the ground.  The infantry of the Fourth Army which hurled itself against these positions was thrown hack; still fighting it fell back over the Meuse.  The pursuit by the Germans was punctuated by strong counterattacks, which inflicted great losses on them.  The Third Army was similarly checked in its march on Neufchateau by the superior forces of the crown prince and was thrown back on the Semoy.  Thus the offensive actions undertaken by the armies of the French center miscarried.  Not only were they unable to lend their aid to the armies of the left, but they saw themselves obliged to retreat.

“The situation could only be reestablished by a victory on the part of the Fifth French Army operating in conjunction with the army of General French.  This army, however, found itself in the presence of German forces of great strength, consisting of the crack corps of the German army.  On the 22d the Germans at the cost of considerable losses succeeded in passing the Sambre, and General Lanrezac fell back on Beaumont-Givet, being apprehensive of the danger which threatened his right.  On the 24th the British army retreated, in the face of a German attack, on to the Maubeuge-Valenciennes line.  It appeared at first that the British had in front of them at most an army corps, with perhaps a corps of cavalry.  They were apprised, however, about five o’clock in the evening that three army corps were advancing against them, while a fourth was marching against their left along the road from Tournai in a turning movement.  General French effected his retreat during the night behind the salient of Mons. Threatened on August 24 by the strength of the whole German army, he fled backward in the direction of Maubeuge.”

* * * * *

CHAPTER X

THE GREAT RETREAT BEGINS

The German hosts now stood at the gates of France.  It was a mighty spectacle.  The soldiery of the Kaiser which had swept their way into Belgium, there to meet the unexpected resistance of the defenders of King Albert, had reached their goal—­the French frontier.

About the middle of August, 1914, General Joffre, assigned to the British Expeditionary Force, commanded by Sir John French, the task of holding Mons against the powerful German advance.  The British force formed the left wing of the line of front that stretched for some two hundred miles close to the Belgian frontier.  Extending from Arras through the colliery towns of Mons and Charleroi, the extreme western front of the armies was held by General D’Amade at Arras, with about 40,000 reserve territorial troops; by General French, with 80,000 British regulars, at Mons; by the Fifth French Army of 200,000 first-line troops, under General Lanrezac, near Charleroi; and by a force of 25,000 Belgian troops at Namur.  The total Allied troops in this field of battle were thus about 345,000 men.