Germans across the Marne and to
the Aisne was replete, and so thoroughly did the advance French and
English troops scour that country that when the morning of September 13,
1914, dawned there was scarcely a German soldier left on the southern
side of the Aisne, west of Rheims.

The administration of the German armies meanwhile had been markedly
changed. In the turning movement on the Marne the plan was clearly
outlined, each commander had his instructions, and that was all. But
with the need for changes of plan there was need for a directing head,
and Field Marshal von Heeringen was sent in a hurry to take charge of
the Aisne. This placed both General von Kluck and General von Buelow into
subordinate positions. Field Marshal von Heeringen held a deserved
reputation as one of the most brilliant as well as one of the most
iron-willed of the German military leaders. He had been the backbone of
the crown prince's movement against Troyon, a movement which, given a
day or two longer, might have meant the capture of Verdun.

This was not the only factor that was framing up to give the German
armies a decided advantage. The essential factor of the Aisne was the
arrival of General von Zwehl and his guns. On September 13, 1914, at 6
a. m., Zwehl arrived in Laon, and in less than an hour he was in action
on the Aisne front. The story of General von Zwehl and his guns is
essential to an understanding of the causes that rendered the British
victory of the Aisne a barren and a fruitless victory at best.

The week of September 5-12, 1914, witnessed the entire series of the
battles of the Marne, which drove the Germans across the Marne and
across the Aisne, as well as a German victory which exerted almost as
powerful an influence in favor of the invaders as the check at the Marne
did for the defenders. This victory was the fall of Maubeuge. It is
going too far to say--as several military writers have done--that
General von Zwehl saved Germany, and that unless he had arrived as
opportunely as he did the "German retreat to the Aisne valley would have
been changed into a disastrous and overwhelming rout." But it is not
going too far to say that the successful holding of the Aisne line was
due to the victor of Maubeuge.

General von Zwehl was one of the iron-jawed battle-scarred warriors of
1870, a man with a will as metallic as his own siege guns, and a man
who could no more be deflected from his purpose than a shell could be
diverted