One other feature of the battle remains to be noticed. East of Foch stood De Langle de Cary and east of him Sarrail, his right running northeasterly to the defenses of the fortress of Verdun. Against these two armies pressed the legions of the Duke of Wiirttemberg and the German crown prince in bitter attacks. They could not break through but inflicted heavy losses before they were forced to draw back to keep touch with the general retreat to the Aisne. It was during these days, 12 September, that die Germans seized the strong position of Saint Mihiel, south of Verdun, and held it until it was taken by the troops of the United States just four years later to a day.
Another affair, not a part of the battle of the Mame, but synchronized with it, was the second battle of Nancy. This city had beaten off one attack when the Germans moved forward after their victory at Morhange. Two weeks later they moved forward again, more than 300,000 strong. It was their object to talce the city and come in behind the eastern end of the line that defended the Marne. Opposed to them was a French army under General Castelnau, much wealcened by having to send troops to-the armies engaged to the westward. It held a defensive position in the hills from Pont-a-Mousson to the little river Meurthe, covering Nancy. The kaiser himself was present to encourage the Germans and to make a triumphant entry into Nancy if his army was victorious. General Castelnau proved himself a master of defensive tactics many dales in this war, and this battle was no exception. The enemy fell heavily on his lines but were beaten off with great losses. At the end Castelnau stood firmly in his tracks, and the Germans gave up the struggle. Had they won, they would have closed in behind Sarrail and DeLangle de Cary, defending the region around Verdun, and it would have been rare good fortune on their part if they had escaped complete encirclement. At best they would have been forced southward and Verdun, the buttress of Frendi strength in this region, would have remained in German hands dtuing the war.
7. The Race for the Sea.— When the Ger mans were forced bacic across the Marne they did not stop until they had crossed the Aisne, 40 miles north of the scene of their defeat. The allied armies pursued vigorously and crossed the river hard after them. They clid not go much farther; for the Germans en trenched themselves in the hills overlooldng the Aisne. For several days there was a ding-dong battle along the whole line, the most notable feature being the fighting of the British near Soissons. After crossing the Mame on the 9th
General French recovered his fighting spirit, and from that tinie on the British army did all it could have done.
Here began trench warfare for the dura tion of the war. Two systems of trenches were constructed from the Oise to the Swiss border, between them the cheerless waste of No Man's Land. To locate the battle-line at this time talce a map of France and begin at the Oise just south of Noyon, then pass the pencil eastward to Craonne, on the Aisne, a distance of 40 miles, then carry it eastward around the northern side of Rheims and on to the northern defenses of Verdun, thence southward to and around the western edge of Saint Mihiel and due east to Pont-a-Mousson, on the Moselle, and thence southward to the Swiss border. The re sult will show where the general line stood 20 Sept. 1914. Rheims was thus left to the French, but it was won by General Foch after hard fighting. At once began the demolition of its splendid cathedral by the German artillery. The deed was defended on the ground that the cathedral towers were being used as observa tion posts by the French, an allegation that the French denied. Battering this handsome cathe dral into ruins was bitterly resented in France and shocked the feelings of the neutral world.
The first efforts against the Aisne line showed General Joffre how useless it was to attempt to defeat the entrenched enemy by di rect assault, and he tried to turn his line. He moved General Castelnau and most of his army from Nancy and placed them on his extreme left flank with orders to pass around Noyon and get behind the German line. Castelnau acted promptly, but when he turned around Noyon he found before him the crown prince of Bavaria, his old antagonist at Nancy, and there he halted, his army facing east His efforts to get behind von Kludc thus proved futile. Trying again Joffre assembled an army north of Castelnau's, giving the command to Gen. de Maud'Huy with orders to strike in behind the elongated German line. De Maud' Huy made the attempt, only to find that the Duke of Wurttemberg was before him with an ample army. The practical result was that the entrenched line was extended from Noyon to La Bassee, step by step, and thus was formed that great angle which disfigured the map of France throughout the remainder of the war.