The surprise was practically complete.  The British army on the continent at this time numbered slightly more than 100,000 men.  Probably two-thirds of this whole force was hurled across the Marne in this battle, which, starting as a skirmish, soon grew into one of the fiercest and bloodiest struggles of history.

Scotch Highlanders, Irish troops, Sikh legions, recently arrived from India, British troops from other of her foreign possessions and the English themselves stood shoulder to shoulder, fighting nobly and driving back the foe.

But the Germans contested every inch of the ground.  Outnumbering the British as they did, however, they were slowly compelled to retreat, the British pursuing them relentlessly.

Apparently it was not General French’s plan to push the battle too strongly now.  It was merely his intention to deliver such a blow as would make the coup planned by the Germans impracticable.

For seven solid hours the battle for the opposite shore of the Marne continued, both sides fighting desperately and heroically.  Then, as the Germans continued to retreat, General French called a halt.  The British fell to work digging trenches in the recently won ground, and preparing to resist an attack should one be delivered.

This first skirmish on the eastern banks of the Marne, while possibly unimportant, when viewed in the light of later events, became one of the greatest factors in the offensive movements of the Allies.

Now that the English had obtained a foothold upon the opposite side they did not relinquish it, in spite of heavy assaults made by the Kaiser’s troops in the days that were to follow.  Passage across the stream for the rest of the allied army was now comparatively easy, for the English, already having a foothold, stood ready to drive off the Germans as reinforcements crossed.

And if the action at the Marne was one of the deciding factors in the offensive movement of the Allies, the credit of it is undoubtedly due largely to Chester and Hal, who, at the risk of their own lives, enabled the British troops to catch the Germans in their own trap.

That the boys’ value in this important battle was recognized, is evidenced by the fact, that, when the army once more had come to a halt, General French summoned the two lads to him, and with a hand on the shoulder of each, and his whole staff grouped about him, said: 

“You have done well!  England is proud of her kinsmen!”

CHAPTER XXVI.

Trapped.

It was two days later.  The battle was raging fiercely, on all sides men were dropping singly, in pairs, in tens and in hundreds.  Since early morning, when an advance guard of Germans had approached the British line, the struggle had continued without a minute’s breathing space.

Gradually giving way before the English attacks, the German troops fell back mile after mile, the English, in the section of the field where the fighting had been going on, pursuing them closely.  Unmindful of their support on either side, the British still pressed forward, until now they were far beyond either flank.