ner, the army under Langle was thrust back
to the position here shown, and pressed there by the Wurtembergers and
the Saxons opposed to it. Meanwhile further French forces, D and E,
had also been driven back from the Upper Meuse, and were retiring with
Verdun as a pivot, leaving isolated the little frontier town of
Longwy. This was not seriously fortified, had held out with only
infantry work and small pieces, and had not been thought worthy of
attack by a siege train. It surrendered to the Crown Prince upon
Friday, 28th August.

[Illustration: Sketch 61.]

[Illustration: Sketch 62.]

On that date, then, the two opposing lines might be compared, the one
to a great encircling arm AA, the elbow of which was bent at Guise,
the other to a power BB which had struck into the hollow of the elbow,
and might expect, with further success, to bend the arm so much more
at that point as to embarrass its general sweep.

Those who saw the position as a whole on this Friday, the 28th of
August, wondered whether or not the French Commander-in-chief would
order the continuation of the successful local attack at Guise, and so
attempt to break the whole German line. He did not give this order,
and his reasons for retiring in the face of such an opportunity may be
briefly stated thus:--

1. The French forces in line from Verdun to La Fere, and continued by
the British contingent to the neighbourhood of Noyon, were still
gravely inferior to the German forces opposed to them. Even,
therefore, if the French success at Guise had been pushed farther, and
had actually broken the German line, either half of the French line
upon either side of the forward angle would have been heavily
outnumbered by the two limbs of the enemy opposed to each, and that
enemy might perfectly well have defeated, though separated, each
portion of the force opposed to it.

2. To the west, at the position FF on Sketch 62, were acting large
bodies of the enemy, which had swept, almost without meeting
resistance, through Arras to Amiens. Against that advance there was
nothing but small garrisons of French Territorials, which were brushed
aside without difficulty.

Now these bodies, though they were mainly of cavalry which were
operating thus to the west, had already cut the main line of
communications from Boulogne, upon which the British had hitherto
depended, and were close enough to the Allied left flank to threaten
it with envelopment, or, rather, to come up