A German military telegram intercepted on August 27 said: 

“On no account make known to our armies of the west [that is to say, the right wing, in Belgium] the checks sustained by our armies of the east [the left wing, in Lorraine].”

So much depended on those plans which Castelnau and Dubail and Foch—­and very particularly Foch!—­had frustrated.

Joffre realized what had been achieved.  And on August 27 he issued the following “order of the day”: 

“The First and Second armies are at this moment giving an example of tenacity and of courage which the commander-in-chief is happy to bring to the knowledge of the troops under his orders.

“These two armies undertook a general offensive and met with brilliant success, until they hurled themselves at a barrier fortified and defended by very superior forces.

“After a retreat in perfect order, the two armies resumed the offensive and, combining their efforts, retook a great part of the territory they had given up.

“The enemy bent before them and his recoil enabled us to establish undeniably the very serious losses he had suffered.

“These armies have fought for fourteen days without a moment’s respite, and with an unshakable confidence in victory as the reward of their tenacity.

“The general-in-chief knows that the other armies will be moved to follow the example of the First and Second armies.”

Now, where were those other armies?  And what were they doing?

France had then eight armies in the field, and was soon to have a ninth—­commanded by General Foch.

There was the First army, under General Dubail; the Second, under General Castelnau; the Third, under General Sarrail; the Fourth, under General Langle de Cary; the Fifth, under General Franchet d’Esperey; the Sixth, under General Manoury; the Seventh and Eighth armies are not mentioned in the Battle of the Marne, and I have not been able to find out where they were in service.

The First and Second armies, fighting in Lorraine, we know about.  They developed, in that battle, more than one great commander of whose abilities Joffre hastened to avail himself.  On the day he issued that order commending the First and Second armies, the generalissimo called Manoury from the Lorraine front, where he had shown conspicuous leadership, and put him in command of the newly-created Sixth army, which was to play the leading part in routing Von Kluck.  And on the next day (August 28) Joffre called Foch from Lorraine to head the new Ninth army, which was to hold the center at the Battle of the Marne and deal the smashing, decisive blow.

In two days, while his troops were retreating before an apparently irresistible force, Joffre created two new armies, put at the head of each a man of magnificent leadership, and intrusted to those two armies and their leaders the most vital positions in the great battle he was planning.