y, September 6th, 1914, that part
of the battles of the Marne which dealt with the driving back of
the Germans to the line of the Ourcq, was in some of its feature
like a hand-to-hand conflict of ages long gone by. Yet, overhead
aeroplanes circled, on every side shells were bursting, the heavy
smell of blood on a hot day mingled with the explosive fumes, but
the Zouaves and the Turcos fought without ceasing and with a force
and spirit that went far to win for the French the cheering news
that village after village had been freed of the invaders.

When the night of that Sunday fell, however, on the line of the
Ourcq, the balm of darkness seemed to be almost as much a forgotten
thing as the blessedness of silence. There was no darkness that
night. As the Germans evacuated each village they set fire to it.
The invaders actually held their machine guns at work in the burning
village until the position was no longer tenable. The wind blew
gustily that night, and all the hours long, the Germans collected
their dead, built great pyres of wood and straw and cremated their
comrades who had fallen on the field of honor.

The next day, at this point, developed fighting of the same general
character. One of the most heroic defenses of General von Kluck's
army was that of the Magdeburg Regiment, which held its advanced post
ten minutes too long and consequently was practically annihilated.
Although the French had everywhere shown themselves superior with the
bayonet and at close infighting, even as the Germans had displayed
an incredible courage in advance under gunfire, and rightly held
their heavy artillery to be the finest in the world, in the melee
around the colors of the Magdeburg Regiment, there was nothing to
choose for either side. The lieutenant color bearer was killed, in
the midst of a ring of dead, and not until almost the whole regiment
had been killed under the impact of far superior numbers, were the
tattered colors taken into the French lines. It was on this day,
Tuesday, September 8, 1914, that the British army realizing that
it had turned the flank of General von Kluck's southern divisions
sent its heavy batteries to the pressure on the banks of the Ourcq.

A graphic picture of the artillery side of the fighting on the
Ourcq was given by one of the artillery officers detached from the
British force.

"Meaux was still a town of blank shutters and empty streets when
we got there this morning," he wrote, "but th