and Gerbeviller, during the campaign of 1914, has scarcely been surpassed elsewhere—­even in Belgium.  Here again, as at Vareddes, the hideous deeds done were largely owing to the rage of defeat.  The Germans, mainly Bavarians, on the frontier, had set their hearts on Nancy, as the troops of Von Kluck had set their hearts on Paris; and General Castelnau, commanding the Second Army, denied them Nancy, as Maunoury’s Sixth Army denied Paris to Von Kluck.

But more of this presently.  We started first of all for a famous point in the fighting of 1914, the farm and hill of Leomont.  By this time the day had brightened into a cold sunlight, and as we sped south from Nancy on the Luneville road, through the old town of St. Nicholas du Port, with its remarkable church, and past the great salt works at Dombasle, all the country-side was clear to view.

Good fortune indeed!—­as I soon discovered when, after climbing a steep hill to the east of the road, we found ourselves in full view of the fighting lines and a wide section of the frontier, with the Forest of Parroy, which is still partly German, stretching its dark length southward on the right, while to the north ran the famous heights of the Grand Couronne;—­name of good omen!—­which suggests so happily the historical importance of the ridge which protects Nancy and covers the French right.  Then, turning westward, one looked over the valley of the Meurthe, with its various tributaries, the Mortagne in particular, on which stands Gerbeviller; and away to the Moselle and the Meuse.  But the panoramic view was really made to live and speak for me by the able man at my side.  With French precision and French logic, he began with the geography of the country, its rivers and hills and plateaux, and its natural capacities for defence against the German enemy; handling the view as though it had been a great map, and pointing out, as he went, the disposition of the French frontier armies, and the use made of this feature and that by the French generals in command.

This Lorraine Campaign, at the opening of the war, is very little realised outside France.  It lasted some three weeks.  It was preceded by the calamitous French reverse at Morhange, where, on August 20th, portions of the 15th and 16th Corps of the Second Army, young troops drawn from south-western France—­who in subsequent actions fought with great bravery—­broke in rout before a tremendous German attack.  The defeat almost gave the Germans Nancy.  But General Castelnau and General Foch, between them, retrieved the disaster.  They fell back on Nancy and the line of the Mortagne, while the Germans, advancing farther south, occupied Luneville (August 22nd) and burnt Gerbeviller.  On the 23rd, 24th, and 25th there was fierce fighting on and near this hill on which we stood.  Capitaine de G——­ with the 2nd Battalion of Chausseurs, under General Dubail, had been in the thick of the struggle, and he described to me the action on the slopes beneath us, and how, through his glasses, he had watched the enemy on the neighbouring hill forcing parties of French civilians to bury the German dead and dig German trenches, under the fire of their own people.