e of
Wuerttemberg and the crown prince also contributed to render inevitable
an immediate retirement of the allied right and center. The French
army that had invaded Lorraine--a grave strategical blunder--had also
come to grief. The Bavarians from Metz had broken its left wing on the
20th and driven it back over the frontier. De Castelnau was fighting
desperately for Nancy on a long front from Pont-a-Mousson down to St.
Die. On the 24th the British line fell back to the vicinity of
Maubeuge, where Von Kluck attempted to close it in. Sir John French
frustrated the plan by further retiring to a line running through Le
Cateau and Landrecies, August 25, 1914. After a violent holding battle
during two days the whole British front had fallen back to St. Quentin
and the upper valley of the Oise.

It was General Joffre's plan to retreat to a position south of the
Marne, where his reserves would be available, a movement which was
successfully carried out by all parts of the allied line during the
following week. By September 5, 1914, this line extended from the
southeast of Paris, along the southern tributaries of the Marne,
across the Champagne to a point south of Verdun. Beyond that, De
Castelnau was still holding the heights in front of Nancy. The
powerful German advance had forced the Allies back some hundred and
thirty miles, almost to the shelter of the Paris fortifications. It
seemed only a matter of hours to the fall of Paris when General Joffre
began his counteroffensive on September 6, 1914. Attempting to pierce
and envelop the allied left center, Von Kluck marched across the front
of the British to strike at the Fifth French Army commanded by General
d'Esperey, who had replaced Lanrezac after the Charleroi defeat. But
the turn of the tide was at hand. The Sixth French Army from Paris,
under General Manoury, fiercely attacked Von Kluck's rear guards on
the Ourcq; Sir John French drove against the right of the main German
advance; the Fifth and Ninth French armies held the front of Von Kluck
and Von Buelow; the Fourth French Army south of Vitry resisted the
piercing movement of the Duke of Wuerttemberg, and the Third French
Army (General Sarrail) checked the crown prince at Verdun, while De
Castelnau at Nancy entered upon the final stage of the battle of
Lorraine. The first great German offensive had failed in its purpose.
By September 12, 1914, the whole German front was retreating
northward. The Aisne plateau, where