Evening star., 1914-08-22

! ments. Gen. Pau resolved upon decisive
effort. and not single reconnaissance.
He succeeded brilliantly.
"Our trops. holding the crests and prin-
cipal valleys of the Vcsges. are in good
position to follow up their advantage in
| the direction of Colmar."
Col. Leonce Roussst, writing for the
Petit Parisien, says:
THE situation is good. The slight
setback in Lorraine is unimportant. On
the whole the German stairs plan OF
invasion may be said to have 1alled
They sought to crush US with light
ming blow, but it is we who will carry
the war into the enemy's territory.
Power of Forces Indicated.
LONDON, August %. 4 ANA dis
patch to the Exchange Telegraph Com
pany from its. Paris correspondent
says:
THE battles of. Muelhausen and Alt
kireh lift the curtain practically for
the first time on the operations OF the
two chief belliserents. the ioslns oi
position and it's recapture in a war
serves to Indicate the strength end
weakness of the opposing forces. The
strategy which enabled US to retake
Muelhausen was as follows:
I'VE knew from aviators that the
Germans had between the French
frontier and Muelhausen a compara-
lively small force and that the major
part of their army was masssa on Ine
right bank of the Rhine. With this
knowledge our objective in tbs attack
was to cause them to fall back, we
obtaining control of bridges on the
Rhine to enable us to repulse coun-
ter attack if it should come on the
right bank.
'The Germans installed artillery and
earthworks. The attack was brilliant
and forceful, and as the Germans were
strongly fortified our success was also
a valorous sdeed. The enemy suffered
heavy losses, but as night was ap-
preaching our cavalry was forced to
abandon active pursuit"
Soldiers Royalty Feted.
LAS the enemy's retreat had not been
cut off they made good their escape.
hiding in the forest over a space eight
cen miles in extent. French troops en-
tered Muelhausen as night was falling
to the acclamations of the people who
royalty feted our soldiers. Muelhausen
was difficult to defend against force
coming from the north or east and was
relatively easy to retake.
THE Germans attacked our positions
that same night. coming from the Tor
est on the right and Neubrefsach on
the left, while other troops marched in
the direction of Cuernay to cut on our
retreat from there. Cuernay is on the
Thur river southeast of Thanh.
by staying in Muelhausen with
!; comparatively weak force we risked
losing our line of retreat to the heights
of Vosges. Therefore it was thought
possible to attack the enemy marching
toward Cuernay and utilize our re-
serves when a rally was necessary.
Our left was being attacked toward
cuernay by. superior force.
"our center was engaged at Muel-
~ IN 20
! main inactive. The battle was going
against us. Therefore retreat was the
only solution. as the enemy was not
prepared to give up the heights Of AL
brought up large force Tor its de-
fense.
Enemy Suffers Severely.
"Our object was to take up new
base in the shelter of Belfort. The
enemy suffered severely from our artil-
lery. Their howitzer battery caused us
much trouble. Accordingly Gen. Pau
/ determined to give battle while the
enemy seemed inclined. rather than to
continue the skirmish. The battle front
was less extended than on the previous
| week The German line of retreat lay
| by the canal leading to the Rhine. When
the attack commenced Thanh and
| Dannemarie were the objective points.
| The night was sharp and decisive. and
| the Germans We're driven out They set
| fire to the greater part of the town be-
| fore leaving.
Gen. Pau next gave an order to at
Itack in the direction of Muelhausen.
At the same time our left began an at
tack in the direction Of Colmar and
Neu Breisach and our right began its
march on Altkirch. Our left and right
also menaced the line of the German
| retreat before Muelhausen. Four Ger
man batteries were abandoned and our
men. 1imbering up their guns. captured
twenty-four of the enemy's guns.
! THE struggle continued desperately,
| but already the enemy had found our
troops steadily gaining ground and
apparently fearing that the bridges
| over the Rhine would be destroyed re-
tired in great disorder and vigorously
pursued by our men. We now hold
the sides and the main valleys of the
Vosges and are in the best positions to
follow up our success in the direction