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Show CAUSE OF THE GERMAN RETREAT. W hen what is now known as the "Battle of the Marne" is given its place in history, (he source of Or.r-man Or.r-man defeat, we predict, will be traced to General Alexander Von Kluck or to these who directed his movements from Mons ;md Maiibeuge to a point near Coulommiers miles to the east of Paris The Gernian HrIii wing under (Jen-era (Jen-era I Von Kluck moved down from Mons to Coulommiers at a break neck speed, The 130 miles was covered In two weeks. At that raie, the lines of communication must have been left Insecure and the men and horses must have arrived on the outskirl-of outskirl-of Paris in an almost exhausted condition con-dition Then at this rront critical a flanking movement was started start-ed evldentb for the purpose of cut ting off from Paris a big part of the French army. From Coulommiers, General Von Kluck had begun an eastward march. If was then that the British troops began n frontal attack and the army of the Citj of Paris fell on the flank of the Gernian army, and, by pushing home a tre mendcus attack placed the entire force of the Invaders in danger of being cut off and captured. When the German retreat was sounded, tho arm was without adequate supplies, the men and horses were fagged, and, in that condition, a calamity seemed In pitable If thai part of the Kaiser's Kai-ser's army succeeds in extricating It self, the retirement will compare with that executed by General French who. on Saturday, August 2C, found himself driven to the last extreme and yet managed by almost superhuman superhu-man efforts to escape capture, after a running fight of 60 miles. But Von Kluck's mistake his turned a brilliant military movement into a defeat from which Germany may never recover. When the German right wing gave way, the entire plan of invasion seems to have miscarried miscar-ried and this one weakness exposed the whole offensive campaign to a dangerous counter move, and a triumphant tri-umphant march, extending over a period of more than a month was suddenly turned into a dismal retreat. The derma ns must nave under rates I the fighting ability of the allies All military experts pointed out that Von Kluck's swing to the north and east of Paris ntfd then to the southeast was fraught with danger while there was any considerable force of the allies al-lies in and around the fortificatioi.8 of Paris capable of making a sortie The Germans evidently ignored this ! their successes having rendered them over-confident and careless. Then came the crash, and the German's mighty war machine was stopped in a day and within a week it was disabled. |