Evening star., 1918-09-08


ali the kaiser's best corps failed in
the same task in October and Novem-
ber.
And to this. very day the German
made. For three years. indeed. the
Germans denied that there had been a
battle of the Marne. Their official
statements went dumb in the very
fight was beginning. The battle itself.
the battle for Paris" was covered by
the reports Of Hindenburg's triumph
at Tannenberg. Only after the retreat
Ut a5tersnees ns s Begin ' again GAIN to S take up the
fortunes OF the army which had
reached the very environs Of Paris.
And this return to the western cam
palgn for a.. brief hour WAS WAS apa only es-
mans were convinced. the general stan
was convinced, that they had repaired
their mistakes and were now about to
resume their offensive. which had been
at the Marne.
Joffre Begins Turning Movement.
But it was too late. Joffre had al
ready begun that turning movement
on fields which in recent days have
seen another mighty struggle and a
new victory Of French genius and
British and French devotion. The
race to the sea" had begun, and the
active front moved away from Paris
until the last German hope Of swift
victory and a short war perished in
the mud and fog Of Flanders. where
Britain, France and Belgium stood in
the last ditch, and, with the single
commander. Foch, raised a dixie across
the pathway Of the masses which,
sought to back their way to the chan
mel. They had lost Paris in Septem-
Der; they finally lost Calais in No
vember and the six weeks dash to
Paris was over.
We on the allied side have often
by the magic of the very name Of the
German great and general staff. We
have accepted it altogether too often
at it's own valuation. Its strength IS
imposing; all that preparation could
do in the way of machinery. disci-
pline. organization has been done; has
been done over and over again. 1t
was done for forty years before the
first Marne, and it was done for many.
many months before the recent Of
power for organization. for prepara-
ton, for all the smaller things that
make the great and well-nigh per-
feet machine. the German general
staff has always been wrong IN It's
big decisions, and its mistakes have
within the grasp Of it's armies to
achieve victory.
Gives Line on German Idea.
The more one studies the Marne the
more one sees that it epitomizes the
strength and exposes the weakness of
the German military idea. In August
Germany took the world by surprise.
AS a consequence there was long
list of opening victories-Morhang
Neufchateau, Charleroi. Napoleon
never opened a campaign better, but
what a pitifu1 result when the cam
paign was over 1t was the same at
Verdun, the same in Picardy IN
March The first rush passed over
Fort Douaumont in February. 1916.
It reached the environs of Amiens in
March, 1918. just as it approached the
forts of Paris in 1914. By all the
laws of military science each of the
three opening moves should have won
the campaign, but instead the Ger
man was driven from Paris to Soissons
in 1914; Fort Douaumont was retaken
by the French in 1916; the Germans
are today retreating many miles east
of Amiens. Three great chances
and three dismal failures; this is the
German record in the west, this is
the outcome of three duels with the
French military genius.
II
Guards in the last phase of the battle
OF Ypres which somehow seems to
sum the whole German case up. At a
critical moment, when the last British
reserves were in and Field Marshal
French was collecting cooks and
the Prussian Guard attacked and
broke the British line. It advanced
over the wrecks of the last British
resistance; it was clean through, and
the road to Calais was open. But
once through it halted, seemed to
lack any commanding spirit to direct
1t. hesitated until guns were brought
from nowhere and a handful of men
assembled out Of thin air attacked
and destroyed the victors.
Referred to as Miracle.
A certain section of the French
people call the Marne miracle" It
was not a miracle, because it was the
result of the cool, essentially French
logic, which conceived, ordered and
executed the battle plans. But, at the
least, the losing Of the Marne was a
miracle. Even at this day it is hard
battle, but the campaign, or why
they threw away the decisive ad-
vantage which they had acquired by
September 1 in a mad rush south of
the Marne. But they did. and after
four years the essential facts set
forth at the Marne stand unamend-
ed, unmodided. All the Germans fail
ures have been repetitions Of the
Marne; all his opportunities have
been thrown away in the same fash
ion.
1t is only four years since the
Marne was fought, but it has already
become remote and most of its chief
figures legendary. Joffre is a marshal
and memory. Moltke, the younger,
is dead-perhaps of broken heart
Kluck. Bulow. Hausen have disap-
peared from the battle line. If the
crown prince remains, 1t is as a bat
tered figurehead. On the French side
Galltdnt, who recognized the moment
and the opportunity when Kluck ex-
Maunoury, who delivered the first
blow, is blind and retired. Franchet
d'Esperey is in Greece. Sarrail has
disappeared. Castelnau still COM
mands on the Nancy front: only Foch
remains a present power-but what a
power!
Test Between Two Civilizations.
At the very bottom of things the
first battle of the Marne was the
test between two cfvilizations-be-
tween the civilization Of the savage
heart and the scientific brain and the
civilization which is the common
heritage Of the western and demo-
cratic nations. The contrast was as
great, the issue as unri1istakable. at
the Marne as at Marathon, the Ger
man idea as deadly to western CIV
ilization as was the Persian. the VIC
tory in France and within the hear
ing Of Paris as significant In human
history as that other triumph the
news Of which was, according to
legend, brought to Athens by a mes
senger who could run the short dis
tance in q few hours.
And, by comparison with the Marne,
all the other battles Of this war have
been lesser events. Even the epic of