At the extreme east, on that ring of wooded heights known as the Grande Couronne de Nancy, and drawn up across the Gap of Nancy, the Second French Army, under General de Castelnau, successfully resisted the drive of the Crown Prince of Bavaria.  Great hopes had been placed on this attack, and on September 7, 1914, the German Emperor had viewed the fight at Nancy from one of the neighboring heights.  Surely a victory for the German arms might come either at the point where stood the German Emperor or where led the crown prince.  But the fortunes of war decided otherwise.  Far from losing at Nancy, the French took the offensive.  After an artillery duel of terrific magnitude, they drove the Bavarian army from the forests of Champenous and took Amance.  The line of the Meurthe was then found untenable by the Germans, and on September 12, 1914, General de Castelnau reoccupied the town of Luneville, which had been in the hands of the Germans since August 22, 1914.

With General von Kluck in retreat on September 7, 1914, General von Buelow hastening to the rear on September 8, 1914, with the Duke of Wuerttemberg falling back on September 9, 1914, and the Imperial Crown Prince and the Bavarian Crown Prince retreating to an inner ring of defense on September 10, 1914, the battles of the Marne may, in a measure, be said to have concluded.  As, however, the new alignments were made mainly by reason of the topographical relationships of the Marne and the Aisne Rivers and the territory contiguous thereto, it is perhaps more in keeping with the movement to carry forward the German retreat across the Marne as a part of the same group of conflicts.

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CHAPTER XVIII

OTHER ASPECTS OF THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE

In dealing with a battle as important as that of the Marne points of view are valuable.  We therefore follow with an account of its general course and description of its main features by a French military writer, whose knowledge is based on information that is largely official.

“Before the German armies,” he says, “became engulfed in the vast depression that stretches from Paris to Verdun, General Joffre with admirable foresight had brought together a powerful army commanded by General Manoury and having as its support the fortified camp of Paris.  As soon as General von Kluck, turning momentarily from the road to the French capital and bending his march to the southeast, laid bare his right wing, General Joffre vigorously launched against his flank the entire army of General Manoury.  The brilliant offensive of this army achieved success from the beginning; it threw back the German forces.  Von Kluck perceived the danger that threatened him, and the danger was serious, for it only required that Manoury should advance a little further and he would have been almost totally defeated.  Resolutely, energetically, and with a sang-froid to which homage must be rendered, Von Kluck proceeded to circumvent this danger.  He ordered back to the north two of his army corps, recrossed the Marne, and threw himself with intrepidity on Manoury.