New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-03

retire to keep his junction with Kluck,
Hence this part of the whole battle of the
Marine is of relatively minor Importance.
To the east of d'Esperey was the army
of Foch, which now played the decisive
part. This army stood, at first, with its
advance guards on the north side of the
famous marsh of st. Gond, a strange
swamp full of stagnant ponds and crossed
by only few highways. This was a con-
siderable military obstacle. Behind it ran
a line Of hills, north Of the town of Sc
Lanne and dropping away to the southea5t,
looking down on La -Champenoise
from the plateau of Envy and losing them
selves in the monotonous plain of the Camp
de Mailly.
When Maunoury's attack compelled the
immediate retreat Of Kluck and the ulti-
mate retrogression of Bulow, the German
high command resolved to seek victory by a
redoubled pressure upon Foch, who held
the French centre. In a word, the Germans
undertook to break the French line, the
whole line from Paris to Verdun, and 70
break it at the exact centre, which was
where Foch stood. Foch was heavily out
numbered, and, although he began on Sep
TENDER 7 brave offensive, he was steadily
driven south and suffered great losses.
The fighting here was the most sanguinary
of the whole engagement; and there are
ten thousand graves in the little town If
La Fere-C hampenoise alone.
French Centre Driven Back.
Nor was this the worst. Not only was
Foch driven south, but his right or east
ern flank was driven very far south, until
his army, instead of facing north, faced
nearly east, and wide gap began TO open
in the whole French line between Foch
and the French army of Langle de Cary
to the east.
September is here, as at the Ourcq,
the decisive day. On this day Franchet
d'Esperey, having cleared Bulow from
the banks of the Petit NORM and finding
his 10th Corps freed by Bulow's with
drawal to the northwest, toward Kluck,
lends this corps to Foch, and it now be-
gins to act on the western flank of the
German centre.
This aid assures the safety of Foch's
western flank and he now withdraws his
AID Division from this flank, transports
it eastward to Linthes and very late in the
afternoon suddenly launches it in a ter
rife drive at the Prussian Guard betwee9
the marshes of st. Gond and La Fere-
Champenoise.
At this point the German line has been
thinned as a result Of the eagerness OF
the Germans to press their advantage to
the south, where they are at the point of
piercing the whole French line about
The AID Division goes
through the Guard as knife cuts through
cheese, as the French afterward ex-
planned; it throws the Saxons in and about
La Fere- Champenoise into disorder which
becomes a rout, for Foch at the same mo-
nent launches general attack.
The First Strategist in Europe"
This tremendous thrust earned for Foch
Joffre's verbal decoration as "the first
strategist in Europe" 1t routed the Prus-
sian Guard, which lost most of its artil-
cry; it crumpled up the flank of the two
Saxon corps, it routed the whole army Of
Hansen, who was forthwith retired in dis
grace. 1t resulted in the wild retreat o.
he whole Hansen army as well as that
# the Prussian Guard. Here, and only
ere, was there anything approaching
,reat battlefield triumph. Bulow had re.