The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-08-01

I saw the enemy.
| Such was the force Of the German
| invasion: such was the range of the
guns. that before the French ever saw
one man they had lost $1,000 men. Joffre.
| in Command, cashiered at that time over
100 of the generals and sent them to the
| rear; dismissed them in disgrace. and
| reorsanized the army. He sent word to
Paris. I cannot stand. or hold the Ger
mans. and my safety is to keep retreat
ing and fighting as best I can. At some
point II the Germans come farther, We
| can stand. but we cannot stand here
with Won Kluck were armies of L.
10000 men as he marched through Bel
GUM. Joffre had then only about 7o0.-
600 in all. He could not mobilize quick
| ly enough. The French had been warn
ed for a year that the Germans moved
| their railroad trains In military service
thirty miles an hour, while 1t was DEM
onstrated that perishable goods moved
| only thirty miles a day on the French
| railways.
Meant to Surrender Paris.
The Germans were marching straight
i on to Paris. meeting only what defense
could be made by the expeditionary
! force Of England, about 10000 or 10000
men. who were holding the German flank
at bay. There were against these Eng
lish $4,000 Germans. The military gov
ernor of Paris was summoned. and the
President said. What are your de-
fences?' He replied. We can hold Paris
only four days. We have neither tn,
guns nor the men, Poincare said, We
must surrender Paris unless Joffre will
defend it They sent for Joffre and
said. Will you defend Paris He said.
No. 1 will defend France. but I cannot
defend Paris. I will not have my army
locked up and beseiged in Paris So it
was agreed tand this you will not find
even from the French people except in
high station. ii was agreed to sacrifice
Paris to save France, and the destruc-
ton of the whole of Paris was expected
There are twenty ACCOMPLISHMENTS. or
wards. in Paris, and the plan of the
Germans. II was said in diplomatic
circles, was to destroy one of these
every day the indemnity remained IN
paid. In twenty days there would be
nothing left of Paris. The French were
willing to make the sacrifice. They said.
Give up beautiful Paris. but save
France Then came Clemenceau, and he
said TO Poincare. You are to give up
shot,
so they again summoned Joffre and
said. we had better blow up the city
ourselves and not give 1t to the Ger
mans. Who can cave Paris?' The re-
Spouse was. There may yet be one
man. They summoned Gallieni. So years
of age. and on the retired list. They
said, General, can you save Paris?' He
replied Take your government away.
Give me carte blanche. with the power
to requisition the arms and the men and
the goods and 1 will save Paris They
gave him carte blanche, and he posted
on the walls of Paris that he had been
made the Defender General of Paris,
and that he would defend it. People
who did not wish to stay were invited
to get out. Eight hundred thousand peo-
pie left Paris without fare or ticket or
payment to the railroads. The railroads
were free. The government left also.
Gallieni requisitioned 5000 automobiles.
Paris is the great and original automo-
bile center. Germany. when l was there
two years ago. had but 5000 automo-
biles in the whole country.
Won KIuck Surprised.
He took 500 cannon and all the car
tridges. shell and shrapnel that could
be gathered together. Won Kluck, with
his more than 1,0Oo.00o men, passed by
Paris, all open, undefended, the gates
down. the men withdrawn. He passed
even to the south of Paris. Then sud
denly the order went forth from Gen.
Joffre. You stand here or die! Not
another inch That was to be the line
where France was to die or the enemy
was to stop. When that order went
forth Gallieni with his men in $500 motor
cars and with his 500 guns and all the
shell he could command fell upon the
flank or the advancing Germans. Won
Kluck was dining at French chateau.
or rather was just sitting down to his
noon meal, when he heard the hrst
French 75-millimeter gun. He had
thought they were thirty miles away.
He had expected that the army with the
Crown Prince would join him, but it
never got nearer than twenty miles.
The French at Verdum held that army
at bay. The armies of the French and
English moved forward. They sent the
Germans back in three days thirty miles. |
The reason they never went any far
Their I will tell you. l don't know
whether it is any secret or not: but
there was not a cartridge or shell left
in France. They had exploded every |
thing. Each side dug itself into the
ground. The French felt in very much !
the same situation as Grant in Southern /
Illinois.
Paris open and undefended. and Yet
for years before called the strongest |
fortified city in the world; there was
also the whole English channel open to |
the enemy! here StOOQ tne hdiser at 4
this little duchy south OF !
Belgium. and the Crown Prince not far |
away, with his army all ready to march |
to Paris Here were two great blunders |
which seem as if ordered by higher |
Providence. Military strategy would |
seem to have very little to do with this !
war. The first blunder was to go |
Belgium and bring in England
with one-fifth of the habtable globe to |
draw from and at the same time double |
the length of frontier the Germans must |
defend.
THE next blunder was failure to move
on the channel ports and take them be-
fore going to Paris. They were all open ,
and undefended. The Kaiser had ms
choice. either Paris or the channel ports.
But Paris seemed so easy 1t was SO
dramatic to march into Paris and de-
mand a huge indemnity.
For what does Germany war? She
does not war as you would play chess or
for the game. She wars
for definite commercial and financial
ends. Think of this horrible situation:
at the time that the Kaiser and the royal
family were being entertained by the
King and Queen Of Belgium there were
in the wilhelmstrasse the records of ev-
cry business man in Belgium; what he
was worth and what he could pay as In
demnity The same thing IL true Of Eng-i
land Germany has the record PERFECTLY
Of what she could get II she conquered.
She thought she knew what she could
collect In Paris. Her game was to collect
In 3rtx -