had a double problem, for he was wrestling with General von Buelow
to hold the southern edge of the Sezanne Plateau, while General von
Hausen's Saxon Army was trying to turn his right flank. A violent
attack, which, for the space of over two hours seemed likely to
succeed, was launched by the Duke of Wuerttemberg against General
Langle and the Fourth Army. The attack was repelled, but the French
losses were proportionately great. There could be no denial that
many such attacks could break through the line. General Sarrail's
army, fighting a losing game, showed marvelous stubbornness and
gameness, but even so, it could not resist being pushed south of
Fort Troyon, itself unable to support the battering it might expect
to receive when the German siege guns should be brought into place.

[Illustration: BATTLE OF THE MARNE--END OF GERMAN RETREAT AND THE
INTRENCHED LINE ON THE AISNE RIVER]

At every point but one the Germans had a right to deem the day
successful. The only reversal had been a minor one before the forest
of Crecy. Yet, of all the generals on that front Von Kluck alone
was in a position to see the gravity of the situation. The British
had caught him on the flank as he tried to pierce the left wing
of General d'Esperey's army, and if he should now retreat, that
army could envelop him and thus catch him between two fires.

Next morning, Monday, September 7, 1914, another glorious summer
morning, saw a resumption of the battle along exactly the same
lines, with the same persistent attack and defense along the eastern
part of the front, and with the British making full use of the
blunder made by the German right. General von Kluck had realized
his plight, but, even so, he had not secured an understanding of
the size of the force that was threatening his flank, and he sent
as a reenforcement a single army corps which had been intrenched
near Coulommiers on the Grand Morin. The British had three full
army corps and were well supplied with cavalry and artillery. Yet
Coulommiers was Von Kluck's headquarters and actually, when the
Germans were driven back and the British troops entered the town,
Prince Eitel, the second son of the kaiser; General von Kluck and
his staff were compelled to run down to their motor cars and escape
at top speed along the road to Rebais, leaving their half-eaten
breakfast on the table, and their glasses of wine half emptied.
One of the most dramatic cavalry actions of this period of the