troops, he succeeded remains still a tribute to his power as a commander.  But the men were done.  Further attack meant rout.  His salvation lay in his heavy field guns and howitzers, an arm of the service in which the French army, under General Maunoury (and General Pau, who had taken a superior command during the turning of the German drive at the Marne), was notoriously weak.  Still there was little comfort there, for the British army was well supplied with heavy artillery, and the Fifth French Army of General d’Esperey, also coming up to confront him, was not entirely lacking in this branch of the service.

General von Buelow’s army was combined with that of General von Hausen, who fell ill and was retired from his command.  Against this combined army was ranged the victorious and still fresh army of General Foch, lacking two corps, which had been detached for reserves elsewhere.  One of these corps apparently went to the aid of General Sarrail, whose stand was still a weak point in the Allies’ line.  General Sarrail, however, was now better supported by the movement of General Langle with the Fourth French Army, who advanced toward Troyon and confronted the combined armies of the Imperial Crown Prince and the Duke of Wuerttemberg.  This released General Sarrail to his task of intrenching and enlarging the defenses about Verdun, the importance of which had become more poignant than ever before in the events of the past week.  The far eastern end of the line remained unchanged.

The credit for the crossing of the Aisne lies with the British troops.  The battles of the Marne had thrust Sir John French into a prominent position, wherein he was able to achieve a much-desired result without any great loss of life.  But the battle of the Aisne was different.  It was a magnificent effort boldly carried out, and, as was afterward learned, it could not have been successful had the onset been delayed even one day.

General Maunoury’s army, encamped in the forest of the Compiegne, was again the first to give battle, as it had been in the battles of the Marne.  Using some heavy guns that had been sent on from Paris, in addition to the batteries that had been lent him by the British, he secured some well-planned artillery positions on the south bank, and spent the morning in a long-range duel with the German gunners near Soissons.  The Germans had not all taken up their positions on the north side of the Aisne on the morning of September 12, 1914, and the heavy battery of the Fourth British Division did good service early in the morning, dislodging some of these before it wheeled in line beside the big French guns, in an endeavor to shell the trenches and level the barbed-wire entanglements, that an opportunity might be made to cross.  But the results were not encouraging of success, for the reply from the further shore was terrific.  General von Kluck’s army might be worn out, but the iron throats of his guns were untiring, and he knew that huge reenforcements were on the way.