New-York tribune., 1915-03-18

| than In the whole Franco Prussian
Wnr-l20. 900 English against 100000
! Germans. Yet one thinks of tho Eng
( hsh force, and rightly. rs little army
in this war Of unprecedented numbers;
! II seems. in its relation to the whole
| picture. like one Of those brigades
which won immortal glory in old wars
| by holding crucial point on a battle
! line.
Fifty Days Of Slaughter.
Up to that brief breathing spell
! when the British army shifted from it'
position on the Aisne to its new fight
! ing ground on the western front, it had
| been engaged every day for seven
weeks. There had been the attack at
! Mons, when its force, equivalent IN
numbers to two army corps, found
themselves attacked by four German
| corps and outfanked on the left by an
J other. There followed four days OF
! backward fight which every surviving
| Tommy Of the British eXpeditionary
I force remembers only as confused
! kind of hell. BY night they dropped on
/ their faces TO wake TO the sound OF
! guns, 10 the bursting of shells, to more
marching, more action. BY day the
massed German lines poured in on
! them four deep. Rank after rank the
| British moved them down, until the
rihemen and machine gun men re-
treated from very WEAKNESS OF arm
and horror of more killing.
There came after four days a little
\ respite. during which the English, Tor
strategic reasons. continued their re-
treat, fighting only rear guard actions.
| There came, TOO, a change in the spirit
! Of Tommy Atkins. This was profess
sional army and a veteran army-the
only one on the kne-else the history
of September, 1914, might have to be
| written in other terms. Splcndidly
| equipped. trained to the minute, edu-
Gated to the last frill in military sci
! ence. the others except for a few di-
visions of the French knew only the
| theoretical warfare of blank car
trdges. The greater part of the Eng
| lish had faced ball cartridges in India
or South Africa.
They had the spirit OF veterans. And
! like veterans they resented a runaway
! fight They began to murmur: not
over the dead left for the Germans TO
bury, nor the wounded which choked
the hospitals of Paris, nor their own
prospect of annihilation, but against
this kind of warfare, which never let
them stand and fight. Here il was that
! Field Marshal Sir John French went
among his troops, refusing to let them
rise. As they rested by the roadside
! he sat down with them, told them that
| if they would keep it up just little
! longer he would promise them fight
! The muttering died down. the army
went on backward. Again the Germans
! pressed them; again there was the
/ ruthless, mechanical slaughter OF
/ charging. tight-locked lines. the ghast-
/ ly moving down Of machine guns, the
/ tragedies Of bursting shells.
Even Officers Hope Gone.
1t was the night of September {
now; the British army in its south
ward retreat had passed Paris; II
halted to tho southeast of the French
| capital and made another stand. The
/ blackness Of despair lay that night
over the leaders Of the British army
| Some of the staff officers have admit
/ ted since that they saw no way out;
/ they hoped only 10 find good position
/ for a last stand, and make the massa-
cre cost the Germans as dearly as pos
: siblc.
General French and his corps COM
manders, clean tagged out, turned IN
| for little sleep. At midnight cou-
ricr from the line awakened them. lie
vas pale and shaken. The German
force to the north had got IN touch
with new German force which had
appeared from the east. They were
cut off from the French army: the JIG
was up. General French in his paJa-
mas, his two corps commanders m
their niehtshirts, held council by the
/ light of a smoking country lamp
| French invented way to meet the new
movement, ordered dispositions accord
ingly and went back to bed. That
council of war, on the eve of Septem-
| Der :, 1914, one Of The great days in
/ the history of the world, will furnish
10 theme for the battle painter of the
future, VINO loves to trick out his his
toric figures in gilt and gold lace
And in the morning French. who. II
! is said, has an unCannY sense for the
mind of his enemy, felt a slaSSening
Cf the attack on his front. Before the
sun was high his scroplanes had re-
ported that Won kluck. at his front
had faced cast and was moving away
| from Paris. French struck with all his
force. The French army of Paris made
their famous taXicab movement anC
struck also. By night the German
movement was not a shift, but full
retreat.
Won Kluck's Fatal Mistake.
We know now the German plan OF
campaign. and have a better under
standing of this whole action AT the
| Marne. That great western army OF
Won Kluck, which had swept through
Belgium, broken across the unfortl
fed French frontier and thrust forward
its cavalry outposts until the Parisiar
Fire Department buried Uhlans withir
the city limits-it was never intended
that this army should take Paris. Thai
honor was for the Crown Prince, whC
was coming through Rheims from the
northeast. Won Kluck was to dispose
thoroughly Of the French and Eng
lish on his front, to shift TO the lef
and join the princes army at poin
between Rheims and Paris. Then
down the excellent Rheims-Paris roaC
they would march together 10 the in
vestment Of the French capital
Somewhere along the line Won Klucl
made his mistake. Either he FOLLOWED
too closely the machine-made plan o
the General staff this is said 10 b,
the common German weakness in thi
war-or he underrated his enemy. TIT
British army l understand. leans to th'
latter theory; and indeed he woul'
have been insane 10 make such a movt
as this, even in pursuance of plan
had he believed that he was leaving
really strong army on his flank.
General French struck; the army o
Paris struck; more Importantly, IN,
whole French line, from Switzerland {,
Paris, pivoted on the Nosges, move,