From the date of the entry of the French into Alsace on August 7, 1914, the battle front in France extended from the Swiss frontier, north through western Alsace, thence in a northwesterly direction to a point where the line met the front of the German forces advancing on Paris.

On October 1, 1914, this battle front extended in an unbroken line from Switzerland to the city of Douai in northeastern France.  The Crown Prince of Bavaria commanded in the first section from Alsace to midway between Nancy and Verdun; the Crown Prince of Prussia directed the Verdun section reaching from west of Thiaucourt to Montfaucon; the Duke of Wuerttemberg to Massiges; General von Hausen thence to Bery-au-Bac; General von Buelow to a point directly north of Soissons; General von Kluck in a northwesterly direction to a point west of Noyon and onward to the north and northeast to Douai, which is about fifteen miles northeast of Arras, from which point north the campaign has been described.  The French army opposing this German front was under the supreme command of General Joffre.  The commanding officers in the various sectors of this front were being continually changed, making it difficult to name the commanders in each sector, except when some more or less noteworthy engagement had taken place along the line.  The battle front here described did not materially change throughout the months of October, 1914, to February 1, 1915.  Continual engagements took place along this entire front—­a gain of a few yards here balanced by a loss of a like distance elsewhere.

Both belligerents had securely intrenched themselves.  The pickax and spade were far more in use than the rifle, so that now cold weather coming on, the soldiers on both sides of the front were able to make the trenches quite comfortable.  In many instances they laid down plank floors and lined the walls with boards, put up stoves, constructed sleeping bunks and tables, stools and benches, and even decorated the rooms thus evolved with anything suitable for the purpose.  Pictures and photographs from home were the favorite decorations.  All this was impossible for their brethren in the north and in Flanders, where the activities of the conflict subjected the soldiers to continual changes and removals.

The main objective of the Germans was the French fortresses Belfort, Epinal, Toul, and Verdun, for these obstructed the march to Paris.  The continual onslaughts and counterassaults made upon this line left it practically unchanged during the month of October, 1914, in which time no engagements worthy of the name “battle” occurred.  The fighting in the north had been so desperate that it completely obscured the activities on the entire line to the south.

The net gains during the months of October and November, 1914, for either belligerent were practically nil.  From Belfort in the south to Arras in the north the advance or retreat in any given section was but a matter of yards; a ridge, a farm, a hill, or other choice gun position, the farther bank of a rivulet or stream or canal occupied or captured—­here by the French, there by the Germans—­generally proved to be but temporary possessions and wasted efforts.