The citizens of Muelhausen repeated the joyous ovation bestowed on the French troops in Altkirch.  The French uniform was hailed as the visible sign of deliverance from German dominion, and the restoration of the lost province to their kindred of the neighboring republic.  The climax of this ebullition was reached in a proclamation issued by direction of General Joffre.  “People of Alsace,” it ran, “after forty years of weary waiting, French soldiers again tread the soil of your native country.  They are the pioneers in the great work of redemption.  What emotion and what pride for them!  To complete the work they are ready to sacrifice their lives.  The French nation with one heart spurs them forward, and on the folds of their flag are inscribed the magical names Liberty and Right.  Long live France!  Long live Alsace!”

During August 8, 1914, some intermittent fighting went on in the vicinity of Muelhausen, which seems to have given the French general in command the impression that the Germans were not eager for a counterattack.  In turn the Germans may well have been puzzled that a French brigade instead of an army was thrown into Upper Alsace for the bait of Muelhausen.  Possibly they waited a little for the main body, which did not come.

Sunday, August 8, 1914, revealed the Germans in such overpowering strength, that the French were left no other choice than to beat a hasty retreat.  They accordingly fell back upon Altkirch, to intrench a few miles beyond their own border.  Thus ended the French initial offensive.  In military reckoning it achieved little of value.

Meanwhile in the Ardennes on August 13, 1914, the German Crown Prince, commanding the Fourth Army, advanced from Luxemburg into the southern Ardennes and captured Neuf-chateau.  His further objective was to break through the French line somewhere near the historic ground of Sedan.  But at this point some change in the German plan seems to have taken place.  From the maze still enveloping the opening events of the war, one can only conjecture a reason which would move such an irrevocable body as the German General Staff to alter a long-fixed plan.  Probably, then, the unanticipated strength of Belgian resistance foreshadowed the summoning of reenforcements to Von Kluck’s right wing of the whole German army.  We have seen, in fact, how he came to be near a desperate need at Bruges, and only the heavy reenforcement of Von Boehn enabled that general to deliver a final defeat to the Belgian field army at Weerde.  Whatever the cause of change of plan may have been, important forces attached to or intended for the armies of the Duke of Wuerttemberg and the crown prince were withdrawn to support the armies of Von Kluck and Von Buelow.  These forces went to form a unit under General von Hausen, a veteran of Sadowa.  This change left the Saxon army of the crown prince with hardly sufficient strength for a main attack on the French line at Sedan, but still formidable enough to feel its way cautiously through the Ardennes to test the French concentration on the central Meuse’s west bank.  When the German right had finally settled Liege, the Saxon army could then join in the united great movement on Paris.