New-York tribune., 1918-09-08
Germany Has New
er Recovered
From Her
First Great
Defeat
By FRANK HI. SIMONDS
Author Of "The World War" 'sThey
Shall Not Pass
~ OUR years ago to-day, September
8, 1914, the First Battle of the

OUR years ago to-day, September
e. 8, 1914, the First Battle of the
Marine had reached its crisis.
Already Maunoury's thrust eastward
from Paris had been checked and
turned back on the edge of the Ourcq.
Foch's gallant effort from the Plateau
of Sezanne to that of Euvy above La
Fere Champenoise was becoming a de-
spairing defensive for all but Foch him
self, who was already meditating the fl
nal thrust which next day was to decide
the issue Of the battle-and in the very
largest sense the isue of the war. On
September 8, with victory almost in
sight, Germany stood on the eve Of
fatal defeat.
And now, after four years, it Is posi-
Bile to appraise that supreme revelation
Of France at something like its real
value. The Marne was and remains the
great battle of the war. From the conse-
'quences Of the defeat Germany has never
been able to recover. She has tried at
Eerdun, in her great offensives of this
year, by her unlimited and ruthless sub
marine warfare to escape from the deci-
sion Of the Marne, but she has failed,
and the consequences Of her failure are
written now on the Western battlefield
where the German tide is receding at
last in an unmistakable ebb which,
thanks to the presence of American divi-
sions, can have no later flood.
\ n Army Thrown Back but
"A Not Destroyed
In a sense the First Battle Of the
Marne was indecisive. It was battle
Of arrest which halted the German
checked at Chalons and the Saracen
hordes at Poitiers. The army which was
beaten was thrown back, not destroyed
there was no absolute destruction such
as Napoleon suffered at Waterloo, or
Prussia at Jena. 1t was not within the
power Of France with smaller popula-
ton and infinitely lesser preparation to
turn the success into the national col
lapse into which Napoleon transformed
Jena. Then and thereafter it was clear
France could halt but could not alone
crush the German millions.
Had Russia been efficieN, Britain
ready, the war would have ended IN the
year following the Marne, just as it
would have ended this year had we been
prepared to step into the place of Russia
and carry on with Britain and with
France. But Russia was not efficient:
Britain, like America later, needed
relatively long time to prepare. And in
this time Russia was crushed and France
had to stand new avalanche at Yer
dun.
Yet, looking backward, we see that
the Marne established the superiority of
French military genius over German.
The whole German plan of campaign
was wrecked by ,Totfre at the Marne in
1914, by Petain at Verdun in 1916, by
F'och at the Second Marne in the present
summer. These have been the three
great crises Of the Western front and
thus Of the war. Each time victory for
Germany would have won the Continen-
tai phase Of the war But each time
French military genius has risen to the
highest level and the result has been
German defeat. But in each case the
exploitation Of victory has waited upon
the coming to France of sufficient num-
bers to supply the weight France could
not furnish. Three times, however, the
fate Of the world has hung upon the
issue OF a clash between French and
German military genius, and in each
case the German has lost. Here is a
final answer to the claim still advanced
Of the invincibility and the superlative
ability of German High Command.
IF the Germans Had
B. Grasped Realities
On the military side, knowing as we
anow now that the war of positions was
bound inevitably to come, it is impossi-