s drawn to a close. A resume
covering the military events it has produced brings to view two
distinct phases of the campaign. The first phase comprises the period
from Aug. 3 to Oct. 27, and consists of a tenacious effort to carry
through the original plan of war of the German General Staff: to
strike a crushing blow at France, and after putting her "hors de
combat," to turn on the enemy in the East. The second phase comprises
the time from Oct. 27 to the present, and consists in the pursuance of
military aims forming the direct reversal of the original ones.

The campaign against France, in consequence of the German plan of
strategy the first one to come into prominence, can, in its first
phase, be divided into four periods.

The first period comprises the operations in Belgium, German Lorraine
and Alsace, from Aug. 3 to Aug. 23, the day before the Battle for the
Invasion of France, commonly, but incorrectly known as the battle of
Mons.

The main blow at France was to come through Belgium. Five German
armies out of eight were hurled against this gateway to Northern
France. In Lorraine and Alsace the Germans were temporarily to remain
on the defensive. The protection of Lorraine was intrusted to the
Bavarian (Sixth) Army, that of Alsace to the remaining two armies.

The French plan of operation was to check the invasion of Belgium on
the line Tongres-Liege-Longwy, where the Belgian Army, from a strictly
military point of view, forming the advance guards of the French Army
of the North, was holding strong positions, and with superior forces
to strike at the German Army of Lorraine. The aim was, avoiding Metz,
to reach the Moselle near Trier through the valley of the Saar, and to
roll up the German Army of the North from its left wing. An invasion
of Alsace was merely to satisfy political aspirations.

The German advance in Belgium, however, remained unchecked, and in
Lorraine the battles of Dieuze and Saarbourg on Aug. 20 decided the
issue in favor of the Bavarians. In Alsace the French were victorious
over the Eighth Army and took Muelhausen, while further north, between
Muenster and Shirmeck, the Seventh Army checked the French invasion.

Meanwhile the German avalanche in Belgium had reached the second line
of defense, Brussels-Namur-Longwy, before the French Army of the
North. The capture of Namur prompted the French staff to recall
advance guards, which had reached the fortress just as it surrendered,
and to a