crosses and planting flowers above or placing on them simple bouquets of dahlias, sunflowers and roses.

FOUGHT ON BEAUTIFUL CHATEAU LAWNS

"Some of the hottest fighting of the prolonged battle took place around the beautiful chateau of Mondement, on a hill six miles east of Sezanne. This relic of the architectural art of Louis XIV occupied a position which both sides regarded as strategically important.

"To the east it looked down into a great declivity in the shape of an immense Greek lamp, with the concealed marshes of St. Sond at the bottom. Beyond are the downs and heaths of Epernay, Rheims and Champagne, while the heights of Argonne stand out boldly in the distance. To the west is a rich agricultural country.

"The possession of the ridge of Mondement was vital to either the attackers or the defenders. The conflict here was of furnace intensity for four days. The Germans drove the French out in a terrific assault, and then the French guns were brought to bear, followed by hand-to-hand fighting on the gardens and lawns of the chateau and even through the breached walls.

"Frenchmen again held the building for a few hours, only to retire before another determined German attack. On the fourth day they swept the Germans out again with shell fire, under which the walls of the chateau, although two or three feet thick, crumpled like paper."

The same correspondent described evidences on the battlefields of how abundantly the Germans were equipped with ammunition and other material. He saw pyramid after pyramid of shrapnel shells abandoned in the rout, also innumerable paniers for carrying such ammunition. These paniers are carefully constructed of wicker and hold three shells in exactly fitting tubes so that there can be no movement.

The villages of Oyes, Villeneuve, Chatillon and Soizy-aux-Bois were all bombarded and completely destroyed. Some fantastic capers were played by the shells, such as blowing away half a house and leaving the other half intact; going through a window and out by the back wall without damaging the interior, or going a few inches into the wall and remaining fast without exploding.

Villeneuve, which was retaken three times, was, including its fine old church, in absolute ruins.

A SERIES OF BATTLES

The battle line along the Marne was so extended that the four-days' fighting from Sunday, September 6, to Thursday morning, September 10, when the Germans were in full retreat, comprised a series of bloody engagements, each worthy of being called a battle. There were hot encounters south of the Marne at Crecy, Montmirail and other points. At Chalons-sur-Marne the French fought for twenty-four hours and inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. General Exelmans, one of France's most brilliant cavalry leaders, was dangerously wounded in leading a charge.

There was hard fighting on September 7 between Lagny and Meaux, on the Trilport and Crecy-en-Brie line, the Germans under General von Kluck being compelled to give way and retire on Meaux, at which point their resistance was broken on the 9th.

General French's army advanced to meet the German hosts with forced marches from their temporary base to the southeast of Paris.

The whole British army, except cavalry, passed through Lagny, and the incoming troops were so wearied that many of them at the first opportunity lay down in the dust and slept where they were.

But a few hours' rest worked a great change, and a little later the British troops were following the German retreat up the valley with bulldog tenacity.

The British artillery did notable work in those days, according to the French military surgeons who were stationed at Lagny. At points near there the bodies of slain Germans who fell before the British gunners still littered the ground on September 10, and the grim crop was still heavier on the soil farther up the valley, where the fighting was more desperate.

As far as possible the bodies were buried at night, each attending to its own fallen.

MANY SANGUINARY INCIDENTS

Sanguinary incidents were plentiful in the week of fighting to the south of the Marne. In an engagement not far from Lagny the British captured thirty Germans who had given up their arms and were standing under guard when, encouraged by a sudden forward effort of the German front, they made a dash for their rifles. They were cut down by a volley from their British guards before they could reach their weapons.

"Among dramatic incidents in the fighting," according to an English correspondent, "may be mentioned the grim work at the ancient fishponds near Ermenonville. These ponds are shut in by high trees. Driving the enemy through the woods, a Scotch regiment hustled its foes right into the fishponds, the Scotchmen jumping in after the Germans up to the middle to finish them in the water, which was packed with their bodies." This scene is illustrated on another page.

VAST GRAVEYARD AT MEAUX

Some idea of how the Germans were harassed by artillery fire during their retreat was obtained on a visit to the fields near Meaux, the scene of severe fighting. The German infantry had taken a position in a sunken road, on either side of which were stretched in extended lines hummocks, some of them natural and some the work of spades in the hands of German soldiers.

The sunken road was littered with bodies. Sprawling in ghastly fashion, the faces had almost the same greenish-gray hue as the uniforms worn. The road is lined with poplars, the branches of which, severed by fragments of shells, were strewn among the dead. In places whole tops of trees had been torn away by the artillery fire.

Beside many bodies were forty or fifty empty cartridge shells, while fragments of clothing, caps and knapsacks were scattered about. This destruction was wrought by batteries a little more than three miles distant. Straggling clumps of wood intervened between the batteries and their mark, but the range had been determined by an officer on an elevation a mile from the gunners. He telephoned directions for the firing and through glasses watched the bursting shells.

THE BATTLE AT CRECY

A graphic picture of the fight in Crecy wood was given by a correspondent who said: The French and English in overwhelming numbers had poured in from Lagny toward the River Marne to reinforce the flanking skirmishers. One of the smaller woods southeast of Crecy furnished cover for the enemy for a time, but led to their undoing. The Allies' patrols discovered them in the night as the Germans were moving about with lanterns.

Suddenly the invaders found their twinkling glow-worms the mark for a foe of whom they had been unaware. Without warning a midnight hail storm from Maxims screamed through the trees. The next morning scores of lanterns were picked up in the wood, with the glasses shattered. A dashing cavalry charge by the British finally cleared the tragic wood of the Germans.

BRITISH BLOW UP A BRIDGE

At Lagny one of the sights of the town was a shattered bridge, which was blown up by General French as soon as he got his army across it. At that time British infantry and artillery had poured through the town and over the bridge for several days. General French's idea was to keep raiding detachments of German cavalry from incursions into the beautiful villas and gardens of the western suburbs.

Fifteen minutes after the bridge had been reduced to a twisted mass of steel and broken masonry a belated order came to save it, but the British engineers who had received the order to destroy it had done their work well.

The inhabitants were cleared out of all the neighboring houses, which were shaken by the terrific explosion when the charge was set off. Every window in the nearby houses was shattered.

The people of Lagny took the destruction of their beautiful bridge in good part. They were too grateful for their deliverance from the Germans to grumble about the wrecked bridge.

GERMAN LOSSES AT THE MARNE

There is no doubt that the German losses in the engagements at the Marne far exceeded those of the Allies and were most severe, in both men and material. The Germans made incredible efforts to cross the Marne. The French having destroyed all the bridges, the Germans tried to construct three bridges of boats. Sixteen times the bridges were on the point of completion, but each time they were reduced to matchwood by the French artillery.

"There is not the slightest doubt," said a reliable correspondent, "that but for the superb handling of the German right by General von Kluck, a large part of Emperor William's forces would have been captured at the Marne. The allied cavalry did wonders, and three or four additional divisions of cavalry could have contributed towards a complete rout of the Germans."

The general direction of the German retirement was northeast, and it was continued for seventy miles, to a line drawn between Soissons, Rheims and Verdun.

A week after the battle the field around Meaux had been cleared of dead and wounded, and only little mounds with tiny crosses, flowers and tricolored flags recalled the terrible struggle.

The inhabitants of neighboring villages soon returned to their homes and resumed their ordinary occupations.

FALL OF MAUBEUGE

While the fighting at the Marne was in progress, German troops achieved some successes in other parts of the theater of war. Thus, the fortified French town of Maubeuge, on the Sambre river midway between Namur in Belgium and St. Quentin, France, fell to the Germans on September 7. The investment began on August 25. More than a thousand shells fell in one night near the railway station and the Rue de France was partially destroyed. The loss of life, however, was comparatively slight.

At 11:50 o'clock on the morning of September 7 a white flag was hoisted on the church tower and trumpets sounded "cease firing," but the firing only ceased at 3:08 o'clock that afternoon. In the meantime the greater part of the garrison succeeded in evacuating the town. The German forces marched in at 7:08 o'clock that evening.

The retreat of the German forces from the Marne ended the second stage of the great war.