ich was far the most important, General Joffre determined to
give up the advantage obtained at Guise, to order the two successful
army corps under Maunoury, who had knocked the Prussian Guard at that
point, to retire, and to continue the general retreat until the Allied
line should be evenly stretched from Paris to Verdun. The whole
situation may be put in a diagram as follows: You have the Allied line
in an angle, ABC. You have opposed to it the much larger German forces
in a corresponding angle, DEF. Farther east you have a continuation of
the French line, more or less immovable, on the fortified frontier of
Alsace-Lorraine at M, opposed by a greater immovable German force at
N. At P you have coming up as far as Amiens large German bodies
operating in the west, and at Q a small newly-formed French body, the
6th French Army, supporting the exposed flank of the British
contingent at A, near Noyon. Meanwhile you have directed towards S,
behind Paris, and coming up at sundry other points, a concentration of
the mass of manoeuvre.

[Illustration: Sketch 64.]

It is evident that if the French offensive at B which has successfully
pushed in the German elbow at E round Guise is still sent forward, and
even succeeds in breaking the German line at E, "the elbow," the two
limbs into which the Germans will be divided, DE and EF, are each
superior in number to the forces opposed to them, and that DE in
particular, with the help of P, may very probably turn AB and its new
small supporter at Q, roll it up, and begin a decisive victory, while
the other large German force, EF, may press back or pierce the smaller
opposed French force, BC.

Meanwhile you would not only be risking this peril, but you would also
be wasting your great mass of manoeuvre, SS, which is still in process
of concentration, most of it behind Paris, and which could not
possibly come into play in useful time at E.

It is far better to pursue the original plan to continue the retreat
as far as the dotted line from Paris to Verdun, where you will have
the whole German force at its farthest limit of effort and
corresponding exhaustion, and where you will have, after the salutary
delay of the few intervening days, your large mass of manoeuvre, SS,
close by to Paris and ready to strike.

From such a diagram we see the wisdom of the decision that was taken
to continue the retirement, and the fruits which that decision was to
bear.

The whole episode is most emin