Seijt*^iiiTxM- 19, 1914 
LAND AND WATER 
THE WAR BY LAND. 
By HILAIRE BELLOG. 
THF WESTERN THEATRE OF WAR. 
WH KN these notes of last week were 
written it was already evident that 
the extreme (and lar<^est) bodies of 
tin- (lennan invasion — those near Paris 
had already unexjx'etedly found 
themselves in the j)resenee of a larj^e reserve 
aeeumulated by the French eommanders Ix'hiiid 
J'aris. 'J'hey had thus Wfore them siiperior numbers 
and must retire. 
It was tluMi evident that the only ehanee the 
rScrmans had of relievlujj^ or ne<rativin<^ this pn-ssure 
U])on theii' extreme right near Paris was to break 
tluough s(»mewher<' ujxtn the long line between Paris 
and the foitiKed line \'erdun — Tonl. This French 
line (with its iJritish contingent towards the left of 
it) ran in a great curve behind — that is, south of— 
I'rovins, La Fere ('hamj)enoise, Sommesous, V^itry-le- 
Fraucois, and Jievigny. It was f\n-ther evident that 
the chief (lenuiiu ])rcssme in the attempt to break 
the French line would fall somewhere in the neigh- 
lM>m-ho(Kl of Vitry-le-Francois. Whether the Germans 
w«uld succeed in this (u- whether they would be com- 
pelled to a general retreat was still doubtful. 
Since writing thus last week, events have proved 
that the (icruian elfort to break through was doomed. 
The alternative to such success ujiou their jiart, a 
general retirement, was therefore undeitakcn, and 
that retirement proceeded throughout Friday, 8atui-- 
day, and Sun<lay, until, u])on Monday last, tlu; 
(icrmans were holding a line jwi'idlel with, and north 
of, the Kiver Aisne, and occupying cei-tain heights 
which piss above and along the liver Suippe, a 
tributary of the Aisne The Allied bodies following 
the (Jevmaus in this retreat passed from near 
l^iris, through Meaux and Soissons; from Provius, 
through Montmirail and Chateau Thierry ; fn^m 
Sezanne, through Epernay ; from Vitry-le-Francois, 
through Chalons towards IMieims ; and, on the extrenu; 
right, from I'evigny up to the southern i^ih^e <jf tlu; 
Forest of Argonne, near Ste. Menehould. The whole 
of this vast movement of rapid retirement upon the 
part of the German forces, and of equally i-apid 
advance upon the part of their pursuers, Avill be known 
to history under the general title of The Hxtilv. of 
THE M.4RNK. 
Before understanding an3-thing in detail it is 
necessary to understand it in general, and the general 
scheme of what ha])pened in the course of last week, 
that is, of the sudden retirement of the (Jeruian 
right wing from in front of I'aris, with all the 
vast eonserpiences that have folhnved upon that 
retirement, may be put into the shajK^ of a fairly 
simple diagram. 
