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It was a telegram from Field Marshal von Kluck, which read: "Have just received a despatch from General Leonard Wood, stating that his Imperial Highness the Crown Prince and Field Marshal von Hindenburg, with their military staffs, have been made prisoners by an American army north of the Susquehanna, and giving warning that if retaliatory measures are taken against American citizens, his Imperial Highness will, within twenty-four hours, be stood up before the statue of his Imperial ancestor Frederick the Great, in the War College at Washington, and shot to death by a firing squad from the Pennsylvania National Guard.
The army of Paris was waiting to fight and would have fought to the death, but without support from other army corps still a day's journey distant, its peril would have been great, and if the enemy's right wing had been hurled with full force against it at the critical moment it might have been crushed and annihilated. Von Kluck had twenty-four hours in his favour.
Von Kluck did exactly what he ought to have done; the decision taken by the German General Staff was exactly what it ought to have taken, and what was foreseen during the whole course of the war.
The English are the greatest fighters in the world in retreat, while the French can fight best in a forward movement. The little expeditionary army of England, originally 100,000 men but at this time 180,000 men, held the right flank of Von Kluck in the retreat from river to river, from hill to hill, although pounded by 350,000 trained German troops massed on this flank.
He crossed the Petit Morin and the Grand Morin, all unconscious that scores of field glasses were trained upon his troops. Probably believing that the British army had been hurried to the aid of General Sarrail, General von Kluck advanced confidently. Having concealment in view, the commanders of the French army and the British army between them had left a wide gap between the two armies.
This explains why the French left, which was exposed to the offensive of the German right, was obliged to make a rapid retreat, permitting the German armies of General von Kluck and General von Bülow to advance with all speed in the direction of Paris. The French military staff, as soon as they perceived the danger that threatened, proceeded to a new alignment of forces.
It is not overstating the facts to assert that, had Italy's attitude toward France been less frank and honest, had the Republic not felt safe in stripping its southern border of troops, von Kluck would have broken through to Paris he came perilously near to doing so as it was and the whole course of the war would have been changed.
Artillery was brought into action to force the British back across the little stream. But it was no use. The Germans had been caught unprepared. Already Gen. Von Kluck had weakened his defense by sending some of his men south to take their places in the force with which the Kaiser and his generals expected to execute their great coup.
Was von Kluck lulling the British into a false sense of security by leaving the exposed flank unmenaced while he gained their rear and cut off their retreat? Questions such as these demanded immediate answer. Ten years before the most dashing scouts would have clattered off to the front and would have required a day, perhaps more, to complete the necessary reconnaissance.
The German right, opposing the British, was under command of General von Kluck; General von Buelow and General von Hausen commanded the German center opposing the Franco-Belgian forces between the Sambre and Namur and the Meuse. The Grand Duke Albrecht of Wuerttemberg operated between Charleroi and the French border fortress of Maubeuge.
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