must be taken with
him on his retreat, or become valuable booty. Leaving a few batteries to
guard the crossings of the river, the Ourcq division of the German right
retreated in good order, to rejoin their comrades who had been so
unexpectedly mauled by the British. The honor of this day was,
curiously, not to the victorious, but to the defeated army. Had General
von Kluck done nothing other than conduct his army in retreat as he did,
he would have shown himself an able commander. Sir John French and
General d'Esperey followed up their advantage. The artillery fire of the
British was good and in a running fight, such as this retreat, the light
field artillery of the French did terrible execution. The brunt of the
British fighting was at La Tretoire. General d'Esperey fought steadily
forward all day, driving the retreating army as closely as he could, but
proceeding warily because of General von Kluck's powerful
counterattacks. The fighting was continuous from the first break of
daylight until after dusk had fallen, and it was in the twilight that
the French Army at last carried Montmirail on the Petit Morin, a feat of
strategic value, since it exposed the right flank of Von Buelow's army,
exposed by the retreat of General von Kluck.

From this review of the forced retirement of General von Kluck, it will
be seen that the German right was compelled to sustain an attack at
three points, from the Sixth French Army on the banks of the Ourcq,
from the British army in the region of Coulommiers and from the Fifth
French Army near Courtacon. Each of these attacks was of a widely
different character. The result of this attack has been shown in the
summary of the three days (four days on the Ourcq) which resulted in the
British capture of Coulommiers and in the French capture of Montmirail.
This was General Joffre's counteroffensive, and it developed in detail
almost exactly along the lines that he had laid down.

The scene of the fighting across the west bank of the Ourcq was that of
a wide-open country, gently undulating, dotted with comfortable
farmhouses, and made up of a mosaic of green meadow lands and the
stubble of grain fields. The German heavy guns came into action as soon
as the French offensive developed. Tremendous detonations that shook the
earth, and which were followed by sluggish clouds of an oily smoke
showed where the high-explosive shells had struck. Already, by the
evening of the first day's fighting, there