New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-13


/ Allies TO attack. General Jofre gave
the word. ,-,,.,.
"The situation now was as foliowsi
The German wheeling movement hau
been n vast and fruitless man9uVro
for positions. General JoYre had been
ouIetly determined only to join q main
battle on his own ground, and he nal
succeeded in imposing his Will on inc
enemy. -.
"TRe rapidity and cohesion Of his
withdrawal from the La Ferte-La,ooh.
Rheims lines and from every It tIe
which could be turned on either siue
were followed by his occupation o. d
front Offering excellent opportunltless
for nttack on the part of the Allies, YET
covering at the same time full means
of retreat. The Allies front streteneu
from Paris and the Seine toward the
eastern fortress barriers and Verdun'
"This curve embraced the sunny up
lands Of the Champagne country, STOP
ing down on either side Of the harne'
Joffre's Judgment Sound.
"The Franco British line, for the
most part, was covered by river ana
swamps, strengthened by some bold
heights, and followed generally the
main road from Paris to Bar-le,N nc
by Coulommiers, S6zanne, La rete-
Champenoise, Sommesous and why,
le.Francois. All these places are at
crossroads or bridges, or hotn: In@
more closely these defensiye-ohenslEe
dispositions are studied the more doe'
General JofTre's judgment inspire re-
spect. On neither wing could he DC en-
yeloped or crushed. he could De
| 4 -, ho and his most
obvious danger was between Sezanne
and Vitry-le-Francois where the mos
omen mart of his lines was certain TO pc
attacked by the whole weight OF the
German columns, pushing straight or
from Rheims and by all the numerous
routes radiating southwark lrop'
Chalons. A..
"How, on the other hand, must the
question have been viewed from the
standpoint of the invaders, out.
Aanked by the huge stronghold oil
Paris on the one side and by the
Verdun fortress on the other. Ihey
had either to give up the game OF
make a desperate attempt, in spite OF
hazards, to force an unfavoraole STU
uation.
Kaiser Taken by Surprise.
1--WE cannot, of course, tell what
pictures were actually in the minds Oh
the Kaiser and his great General stan
or what strategical combinations they
counted on. 1t is certain that ior
some reason they cannot have been
prepared for what happened.
They must have mistaken Genera
Joffre's withdrawal to solid battle
line for the fight of beaten loe'
chiefly anxious to put safe distance
between himself and his pursuers'
Was there to be no Metz? linen
there must be Sedan. The Potsdam
school only thought of interruptlng. an
expected prey. They meant the Allles
retirement to be stopped at any cost
They did not realize for moment thai
the great retreat had already stopped
and that the initiative was about to be
seized by the Allies. -,
In the German imagination the allied
front was to be broken in the centre
General Kluck was to cut oil the
hulk of the French armies from Paris
and by rapid marches might lnclcse
them altogether. If they were not IN
closed they would fall back so far rs
TO open the famous strategical gap, the
trouee Toul-Epinal, so as to enable me
sixth German army, under the Grown
Prince of Bavaria, to enter France.
Hoped to Destroy JOffre.
The six armies would then destroy
in detail the eastern and western seC'
tions Of the broken allies.
Unless some such theory were II
their minds the proceedings OF inc
Kaiser's military advances would be
unintelligible. In these circumstances
the greatest battle of Western history
opened last Sunday, and the German
surprise began. The edge of their owr
strategy was turned against them ano
General Kluck, who had thrust himself
far forward between Paris and the man
force of the Allies, found himself like
w to be caught between the hammer
and the anvil and had to choose, almost
at once, between retreat and destruc'
ton.
He had one French army working
round toward his rear, the Paris de-
fence force on his flank and, above
all, the British troops in front OF him
These fastened their bulldog jaws into
their old enemy, and have hung on tt
him ever since in a manner that would
be almost diverting if it were not one
of the grim episodes of fearful war
Kluck Intrepid in Adversely.
General Kluck, as his opponents ad
nit. proved himself as excellent sol
der in adversely as in attack, but ht
owed his partial escape to the extreme
rapidty and cleyerness OF his move
ments. lie had to save himself from
humiliation, if not from total defeat.
The British troops. attacking and
pursuing at last in the manner they
have, flung the main body of the kaiS'
er's first army from the Grand MORN
TO the Petit NORM, from that to the
Marine, and northward again toward
the Aisne and the Disc.
Meanwhile he was not only lighting
continual rear-guard action against
our men, hut fighting furiously to de
fend his flank from the French fifth
army. He was reinforced IN vain
Nothing could stay the disaster.
Day after day he lost guns, prison.
ers and stores. German detachments
} found helpless and demoralized il
woods, surrendered at discretion. BY
. the fifth day, Thursday last, Genera
Won Kluck had suffered the heavies
defeat that the German army ha'
known since jena.
Prussian MYTH Smashed.
The myth of tho Prussian supermar
is mashed forever, and the French, nc
:. less than the British, soldiers have &C
quired sense of actual .scendanc!
which they are unlikely TO lose. We
, must not, however, eXaggerate.
General Kluck seems TO have kept the
bulk of his army together, and HI
. Il 20 hn