ilization advanced with hectic speed, while, at the same time,
Germany was compelled to transfer ten or perhaps fifteen of her
divisions to the eastern theater of war. It follows, therefore, that
there were about 4,000,000 soldiers in all the armies that confronted
each other in the week of September 3-10, 1914, of whom, probably,
3,000,000 were combatants.

An early estimate placed the German strength at 1,300,000 combatants,
and the Allies at about 1,700,000. A later French estimate put the
Germans at 1,600,000, with the Allies between 1,400,000 and 1,500,000.
The preponderance of efficiency of equipment lay with the Germans.

The plans of the German campaign at this time, so far as they can be
determined from the official orders and from the manner in which the
respective movements were carried out, were three-fold. The first of
these movements was the order given to General von Kluck to swirl his
forces to the southeast of Paris, swerving away from the capital in an
attempt to cut the communications between it and the Fifth French Army
under General d'Esperey. This plan evidently involved a feint attack
upon the Sixth French Army under General Manoury (though General Pare
took charge of the larger issues of this western campaign), coupled with
a swift southerly stroke and an attack upon what was supposed to be the
exposed western flank of General d'Esperey's army. The cause of the
failure of this attempt was the presence of the British army, as has
been shown in the alignment of the armies given above, and as will be
shown in detail later, in the recital of the actual progress of the
fighting. Important as was this movement, however, it was the least of
the three elements in General von Moltke's plan for the shattering of
the great defense line of the Allies.

The second element in this plan was, contrary to Germany's usual
tactics, the determination to attack the center of the French line and
break through. Almost three-quarters of a million men were concentrated
on this point. The armies of General von Buelow, General Hausen and the
Duke of Wuerttemberg were massed in the center of the line. There,
however, General Foch's new Ninth Army was prepared to meet the attack.
It will be remembered that, in the disposition of the troops, these
respective armies were facing each other across the great desolate
plain, the ancient battle ground. If the German center could break
through the French center, and if at the same