l for the first time upon the British.

All that night the British were under the fire of German artillery.

Sir John French realized the danger of his Maubeuge-Jenlain position,
and on Monday evening, August 23, 1914, realizing the importance
of putting a substantial barrier, such as the Somme or the Oise,
between his force and the enemy, gave orders for the retirement
to be continued at five o'clock the next morning, August 24, 1914.
He had decided upon a new position about the town of Le Cateau,
east of Cambrai. Before dawn, August 25, 1914, the southward march
over rough, hilly country was resumed, and toward evening of August
25, 1914, after a long, hard day's fighting march over the highroads,
in midsummer heat and thundershowers, the Guards Brigade and other
regiments of the Second Corps, wet and weary, arrived at the little
market town of Landrecies. From Landrecies, after an encounter with
a German column, they marched south toward Wassigny on Guise.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF MONS AND RETREAT OF ALLIED ARMIES]

While the night attack on Landrecies was raging, the Germans, taxing
their men to the uttermost, marched four other corps through the
tract of country between the west side of the forest and the road
from Valenciennes to Cambrai. These corps were in a position along
Smith-Dorrien's front before dawn of Wednesday, August, 26, 1914,
and in the earliest hours of the morning it became apparent that
the Germans were determined to throw the bulk of their strength
against the British battalions which had moved up to a position
south of the small town of Solesmes, extending to the south of
Cambrai. Thus placed, this force could shield the Second Corps, now
beginning its retreat under pressure of the German army advancing
from Tournai. These troops under General Snow were destined to
play an important part in the impending battle of Le Cateau.

By sunrise the guns of the four German corps were firing from positions
facing the British left, and gray-green masses of infantry were
pressing forward in dense firing lines. In view of this attack,
General Smith-Dorrien judged it impossible to continue his retreat
at daybreak. The First Corps was at that moment scarcely out of
difficulty, and General Sordet--whose troops had been fighting
hard on the flank of the Fifth French Army, with General Lanrezac,
against General von Buelow's hosts--was unable to help the British,
owing to the exhausted state of his cavalry.