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Updated: June 9, 2025
The cities that suffered were not isolated units, they were merely knotty points in the lines of battle, and there could be no siege of Paris so long as Joffre's armies kept in line along the Marne or anywhere in contact with the capital. There was therefore no change of plan and no mystery when Von Kluck's right veered in the direction of its advance from south-west to south and then south-east.
It was General Joffre's plan to retreat to a position south of the Marne, where his reserves would be available, a movement which was successfully carried out by all parts of the allied line during the following week. By September 5, 1914, this line extended from the southeast of Paris, along the southern tributaries of the Marne, across the Champagne to a point south of Verdun.
It seemed impossible, in the cold light of the day after the passing excitement of battle, to conceive of troops successfully storming such intrenched positions But this is just what the Germans did, or thought they did, for their officers did not realize that the giving way of the French at this point was part of General Joffre's counter-stroke.
Doubtless the German smashing of General Joffre's planned grand counterattack, after the Germans were to be beaten, was disheartening as well as a sore disappointment. General French possessed 75,000 men.
"The parallel between Gettysburg in your Civil War and Verdun in the present contest is unmistakable and striking." This was said to me by General Delacroix, one of Joffre's predecessors as chief of the French General Staff and the distinguished military critic of the Paris Temps now that because of age he has passed to the retired list.
It was the battlefield of the Marne, the scene of that immortal order of Joffre's in which he exhorted the sons of France to conquer or die where they stood. As he had commanded, so had they done. With an emotion too deep for words we each contemplated these plaintive memorials of the heroes who lay where they fell. Our orderly wept and made no effort to hide his tears.
The Foreign Legion, the Battles of the Marne, Joffre's visit to the United States, Rheims Cathedral, important events near the scenes of the story, etc., can be made clear and real to the children by the aid of maps, illustrations, and articles in these magazines, and by means of picture post-cards, and other material from other sources.
Hal and Chester accepted General Joffre's offer of an automobile to make their return trip, which consequently did not consume as much time as their journey to the headquarters of the French commander-in-chief. The first thing they did upon their arrival was to report to General French.
General Joffre's new appointment possesses a historic interest, for it created him the first real general in chief since the days of Napoleon, independent entirely of the national ruler as well as of the minister for war and any war council. In the beginning of December, 1915, Field Marshal Sir John French was relieved at his own instance and appointed to the command of the home forces.
So Foch, on the third day of organizing his new command, received orders at once terrible and immensely flattering that he was to occupy the center of Joffre's battle line and to sustain the onslaught of Von Buelow and the famous Prussian Guards.
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