for had the Germans succeeded in taking this,
Verdun would have been surrounded. No army and no generalship could have
done more than the Third Army and General Sarrail did, but they could
not hold their ground before Troyon. On September 7, 1914, the way to
Troyon was open, and the army of the crown prince prepared to demolish
it. Then came September 9, 1914, when the allied successes in the
western part of the Marne valley allowed them to send reenforcements.
Thus the Third Army was perceptibly strengthened and hope for Troyon
grew. One day more, certainly two days more, and nothing could have
saved Troyon, but with the whole German line in retreat, the army of the
crown prince could not be left on the advance.

Incredible though it may seem, when the army of the crown prince
besieging Troyon withdrew, that little fort was a mere heap of ruins.
There were exactly forty-four men left in the fort and four serviceable
guns. Even a small storming party could have carried it without the
least trouble, and its natural strength could have been fortified in
such wise as to make it a pivotal point from which to harry Verdun.

At the extreme east, on that ring of wooded heights known as the Grande
Couronne de Nancy, and drawn up across the Gap of Nancy, the Second
French Army, under General de Castelnau, successfully resisted the drive
of the Crown Prince of Bavaria. Great hopes had been placed on this
attack, and on September 7, 1914, the German Emperor had viewed the
fight at Nancy from one of the neighboring heights. Surely a victory for
the German arms might come either at the point where stood the German
Emperor or where led the crown prince. But the fortunes of war decided
otherwise. Far from losing at Nancy, the French took the offensive.
After an artillery duel of terrific magnitude, they drove the Bavarian
army from the forests of Champenous and took Amance. The line of the
Meurthe was then found untenable by the Germans, and on September 12,
1914, General de Castelnau reoccupied the town of Luneville, which had
been in the hands of the Germans since August 22, 1914.

With General von Kluck in retreat on September 7, 1914, General von
Buelow hastening to the rear on September 8, 1914, with the Duke of
Wuerttemberg falling back on September 9, 1914, and the Imperial Crown
Prince and the Bavarian Crown Prince retreating to an inner ring of
defense on September 10, 1914, the battles of the Marne may, in a
measure, be sa