The Guns of August

  Kaiser’s orders after the battle: Tirpitz, II, 93. What Tirpitz wrote afterward: to Admiral von Pohl, Sept. 16 and Oct. 1, Tirpitz, II, 95–7.

  19. Retreat

  General Order No. 2: AF, I, II, 21; Joffre, 189–90.

  A night of “anguish and horror”: Libermann, 37–50.

  “We left Blombay” and further incidents of French retreat quoted from soldiers’ diaries: Hanotaux, V, 221–22; VII, 212, 268; VIII, 76–8.

  “Corporals, not commanders”: Tanant.

  “Sorry to go without a fight”: Hanotaux, VIII, 76.

  Ministers in “consternation” and “panic”: Poincaré, III, 92; Messimy, 364. Events and discussions in Paris during August 25–27 and all direct quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the following sources: Poincaré, III, 89–99 and 118; Gallieni’s Mémoires, 20–21, supplemented by his Carnets, 17–22, 39–46; Hirschauer, 59–63; and above all from Messimy’s helpfully outspoken if confusingly arranged Souvenirs, Part Three, Chap. IV, “Nomination de Gallieni comme Gouverneur Militaire de Paris,” 206–228; Chap. V, “Le Gouvernement et le G.Q.G.,” 229–265 and the last part of Chap. VII, “Le Ministère de la Guerre en Août 1914,” the paragraphs entitled, “La panique parlementaire,” “la journée du 25 Août” and “la journée du 26 Août,” pp. 364–375.

  “Growing soldiers”: Hanotaux, IX, 41. “Le tourisme”: Monteil, 37.

  “You are the master”: qtd. Renouvin, 83.

  Joffre detects “menace of government interference”: Joffre, 193.

  “All the tricks of the trade” et seq.: qtd. Edmonds, 115.

  Robertson’s food dumps and German reaction: Spears, 221.

  Lanrezac’s “headlong” retreat and report to Kitchener: French, 84; Arthur, 38.

  Incident at Landrecies: Maurice, 101–02; Hamilton, 52–3; “Without the slightest warning”: Edmonds, 134.

  “Send help … very critical”: Edmonds, 135.

  Murray’s faint: Childs, 124; MacReady, 206; Wilson, 169.

  Haig’s loan of £2,000: Blake, 37.

  Allenby’s warning and decision to fight at Le Cateau: Smith-Dorrien, 400–01.

  Wilson on telephone to Smith-Dorrien: ibid., 405; Wilson, 168–9.

  Kluck orders pursuit of “beaten enemy”: qtd. Edmonds, 169–70.

  “Strong French forces”: ibid., 211.

  “Brave front of these Territorials”: Smith-Dorrien, 409.

  Battle of Le Cateau: Edmonds’ account, which occupies three chapters and sixty pages, 152–211, has all the relevant information but is too detailed to give a very clear impression. Smith-Dorrien, 400–410, Hamilton, 59–79, and Maurice, 113–14, are more readable. Casualties: Edmonds, 238.

  “Lord French and staff lost their heads”: J. W. Fortescue, Quarterly Review, Oct. 1919, 356.

  Haig offers help to Ist Corps: Edmonds, 291, n. 2.

  Huguet’s telegram: Joffre, 197.

  Sir John French in his nightshirt: Smith-Dorrien, 411.

  “Saving of the left wing”: ibid., 412.

  Conference at St. Quentin: Joffre, 195–97; Lanrezac, 209; Huguet, 67; Spears, 233–37.

  Kluck and Bülow report enemy beaten: Bülow, 64.

  OHL communiqué: qtd. Edmonds, 204.

  Friction between German commanders: Bülow, 68–9, 78; Kluck, 51, 63.

  Hausen’s lodgings and complaints: 182, 197–99, 204–5, 215.

  Kluck’s troops slept along roadside: Briey, evidence of Messimy, March 28.

  Kaiser’s telegram: Kluck, 75.

  “In the hope of celebrating Sedan”: qtd. Maurice, 126–7.

  Kluck proposes “wheel inwards”: Kluck, 76.

  “Sense of victory”: Crown Prince, War Experiences, 59. OHL General Order of August 28: qtd. Edmonds, 235.

  OHL deliberations and “an end to the war”: Tappen, 105.

  Battle of the Mortagne: Giraud, 538; AF, I, II, 305 ff.

  General de Maud’huy: Hanotaux, VI, 274.

  “Courage and tenacity”: Joffre, 203.

  De Langle’s battle on the Meuse: De Langle, 20–21, 139; AF, I, II, 184–201.

  Formation of the Foch Detachment: Foch, 41–47.

  “I have the heads of three generals”: Percin, 131.

  Joffre confessed to sleepless nights: Mayer, 194,

  61st and 62nd divisions lost: Joffre, 209, 212; Spears, 270, n.

  Huguet reports BEF “beaten and incapable”: Joffre, 203–4.

  “Almost insane”: Spears, 256.

  Schneider and Alexandre: Lanrezac, 218–19; Spears, 256–7.

  Lanrezac called Joffre a sapper: Mayer, 176.

  “I suffered an anxiety”: Lanrezac, 282.

  Joffre’s rage at Marle: Lanrezac, 225–6; Joffre, 207.

  Order to Pétain at Verdun: qtd. Pierrefeu, GQG, 132.

  Order to “throw overboard ammunition”: text, Edmonds, Appendix 17; Wilson’s version: Spears, 254; Gough tore it up: Charteris, 21; Smith-Dorrien Wilson’s countermanded it: Smith-Dorrien, 416–17; “Very damping effect”: ibid.

  Toy whistle and drum: Bridges, 87–8.

  Sir John French on Kaiser: Arthur, 37, 43. On Kitchener’s refusal: ibid., 39.

  Ostend operation: Corbett, 99–100, Churchill, 334–35. Asquith in his diary for August 26 (II, 28–9) records a discussion with Kitchener, Churchill, and Grey about “an idea of Hankey’s” (Sir Maurice Hankey, Secretary of the CID) to send 3,000 marines to Ostend which would “please the Belgians and annoy and harass the Germans who would certainly take it to be the pioneer of a larger force.” Winston was “full of ardour” about the plan. It was conceived in response to the shock of the news from Mons and the Allied debacle which Churchill received at 7:00 A.M. on August 24 when Kitchener appeared in his bedroom looking “distorted and discolored” as if his face “had been punched with a fist.” Saying “Bad news” in a hoarse voice, he handed Churchill Sir John French’s telegram reporting the debacle and ending with the ominous proposal to defend Havre. It was hoped by the Ostend operation to draw back some of Kluck’s forces to the coast, a move in which it only partially succeeded; but German nervousness about this threat, combined with rumors of Russian landings, contributed to the German decision to retreat at the Marne.

  “To the sea, to the sea”: MacReady, 206.

  20. The Front Is Paris

  Sheep in the Place de la Concorde: Guard, 17.

  Gallieni’s plans for defense of Paris: Carnets, 46; Gallieni pane, 36–42; Hirschauer, 59–63, 93–4, 101, 129. “Byzantine” arguments: ibid., 176.

  Paris included in Zone of Armies: AF, I, II, 585.

  Gallieni’s 15-minute Council of Defense: Hirschauer, 98–99.

  Work on the defenses, bridges, barricades, taxis, etc.: Gallieni, Mémoires, 33–36 and Gallieni parle, 52; Hirschauer, passim.

  Reappearance of Dreyfus: Paléologue, Intimate Journal of the Dreyfus Case, 309.

  “Nomeny is thus destroyed”: qtd. Poincaré, III, 108.

  Haig’s offer to Lanrezac and Sir John French’s refusal: Lanrezac, 229–31; Spears, 264–67. “Terrible, unpardonable” things: ibid., 266. “C’est une félonie!”: qtd. Lyon, Laurence, The Pomp of Power, N.Y., 1922, 37, n. 22.

  Joffre at Laon superintends Lanrezac: Joffre, 212; Lanrezac, 239. Battle of St. Quentin-Guise: AG, I, II, 67–81.

  Fears Sir John “might be getting out”: Joffre, 213. Conference at Compiègne: ibid., 214; Edmonds, 241.

  “Definite and prolonged retreat”: Edmonds, 241. Maurice quoted, 129; Hamilton quoted, 82–3; MacReady quoted, 105. “Another ten days”: Edmonds, 245, Joffre, 217.

  Wilson sees Joffre at Rheims: Huguet, 75; Wilson, 172.

  Battle of St. Quentin; French sergeant’s account: Sergeant André Vienot, qtd. Hanotaux, VIII, 111–12; Bülow “felt confident”: Bülow, 85; captured French orders: McEntee, 65. Lanrezac showed “greatest quickness and comprehension”: Spears, 276; Germans were “running away”: ibid., 279; Lanrezac-Belin conversation: Lanrezac, 241; Spears, 28
1–2.

  “No longer nourish any hope”: Joffre, 217.

  “Most tragic in all French history”: Engerand, Briey, Rapport. Clausewitz quoted: III, 89. “Wonderful calm”: Foch, 42. What Joffre said to Alexandre: Demazes, 65.

  Preparations to leave Vitry: Joffre, 217. “Broken hopes”: Muller, 27.

  Bülow’s mixed report: qtd. Edmonds, 251, n. 4; Kühl, qtd. AQ, April, 1927, 157.

  Defense of Paris not Joffre’s intention: According to a lecture given at the Sorbonne in 1927 by Commandant Demazes, a member of Joffre’s staff and his biographer, qtd. Messimy, 264.

  M. Touron: Poincaré, III, 111–12.

  Cabinet discussions about leaving Paris, visit of Col. Penelon, Joffre’s advice, his talk with Gallieni on telephone, Gallieni’s talk with Poincaré, Millerand, Doumergue, and Gallieni’s advice to Cabinet: Poincaré, III, 115–122; Joffre, 122; Gallieni, Mémoires, 37–39; Carnets, 48–49.

  Guesde’s outburst: interview with Briand, Revue de Paris, Oct. 1, 1930, qtd. Carnets, 128, n. 1.

  Threat to dismiss Joffre: ibid. The phrase used by Briand was, “de lui fendre l’oreille.”

  Ministers “incapable of firm resolve”: Gallieni, Carnets, 49.

  Taube raids: Poincaré, III, 120; Gallieni, Mémoires, 40, and Carnets, 50; Gibbons, 159. Text of the German proclamation: AF, I, II, Annexe No. 1634.

  German report of Tannenberg and reports of 32 troop trains: Joffre, 222.

  “You have given proof of cran”: Hanotaux, VII, 250.

  Joffre finds De Langle calm, Ruffey nervous: Joffre, 216, 221. Col. Tanant quoted: 22; Ruffey’s conversation with Joffre: Engerand, Bataille, xv.

  Amiens dispatch: The History of the Times, New York, Macmillan, 1952, IV, Part 1, 222–27. “Patriotic reticence”: in Parliament, August 31, qtd. Times, Sept. 1, p. 10. “Liberation of the world”: Corbett-Smith, 237.

  The Russian phantoms: D. C. Somervell, Reign of George V, London, 1935, 106, 117–18, and R. H. Gretton, A Modern History of the English People, 1880–1922, New York, 1930, 924–25, contain many of the stories current at the time. Other references in MacDonagh, 24, Gardiner, 99, Carton de Wiart, 226. Stories told by returning Americans: NYT, Sept. 4, (front page), 5 and 6. Sir Stuart Coats’ letter: NYT, Sept. 20, II, 6:3.

  Operation Order to BEF: Edmonds, Appendix 20.

  Sir John French’s letter to Kitchener: Arthur, 46–7.

  Kitchener’s consternation and telegram to French: ibid., 50; Edmonds, 249.

  Cabinet “perturbed”: Asquith, II, 30. “You will conform”: Arthur, 51–52. Robertson s letter: to Lord Stamfordham, June 23, 1915, Nicolson, George V, 266. This was at a time when Sir John French was supplying Northcliffe with information for a campaign to blame Kitchener for the munitions shortage. King George went to France to talk to army commanders whom he found, as he wrote to Stamfordham, Oct. 25, 1915, to have “entirely lost confidence” in Sir John French and who assured him the feeling “was universal that he must go.” ibid., 267.

  Kitchener never regained confidence: Magnus, 292. Birkenhead quoted: 29.

  Joffre tells Poincaré he has hope, “earnestly” requests BEF to hold, Poincaré exerts influence, Sir John French—“I refused”: Joffre, 223; Poincaré, III, 121–22; Edmonds, 249; French, 97.

  Sir John French’s reply to Kitchener: Arthur, 52–4. “A travesty of the facts”: Asquith qtd. in Living Age, July 12, 1919, 67.

  Kitchener considered himself entitled to give orders to French: Blake, 34.

  Kitchener confers at Downing St., wakes Grey: Arthur, 54; Asquith, II, 30.

  “Irritated, violent”: Huguet, 84.

  Sir John French resents Kitchener’s uniform: French, 101. Kitchener wore it customarily: Esher, Tragedy, 66; Magnus, 281–2.

  “Wearing stars in khaki” and “Nice little man in his bath”: Sir Frederick Ponsonby, Recollections of Three Reigns, New York, 1952, 443–4.

  Meeting at Embassy: Huguet, 84; French, 101–02.

  Kitchener’s telegram to Government and copy to French: Edmonds, 264. One of these medals, found by a French infantry officer in the captured luggage of a German staff officer at the Marne, is now in the possession of the author through the courtesy of the nephew of the finder.

  21. Von Kluck’s Turn

  M. Fabre describes von Kluck: Hanotaux, VIII, 158.

  Kluck’s reasons for turn to southeast: Kluck, 77, 82–84.

  Moltke uneasy: Bauer, 52.

  Schlieffen, “A victory on the battlefield”: qtd. Hanotaux, VII, 197.

  “He has a shout-Hurrah! mood”: Moltke, Erinnerungen, 382.

  Rumors in Luxembourg of Ostend landings and of Russians: Tappen, 115.

  Moltke worries about gaps in right wing: Tappen, 106.

  Bauer’s visit to Rupprecht’s front: Bauer, 53 ff.; Rupprecht, 77–79.

  Kluck’s estimate of enemy strength: Kluck, 91; captured British letter: Edmonds, 244.

  Bülow’s request: Kluck, 83; Kluck’s order of August 31 for forced march: Bloem, 112; Moltke’s approval of inward wheel: Kluck, 83–4; Hausen, 195.

  Cavalry “always halted”: Crown Prince, War Experiences, 64.

  “Much needed” rest and British got away “just in time”: Kluck, 90.

  “Our men are done up”: qtd. Maurice, 150–51. General Maurice adds (152) that after the Battle of the Marne when the Germans were in retreat to the Aisne, “Whole parties of officers were captured because they were too intoxicated to move.”

  Latrines dug in Poincaré’s burial plot: Poincaré, III, 204.

  Mayor of Senlis and six others shot: ibid.; Gallieni, Mémoires, 120. Names on the memorial stone were copied by the author on the site.

  Hausen’s happy night: Hausen, 208–10.

  Moltke’s General Order of Sept. 2: Kluck, 94.

  Kluck orders advance across Marne: Kluck, 100.

  Captain Lepic’s report: AF, I, II, Annexe No. 1772.

  Sixth Army to “cover Paris”: ibid., Annexe No. 1783; Joffre, 225.

  Sixth Army “ne veulent pas marcher”: Gallieni, Mémoires, 52.

  Col. Pont, “It seems no longer possible”: Joffre, 218–19.

  Discussion of new plan at GQG with Belin and Berthelot: ibid., 230–33.

  General Order No. 4: AF, I, II, Annexe No. 1792.

  “The battle of Brienne-le-Château”: Messimy, 379.

  Joffre’s call to Millerand, “urgent and essential”: Poincaré, III, 126; Joffre, 232.

  Gallieni’s call to Joffre: Gallieni, Carnets, 53.

  Maunoury put under Gallieni and Paris put under Joffre: Because these events were taking place at a time of great tension and also because of later efforts during the quarrel over credit for the Marne, to obscure the question of who was under whose orders, this issue is still not entirely clear. The relevant sources are Joffre, 226, 234–5, 239–42; Gallieni, Mémoires, and 43, and Carnets, 53; Joffre’s request to have Paris put under his command is Annexe No. 1785; the order putting Maunoury under Gallieni is Annexe No. 1806; Millerand’s order complying with Joffre’s request is Annexe No. 1958.

  Composition of the Army of Paris: AF, I, II, 772–4. The 55th and 56th Reserve Divisions who were now to fight for the capital had been withdrawn from Lorraine on August 25, causing General Ruffey, whose flank they were supporting in a counteroffensive in the Briey basin, to break off action. Briey, as Ruffey said in his postwar testimony, was thus “the ransom of Paris.” Fighting as a reserve officer with one of these divisions, the 55th, Charles Péguy was killed on September 7.

  Gallieni visits Ebener and Maunoury: Mémoires, 42, 48–9.

  Millerand reports “heart-breaking” facts; decision of Government to leave: Poincaré, III, 125–27.

  Gallieni and Prefect of Police: Mémoires, 51–52; “preferred to be without ministers”: Parle, 38; “Made all my dispositions”: Mémoires, 57.

  Captain Fagalde’s find: Spears, 331–32; his report: AF, I, II, Annexe No. 1848.

  Joffre still urges Government t
o leave: Poincaré, III, 131.

  “Hateful moment had come”: ibid., 134.

  Herrick’s visit and his plans: ibid., 131; Mott, 155–7, 160–63; Carnets, 61

  Gallieni’s farewell to Millerand: Mémoires, 59–64; Parle, 49.

  Proclamations of Government and Gallieni: Hanotaux, IX, 39; Carnets, 55.

  Puns and parody of “Marseillaise”: Marcellin, 41.

  “Days of anguish”: Hirschauer, 142.

  Fifth Army desertions and executions: Lanrezac, 254–56.

  “I never would have believed”: qtd. Edmonds, 283; Germans are “over-hasty”: Huguet, 70.

  Joffre’s secret instructions of Sept. 2: AF, I, II, 829 and Annexes Nos. 1967 and 1993. Order for reinforcements to be taken from Ist and IInd Armies is Annexe No. 1975.

  Gallieni believes it “divorced from reality”: Mémoires, 79; Parle, 50.

  Moves to Lycée Victor-Duruy: Mémoires, 60–61.

  Lieutenant Watteau’s report: Pierrefeu, Plutarque, 102–3.

  “They offer us their flank!”: Hirschauer, 180.

  22. “Gentlemen, We Will Fight on the Marne”

  Gallieni decides instantly to attack: Mémoires, 95–96; Clergerie, 6–7.

  “One of those long conferences”: Clergerie, 127.

  Sixth Army of “mediocre value”; “calm and resolution” of people of Paris: Mémoires, 75, 76.

  “Forty kilometers!”: qtd. Hanotaux, VIII, 222; German prisoners taken asleep: Briey, March 28, evidence of Messimy; “tomorrow or the day after”: qtd. Maurice, 152.

  “The General fears nothing from Paris”: ibid., 153.

  Kluck’s insubordinate letter to OHL of Sept. 4: Kluck, 102.

  Bülow furious at “echelon in advance”: Bülow, 103.

  “We can do no more”: qtd. Hanotaux, VIII, 223; “No cooked food”: ibid., 276; “Broiling heat”: ibid., 279.

  “Decisively beaten” and “utterly disorganized”: Kuhl, 29; Kluck, 102.

  Joffre plans offensive “within a few days”: Annexe No. 2152.

  “Blew the winds of defeat”: Muller, 8o.

  Lanrezac’s “physical and moral depression” and further comments: Joffre, 236–7.

  “A church outside which”: Grouard, 114. As Hausen acknowledged: in Revue Militaire Suisse, Nov. 11, 1919, qtd. Engerand, Bataille, xxi.