e General's anxiety seems to have lessened later in the afternoon,
for at 5 p.m. a message from the 2nd Corps said that the commander was
"well satisfied with the situation."

The 3rd Division was now effecting a retirement south of the canal to
a line running west through Nouvelles, and this movement had the
inevitable result of bringing back the 5th Division and handing over
the bridges of the canal to the German cavalry.

Every report I was now receiving at Headquarters pointed to
the early necessity of a retirement of the British Forces in view of
the general strategic situation, and I did not, therefore, deem it
desirable to interfere with the 2nd Corps commander.

Reports of German activity on his front continued to be received from
the G.O.C. 2nd Corps. At 7.15 p.m. he asked for permission to retire
on Bavai; at 9.45 he was again reassured--a Divisional Headquarters
which had retired was now "moving forward again"; and at 10.20 p.m. he
reported, "casualties in no way excessive; all quiet now."

The line which the 2nd Corps had taken up for the night showed an
average retirement of three miles south of the canal. During the late
afternoon the advanced troops of the 1st Corps were engaged, but not
seriously threatened; they held their ground.

During the late afternoon and evening very disquieting reports had
arrived as to the situation on my right. These were confirmed later in
a telegram from French Headquarters, which arrived at half-past eleven
at night. It clearly showed that our present position was
strategically untenable; but this conclusion had been forced upon me
much earlier in the evening when I received a full appreciation of the
situation as it then appeared at French General Headquarters. General
Joffre also told me that his information led him to expect that I
might be attacked the next day by at least three German Corps and two
Cavalry Divisions.

Appreciating the situation from the point of view which all reports
now clearly established, my last hope of an offensive had to be
abandoned, and it became necessary to consider an immediate retreat
from our present forward position.

I selected the new line from Jerlain (south-east of
Valenciennes) eastwards to Maubeuge. This line had already been
reconnoitred. The Corps and Divisional Staff Officers who were called
into Headquarters to receive orders, especially those of the 2nd
Corps, thought our position was much more seriously threatened tha