he
tobacco for the whole battle front was commandeered and sent to the
trenches under the plateau of Craonne and on the hill to the westward,
where the British First Army Corps was placed. Such, for the two weeks
between September 22, 1914, and October 6, 1914, was the trench warfare
during the second phase of the battle of the Aisne, a condition never
after repeated in the war, for such a feat as the crossing of the Aisne
could scarcely be duplicated. It was gallant, it was magnificent, and it
was costly--the British casualty list for September 12 to October 6,
1914, being, killed, wounded and missing, 561 officers and 12,980
men--but it was useless, and only served to give the Allies a temporary
base whereby General Foch was successful in checking the German attempt
to capture the Rheims-Verdun railway. It was a victory of bravery, but
not a victory of result.

During all these operations the Belgian army, now at Antwerp, had
harassed the German troops by frequent sorties. The capture of the city
was at once undertaken by the German Staff, following the stalemate
created by the operations at the Aisne.

CHAPTER XXV

"THE RACE TO THE SEA"

The Germans, having failed in their first enveloping movement, attempted
a second after the battle of the Marne. They tried to repeat their
maneuver of August, endeavoring to overwhelm the French left; while the
French, on their side, tried to overwhelm the German right. Each of
these armies, by a converging movement, gradually drew its forces toward
the west. No sooner did the Germans bring up a new corps on their right
than the French brought up another on their left. Thus the front of the
battle ascended more and more to the west and north until arriving at
the sea it could go no farther. This is what has been called by French
military critics "The Race to the Sea." In this race to the sea the
Germans had a great advantage over the French. A glance at the map is
enough to make it understood. The concave form of the German front made
the lines of transportation shorter; they were within the interior of
the angle, while the French were at the exterior. On the German side
this movement drew into the line more than eighteen army corps, or
twelve active corps, six reserve corps, and four cavalry corps.

[Illustration: These German soldiers are dragging a great siege gun into
position for use in refortifying the city of Antwerp.]

On the French side it resulted in the pos