America's War for Humanity Part 25

Pressing hard upon the rear of the Allies for ten days was the greatest military machine that has ever been a.s.sembled in one cohesive force.

Through Belgium had poured nearly 2,000,000 German troops, made up of about 800,000 first-line soldiers and more than 1,000,000 reserves. The twenty-six-hour march of part of the German army through Brussels was stunning evidence of the might of the "war machine," and despite fierce fighting all the way, the great army had never faltered in its 150-mile advance in Belgium.

But the numerical might of the German advance was matched by the masterly tactics of the Allies in retiring. By these tactics, in which General Joffre, the French commander-in-chief, co-operated with the British field-marshal, Sir John French, the Allies prevented their lines being overwhelmed by the superior numbers of their foe, but the German right flank and center, strung out over a line more than 150 miles long, northeast of Paris, kept smas.h.i.+ng on. Losses were frightfully heavy, but the Kaiser's order was "Take Paris!"

It was believed certain that the German general staff had staked everything on investing Paris immediately, by completely breaking down the opposition ma.s.sed between the German lines and the city. Paris had therefore prepared for the siege, with her great circles of forts strengthened and her food supply replenished. Many of the residents fled the city in panic, fearing a repet.i.tion of the dread days of 1871, with their privation and distress, but the spirit of the French people generally remained unshaken and General Gallieni, military governor of Paris, a.s.sumed complete control of the situation in the city.

GOVERNMENT MOVED TO BORDEAUX

On August 26 the French cabinet had resigned in a body and it was reconstructed on broader lines under Premier Viviani to meet the demands of the national emergency.

German troops were reported within 40 miles of Paris on September 3, and at 3 A. M. of that day a proclamation was issued by President Poincare, announcing that the seat of government would be temporarily transferred from Paris to Bordeaux. The minister of the interior stated that this decision had been taken "solely upon the demand of the military authorities because the fortified places of Paris, while not necessarily likely to be attacked, would become the pivot of the field operations of the two armies."

The text of President Poincare's proclamation was as follows:

"ENDURE AND FIGHT!"

"FEENCHMEN: For several weeks our heroic troops have been engaged in the fierce combat with the enemy. The courage of our soldiers has won for them a number of marked advantages. But in the north the pressure of the German forces has constrained us to retire. This situation imposes on the president of the Republic and the government a painful decision.

"To safeguard the national safety the public authorities are obliged to leave for the moment the city of Paris. Under the command of its eminent chief, the French army, full of courage and spirit, will defend the capital and its patriotic population against the invader. But the war must be pursued at the same time in the rest of the French territory.

"The sacred struggle for the honor of the nation and the reparation of violated rights will continue without peace or truce and without a stop or a failure. None of our armies has been broken.

"If some of them have suffered only too evident losses, the gaps in the ranks have been filled up from the waiting reserve forces, while the calling out of a new cla.s.s of reserves brings us tomorrow new resources in men and energy.

"Endure and fight! Such should be the motto of the allied army, British, Russians, Belgians and French.

"Endure and fight! While on the sea our allies aid us to cut the enemy's communications with the world.

"Endure and fight! While the Russians continue to carry a decisive blow to the heart of the German empire.

"It is for the government of this republic to direct this resistance to the very end and to give to this formidable struggle all its vigor and efficiency. It is indispensable that the government retain the mastery of its own actions. On the demand of the military authorities the government therefore transfers its seat momentarily to a point of the territory whence it may remain in constant relations with the rest of the country. It invites the members of parliament not to remain distant from the government, in order to form, in the face of the enemy, with the government and their colleagues, a group of national unity.

"The government does not leave Paris without having a.s.sured a defense of the city and its entrenched camp by all means in its power. It knows it has not the need to recommend to the admirable Parisian population a calm resolution and sangfroid, for it shows every day it is equal to its greatest duties.

"Frenchmen, let us all be worthy of these tragic circ.u.mstances. We shall gain a final victory and we shall gain it by untiring will, endurance and tenacity. A nation that will not perish, and which, to live, retreats before neither suffering nor sacrifice, is sure to vanquish."

The removal of the French government departments to Bordeaux was accomplished within twenty-four hours and the southern city became at once a center of remarkable activity. Amba.s.sador Herrick, representing the United States, remained in Paris to render aid to his fellow-countrymen who were seeking means of returning to America and were more than ever anxious to get away when a state of siege became imminent. A radical change in the French military operations was put in effect after the Germans had swept in from Belgium, and had taken the cities of Lille, Roubaix, and Longwy. The French army had attempted to strike and shatter the Germans at their weakest point, and failed.

Paris prepared for the worst when the Kaiser's conquering army reached La Fere, about seventy miles away. From Amiens to La Fere the Germans pressed their attack hardest. As the Allies were seen to be gradually falling back, reserve troops were a.s.sembled in Paris and the forts put in readiness for siege.

THE FORTIFICATIONS OP PARIS

Paris has one of the strongest fortification systems of any city in the world. The siege of the giant city would be a much greater undertaking than forty-four years ago, as the fortifications have been essentially augmented and strengthened since the Franco-Prussian war.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF FRENCH CAPITAL WITH STARS INDICATING POSITION OF FORTIFICATIONS]

The fortifications consist of the old city walls, the old belt of forts and the new enceinture of the fortified camps, which have been advanced far outside of the reach of the old forts. The main wall, ten meters (33 feet) high, consists of ninety-four bastions and is surrounded by a ditch fifteen meters wide. Behind the wall a ringroad and a belt line run around the city.

The belt of old forts surrounds this main fortification of the city at a little distance and consists of not less than sixteen forts. Those farthest advanced are hardly half a mile distant from the main wall. The experiences of the last war, the immense progress of the artillery, and especially the wider reach of the modern siege guns induced the French army authorities to build a belt of still stronger forts, which surrounds the old fortress of 1870 like a protective net. The forts, redoubts and batteries belonging to this last belt of fortifications are situated at least two miles from the city limits proper, and even Versailles is taken into this belt of fortifications.

The circ.u.mference of the circle formed by them is 124 kilometers (nearly 77 miles) and the s.p.a.ce included in it amounts to 1,200 square kilometers. This new belt of fortifications consists of seven forts of the first cla.s.s, sixteen forts of the second cla.s.s and fifty redoubts or batteries, which are connected with each other by the "Great Belt Line,"

of 113 kilometers (71 miles).

FORM LARGE FORTIFIED CAMPS

The strongest of these forts form fortified camps, large enough to give protection to strong armies and also the possibility for a new reconcentration. There are three of these camps. The northern camp includes the fortifications from the Fort de Cormeilles on the left to the Fort de Stains on the right wing, with the forts of the first cla.s.s, Cormeilles and Domont, and the forts of the second cla.s.s, Montlignon, Montmorency, Ecouen and Stains, and it is protected in the rear by the strong forts in the vicinity of St. Denis. The eastern camp goes from the Ourcq ca.n.a.l and the forest of Bondy to the Seine, and its main strongholds are the forts of Vaujours and Villeneuve-St. Georges, with the smaller forts of Ch.e.l.les, Villiers, Champigny and Sully.

On the left bank of the Seine the southwestern camp is situated, including Versailles, whose main forts are those of St. Cyr, Haut-Bue, Villeras and Palaiseau, to which the large redubt of Bois d'Arey and the forts of Chatillon and Hautes-Bruyeres, situated a little to the rear, belong likewise.

To invest this strongest fortress of the world the line of the Germans ought to have a length of 175 kilometers and to its continuous occupation, even if the ring of the investing ma.s.ses were not very deep, a much greater number of troops would be necessary than were used in 1870 for the siege of Paris.

GERMAN AMMUNITION CAPTURED

A correspondent at Nanteuil, September 12, thus described the capture of a German ammunition column while the Germans were feeling their way toward Paris:

"The seven-kilometer column was winding its way along Crepy-en-Valois when General Pan sent cavalry and artillery to intercept it. The column was too weakly guarded to cope with the attack, and so was captured and destroyed. This capture had an important bearing on the subsequent fighting.

"A noticeable feature of the operations has been the splendid marching qualities of the French troops. This was displayed especially when two divisions, which were sent to intercept the expected attempt of the Germans to invest Paris, covered eighty kilometers (49 miles) in two stages."

ALLIES PLAN TO PROTECT PARIS

The plan of the Allies on September 1 was to make a determined stand before Paris, in the effort to protect the city from the horrors of a siege. With their left wing resting on the strongly fortified line of the Paris forts and with their right wing strengthened by the defensive line from Verdun to Belfort, they would occupy a position of enormous military strength. If the Germans concentrated to move against their front the French reserve armies could a.s.semble west of the Seine, move forward and attack the German invading columns in flank. If in their effort to continue the great turning movement the Germans pushed forward across the Seine and attempted by encircling Paris to gain the rear of the allied armies, the French could ma.s.s their reserve corps behind their center at Reims, push forward against the weakened German center in an attack that if successful would cut off the German invading columns and expose them to annihilation.

Such were the conditions and the possibilities when the German advance reached its climax on September 4.

[Ill.u.s.tration: POSITION OF HOSTILE ARMIES, SEPTEMBER 4, 1914 Heavy dotted line denotes battle front of the Allies; lighter line the position of the German Troops.]

CHAPTER XI

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 Ferte-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 "Ba.s.sin de Paris."

Then came a turn in the tide of war and the German plans were temporarily lost sight of when the Allies a.s.sumed 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.