nothing that I have seen or heard from
either British or French leads me to believe that our army has been
smashed or the Allies demoralized.

It is impossible to estimate our own losses. Our wounded are being
brought back into Havre and Rouen, and undoubtedly there are large
numbers of them. But, putting them at the highest, it is clear to me,
from all information gained during the last five days, that there has
been no overwhelming disaster, and that in the terrible actions fought
on the four days from the 23d to the 27th, and afterward in the further
retirement from the line of Cambrai and Le Cateau, swinging southward
and eastward upon St. Quentin, our main forces, which were pressed by
enormous numbers of the enemy, succeeded in withdrawing in good order,
without having their lines broken, while inflicting a terrific
punishment upon the German right.

As I shall show in this narrative, retreats which seem fatal when seen
close at hand and when described by those who belong to broken fragments
of extended sections, are not altogether disastrous in their effect when
viewed in their right perspective, away from the immediate misery which
is their inevitable accompaniment.

German audacity of attack against the heroic courage of the French and
British forces, who fight every mile of ground during their retirement,
is leading the enemy into a position from which there will be no retreat
if their lines are broken. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of
thousands of people who know nothing of the great issues and who are
possessed by the great, blind fear which has driven them from their
towns, villages, and homes.

When the Germans swept around Lille they found, to their amazement, that
this town, surrounded by forts, had been abandoned, and they had only to
walk inside. This easy access to a town which should have been defended
to the last gasp opened the way to the west of France.

The left wing of the French, which was to the west of Mons, was
supported by the English troops, all too weak to sustain the pressure of
the tremendous odds which began to surge against them; and, realizing
this perilous state of affairs, the brain at the centre of things, the
controlling brain of Gen. Joffre and his Headquarters Staff, decreed
that the northwest corner of France was untenable and that the main army
of defense should withdraw into a stronger and closer formation.

It was then that the great panic began, increasing in spe