s advance of Generals French and de
Franchet d'Esperey.

"It was the critical moment of the battle. The German General Staff
decided that there was only one method of putting an end to it, and that
was to direct against the army of General Foch in the center an
offensive so violent that the center would be pierced and the French
armies cut in two. If this attack succeeded it would free at once the
German right and separate into two impotent parts the entire French
military force. During the 7th, 8th, and 9th of September the Imperial
Prussian Guard directed to the compassing of that end all its energy and
courage. All in vain. General Foch not only checked the German
onslaught, but drove it back. Thus the French center was not pierced,
Von Kluck was not relieved, and he found himself in a position that grew
more and more critical. The general retreat of the German armies was the
inevitable result. To this decision the German General Staff came, and
on the evening of September 9 orders were given to all the armies of the
right and center to retire sixty kilometers to the rear. Thus the battle
of the Marne was won by the French."

The writer then goes on to say: "It was on September 5, toward the end
of the morning, that the general order of General Joffre, leading to the
great battle, reached the French armies. Each separate army immediately
turned and vigorously engaged in battle. The army of Manoury, the first
to get ready, sprang forward to the attack. It thrust back the German
forces which were at first inferior in number, and it attained on the
evening of the 5th the Pinchard--St. Soulplet--Ver front; but Von Kluck
threw two army corps over the Marne and hurled himself on Manoury. He
summoned from Compiegne all the reenforcements at his disposal, and he
placed all his heavy artillery between Vareddes and May-en-Multien.
During the day of September 6th Manoury made headway toward the Ourcq.
On the following day he advanced at a lesser pace on its left bank,
taking and then losing the villages of Marcilly and Chambry--murderous
struggles maintained amid terrible heat. General Gallieni, who followed
the battle with the utmost attention, hurriedly came to the assistance
of Manoury; he sent to him on the 7th and 8th the Seventh Division,
which had just arrived at Paris, half of the division being transferred
by rail, the other half by means of thousands of automobiles
requisitioned for the purpose. General Joffre likewi