contact between the First and Second German Armies and to take them in rear. Under this threat they determined upon a hasty retreat the effect of which made itself gradually felt along the whole of the German front (September 10th-13th).

The part played by Verdun in the defence and by the Third Army in the battle.

After the battle of the Frontiers, the Third Army likewise beat a retreat. Having reached the left bank of the Meuse, the army pivoted on its right which rested on the fortress of Verdun, stopping frequently to delay the pursuit of the Crown Prince's army.

September 6th, 7th and 8th. While the Duke of Wurtemburg pressed heavily upon the right of the Fourth Army (under Langle de Cary), the Crown Prince vigorously set upon the left of Sarrail in an attempt to break completely through the pivot by Trouée de Revigny, valleys of Ornain and Saulx. He hoped to cut off Sarrail who, when attacked at the same time in rear on the Heights of the Meuse, would find himself surrounded and forced to surrender. But these ambitious plans were thwarted by the vigorous action of the left of the Fifth Corps and the Fifteenth which was withdrawn en masse from the Army of Lorraine (under Castelnau).

The Battle of the Marne.—The Third Army in front of Verdun.

September 9th. On its left the Third Army continued to engage the Germans on the flank, while the right wing, though vigorously holding its ground before frontal attacks, remained in a precarious position owing to the standing menace of the German forces in rear on the Hauts-de-Meuse. Sarrail received permission from the General-in-Chief to withdraw his right, if need be, and to leave the permanent garrison of Verdun to secure the defence of the Fortress. But the General of the Third Army held fast with heroic determination and would not give up his entrenched position as long as the Meuse was not liberated and while a ray of hope appeared.

September 10th. The forts of Troyon and Genicourt, on the Hauts-de-Meuse, continued to hold out against heavy artillery bombardment. The barrier of the Meuse was not cleared but, to guard against any eventuality, Sarrail transferred two divisions to the West of Saint-Mihiel.

September 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th. Coming from the German right, the advancing wave gradually overtook the armies of the Prince of Wurtemburg and the Crown Prince. The two latter, mad with rage, were forced to withdraw their forces in echelon, while Sarrail's army pivoting round Verdun harassed the enemy as far as Argonne. Thus the battle of the Marne was won by the same troops who had just undergone the repulse of the battle of the Frontiers and, when overwrought with fatigue, had successfully accomplished a retreat unprecedented in history. The undaunted spirit of Commander-in-Chief Joffre, the well-defined and masterful strategy which he planned and carried out in strict collaboration with his highly courageous army commanders, above all the superhuman bravery of the rank and file, to these factors is due what to-day we call "The Miracle of the Marne".

"The fate of the War was settled at its commencement, in 1914, on the Marne, where the French General indeed saved France against the fierce onslaught of a whole nation."

So wrote the Berliner Tageblatt after the War.

AFTER THE MARNE, THE BATTLE FOR VERDUN

October 1914-August 1915.—The enemy strove to cut off Verdun. On the East, the Salient of