New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-14

armies Of France and England. The
fear that the hostile armies would
sweep over their beloved little farms
has quite gone and the Joy of triumph
has taken Its place.
Victory Felt in Very Air.
"Flamhoin Is small village astride
one of the eastward running railway
lines, and this evening one can feel
victory In the very air Of the little
place, which would have been the first
10 experience the weight Of the Ger
man advance had the enemy succeeded
in breaking through the lines Of the
Allies.
at has been for me q week crowded
with the most curious incidents and
sensations, an almost fantastic little
piece cut out of life, which will ever
stand out with a strange medley Of
pictures more prominently than most
Of my years By motor cars, afoot,
in trains with the wounded and pris-
oners and soldiers of both armies,
have travelled for nearly one hundred
miles to the east Of Paris, and from
the week long battle of giants | have
been able 10 weave the warp and wool
of story of the tremendous struggle,
! in which the picked and almost count
/ less legions of the Kaiser have been
hurled back in appalling and black
disaster. The first supreme factor for
consideration and description Of the
week-long battle Is it was found on
ground Of the choosing of the allied
commanders, The army arrived before
Paris 10 find the strong French and
British forces stretching away to the
! east for nearly one hundred and fifty
miles, from Nanteuil-le-Ha udouin,
I about fourteen miles northeast Of,
! Paris, through Meaux, Coulommier5,
Sezanne, La Fere, Champenoise, Vitry-
! le-Francois, Nerdun and Nancy 10
Epinal
Only One Thing To Do.
at was useless to move to tn attack
! on Paris, useless 70 reduce the French
capital with the gseat army in exist
enc. For the G. man commander
there was only one thing to do His
enemies presented him with Ho0son's
choice. They challenged him to battle on
tleir own chosen ground, so in the first
| instant they tough. with an advanta ,.
Faced with this situation the German
/ commander determined to strike on the
/ RICH: to force his way through the OPP
posing lines in the region of Sezanne
and La Fere Champenoise, to smash the
Allies there, driving them back on one
side to within the Paris fCrtifcations
and on the other hurli"g them buck
ward, and if his p; ms worked out sue
cessfully and fully to compel the AL
/ lies centre to surrender.
Thus he would be able to present
/ Paris with something like Sedan in
/ the proud moment of calling the
J oh v,44 al laR
an my dispatch from Havre, which
appeared in THE Daily Chronicle on
Thursday of last week, / reported the
slackening of the German advance
down from the Belgian frontier tow
ard the regions to the northwest Of
. Paris.
Meant Passage Through Normandy.
THAT could mean only one thing
G., passing through Eastern Normandy.
/ How far the war seemed away from
the delightful sylvan haunts around
! LisieuX and EvreuX TO Nantes aud
across the Seine toward Beauvais.
/ found that my statement, made at a
| time which most people regarded as
/ the eve Of new siege Of Paris, was
correct Soldiers by the bridge at
I Nantes the bridge was mined and
/ barricaded-told me they had heard
/ the sound of cannon, that they had
| been expecting the enemy, but that
| the Germans had retired. The plan Of
the enemys campaign had obviously
been changed. The next phase of the
struggle was to be not the siege of
Paris, but a titanic struggle on the
other side of the capital.
at was slow, very slow travelling
round TO the neighbOrhood Of Meaux,
and on reaching the district south of
Coulommiers and Sezanne ] learned
| that the Germans had taken up their
position on the line which l outlined
above.
an force the German advance was
passed backward, and the enemy's cav
airy penetrated to Provins and Nogent-
sur-Seine, very few kilometres from
the village from which | write this
( evening There were unimportant
skirmishes in the neighbOrhood, and
then the serious work opened.
"The battle-will it 60 down in his
tory, | wonder, as the battle of the
Marine may be said to have begun
on Friday, September 4. BY then the
/ line of the River Ourcq was strongly
! held by the allied forces, the English
matchmaking at that particular mo-
ment. On that part of the far-throwr
/ front the enemy, approaching in cor
/ siderable force, we're unaware, 1t is OBJ
vious, of the strength of the array they
! had to face there. Unsupported by
/ the artillery, they endeavored to cross
/ the river, and after severe fighting
were driven off with considerable loss.
LET me here give short descrlp-
| ton, provided by an officer wounded ~
! the fighting, of the struggle which took
/ place on the river.
owe were in our positions early on
! Friday, he said, but We did not take
rart in the fighting on that day. Dur
/ ing the whole Of Friday and Saturday
! we had nothing to do but to listen to
/ the sound Of firing, which was not far
! distant, and to speculate as to the re-
| suit. Late in the evening the order
came instructing US 70 retreat, but IN
! the course of our retirement during
/ the night that order was counter
manded and we advanced once more,
| taking up a strong position on slop-
| ing ground facing the river.
! Early on Sunday the Germans APP
| preached in considerable numbers with
the apparent intention of outfianking
Us, for they pou d on our extreme
left. "Hold your position! that was
| the order we received, and | can tell
| you it was Just the order we wished
| for. How they swarmed toward our
| position Wave after wave APP
preached. turned and slowed down.