This affair was typical of the numerous rearguard engagements fought by both the British and the French forces during their retirement.

MASTERLY TACTICS IN RETIRING

Pressing hard upon the rear of the Allies for ten days was the greatest military machine that has ever been assembled in one cohesive force.  Through Belgium had poured nearly 2,000,000 German troops, made up of about 800,000 first-line soldiers and more than 1,000,000 reserves.  The twenty-six-hour march of part of the German army through Brussels was stunning evidence of the might of the “war machine,” and despite fierce fighting all the way, the great army had never faltered in its 150-mile advance in Belgium.

But the numerical might of the German advance was matched by the masterly tactics of the Allies in retiring.  By these tactics, in which General Joffre, the French commander-in-chief, co-operated with the British field-marshal, Sir John French, the Allies prevented their lines being overwhelmed by the superior numbers of their foe, but the German right flank and center, strung out over a line more than 150 miles long, northeast of Paris, kept smashing on.  Losses were frightfully heavy, but the Kaiser’s order was “Take Paris!”

It was believed certain that the German general staff had staked everything on investing Paris immediately, by completely breaking down the opposition massed between the German lines and the city.  Paris had therefore prepared for the siege, with her great circles of forts strengthened and her food supply replenished.  Many of the residents fled the city in panic, fearing a repetition of the dread days of 1871, with their privation and distress, but the spirit of the French people generally remained unshaken and General Gallieni, military governor of Paris, assumed complete control of the situation in the city.

GOVERNMENT MOVED TO BORDEAUX

On August 26 the French cabinet had resigned in a body and it was reconstructed on broader lines under Premier Viviani to meet the demands of the national emergency.

German troops were reported within 40 miles of Paris on September 3, and at 3 A. M. of that day a proclamation was issued by President Poincare, announcing that the seat of government would be temporarily transferred from Paris to Bordeaux.  The minister of the interior stated that this decision had been taken “solely upon the demand of the military authorities because the fortified places of Paris, while not necessarily likely to be attacked, would become the pivot of the field operations of the two armies.”

The text of President Poincare’s proclamation was as follows: 

“ENDURE AND FIGHT!”

“FEENCHMEN:  For several weeks our heroic troops have been engaged in the fierce combat with the enemy.  The courage of our soldiers has won for them a number of marked advantages.  But in the north the pressure of the German forces has constrained us to retire.  This situation imposes on the president of the Republic and the government a painful decision.