“An order rang out, and bending as low as possible, we started up.  We had to pass right in the line of fire.  The men began to fall like ninepins.  God be thanked that I was able to run as I did.  I thought my heart would burst, and was about to throw myself on the ground, unable to continue, when your image and that of Bolli rose before my eyes, and I ran on.

“At last we reached our batteries.  Three guns were smashed to pieces, and the gun carriages were burned.  We halted for a few seconds to take breath.  And all the time that whistling and banging of the shells continued.  It is a wonder one is not driven mad.”

Admiration cannot be withheld from General von Kluck for his splendid fight at the battle of Coulommiers.  He was out-generaled, for one thing, because of his plan—­or his orders—­to strike a southeasterly blow; he was outmaneuvered by the presence of a vastly larger British force than he had any reason to expect, and he was outnumbered almost two to one.

Through the apple and pear orchards of La Tretoire the battle was sanguinary; the British (reenforced on September 7, 1914, by some French divisions) swept through the terrain in widely extended lines, for close formation was not to be thought of with artillery and machine guns in front.  It was bitter fighting, and the German right contested every inch of ground stubbornly.  Once, indeed, it seemed that General von Kluck would turn the tables.  He rapidly collected his retreating troops, and with unparalleled suddenness hurled them back upon the advancing First Corps under Sir Douglas Haig.  Aeroplane scouts decided the issue.  Had the British been compelled to await the onset, or had they been forced to depend on cavalry patrols, there would have been no opportunity to resist that revengeful onslaught.  But no sooner had the Germans begun to re-form than Sir Douglas Haig moved his machine guns to the front and fell back a few hundred yards to a better position.  This happened on September 8, 1914, and may be regarded as the last offensive move made by General von Kluck’s army in the west.  On that same day Coulommiers was invested and Prince Eitel compelled to flee, and the battle of Coulommiers was won.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XVII

CONTINUATION OF THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE

The third part of the battle of the Marne, called by some the Battle of Montmirail, was not marked by special incident.  General d’Esperey’s part was to hold firm, and this he did.  Not only by reason of the British assistance on the left, but also because the strong army of General Foch to the right was a new army, of greater strength than was known to General von Moltke and the German General Staff.  The battle of Montmirail was won by the steady resistance of the Fifth Army to the hammer blows of the German right, and to the quick advantage seized by General d’Esperey when the British