GENERAL FOCH ARRIVES AT THE COUNCIL
M. Ribot. General Foch. M. Painleve.
CELEBRATING THE VICTORY OF THE MARNE
THE MILlTAl{Y REPRESENTATIVES OF · THE ALLIES AT THE VERSAILLES COUNCIL
General Petain, Commander-in-Chief of the French Armies; Field-Marshal Sir D. Haig, Commander-in-Chief of the British Armies in France; Marshal Foch, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies;.General Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of the American Forces in France.
AN HISTORIC GROUP OF COMMANDERS-IN-CHIEF AT MARSHAL FOCH'S HEADQUARTERS
The Battle of the Marne
The action of General Foch, who was handling the French centre, contributed greatly to the Allied victory
September 6, 1917
Today is by common consent regarded as the third anniversary of the battle of the Marne, which must always be one of the great landmarks in human history. In that mighty conflict civilization was saved, and German aspirations for the domination of the world were irretrievably shattered. The Marne decided the subsequent course of the war, for it stemmed the tide of invasion in the West, and imposed upon the Germans a defensive attitude which they have never since been able to change.
It is not surprising that the true facts about the Marne have been successfully disguised from the German nation, and that large numbers of Germans are still unaware of the irrevocable outcome of the encounter. Their rulers remain unwilling to let them know that from the moment issue was joined on the Marne it became clear that, whatever happened afterwards, Germany could not possibly win the war. The interest of France centres to a great extent upon the triumph of Verdun, but we think that when a true perspective is restored it will be seen that the Marne must always be France’s greatest glory. Caught unprepared, hurled back ruthlessly from their own frontier, unaided save by the small British Army, the troops of France won deathless fame by defeating the hosts which for forty years had been making ready for that great day.
It is not surprising that the true facts about the Marne have been successfully disguised from the German nation, and that large numbers of Germans are still unaware of the irrevocable outcome of the encounter. Their rulers remain unwilling to let them know that from the moment issue was joined on the Marne it became clear that, whatever happened afterwards, Germany could not possibly win the war. The interest of France centres to a great extent upon the triumph of Verdun, but we think that when a true perspective is restored it will be seen that the Marne must always be France’s greatest glory. Caught unprepared, hurled back ruthlessly from their own frontier, unaided save by the small British Army, the troops of France won deathless fame by defeating the hosts which for forty years had been making ready for that great day.
The fullness of the achievement of the Army of France is revealed only as it recedes, and as we are able gradually to measure all the consequences which flowed from it. September 6 is chosen as the anniversary, for upon the morning of that day Marshal Joffre struck with his full force. As a matter of fact, the battle hung in the balance until the evening of September 9, when the order for the German retreat was issued.
The movements which led to the battle really began on September 3, when General von Kluck and the German First Army changed front before Paris. Von Kluck, as we now know, had lost touch with the Second Army on his left. He swerved south-eastward and crossed the Marne, leaving a single Reserve Corps to guard his flank on the line of the Ourcq. The German General Staff thought he could disregard the British Army on the left of the Allied line, and evidently believed it to be out of action. His object was to envelop the French flank and roll up the French armies eastward while the rest of the German forces fell upon their front, Paris and the British could afterwards be gobbled up at leisure. We know the sequel. Neglected by the German calculations, the French Sixth Army was forming afresh on Paris. Directed by the rapid foresight of General Gallieni, led brilliantly by General Maunoury, the Sixth Army swept upon the Ourcq, where the battle actually began on the afternoon of September 5. Von Kluck skilfully recrossed the Marne when he realized his danger, but the German plans were by that time dislocated, for at dawn on September 6 Marshal Joffre had set his entire line in motion. The action of General Foch, who was handling the French centre, contributed greatly to the Allied victory, as did also the remarkable battle of the Grand Couronne de Nancy, fought by General Castelnau, which was still in progress.
The British Army played an important, prompt, and honourable part in the battle of the Marne. but its supreme achievement came less than two months afterwards at the first battle of Ypres. The Marne broke the Kaiser’s aims, and the first battle of Ypres sealed his doom. He poured out his hordes against our thin lines in the vain hope of reaching the Channel ports. On one black day he all but succeeded, and had not the heroes of our old Army died in their tracks the result of the Marne might have been undone. Ypres was the complement and the seal of the Marne.
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The movements which led to the battle really began on September 3, when General von Kluck and the German First Army changed front before Paris. Von Kluck, as we now know, had lost touch with the Second Army on his left. He swerved south-eastward and crossed the Marne, leaving a single Reserve Corps to guard his flank on the line of the Ourcq. The German General Staff thought he could disregard the British Army on the left of the Allied line, and evidently believed it to be out of action. His object was to envelop the French flank and roll up the French armies eastward while the rest of the German forces fell upon their front, Paris and the British could afterwards be gobbled up at leisure. We know the sequel. Neglected by the German calculations, the French Sixth Army was forming afresh on Paris. Directed by the rapid foresight of General Gallieni, led brilliantly by General Maunoury, the Sixth Army swept upon the Ourcq, where the battle actually began on the afternoon of September 5. Von Kluck skilfully recrossed the Marne when he realized his danger, but the German plans were by that time dislocated, for at dawn on September 6 Marshal Joffre had set his entire line in motion. The action of General Foch, who was handling the French centre, contributed greatly to the Allied victory, as did also the remarkable battle of the Grand Couronne de Nancy, fought by General Castelnau, which was still in progress.
The British Army played an important, prompt, and honourable part in the battle of the Marne. but its supreme achievement came less than two months afterwards at the first battle of Ypres. The Marne broke the Kaiser’s aims, and the first battle of Ypres sealed his doom. He poured out his hordes against our thin lines in the vain hope of reaching the Channel ports. On one black day he all but succeeded, and had not the heroes of our old Army died in their tracks the result of the Marne might have been undone. Ypres was the complement and the seal of the Marne.
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The Versailles meeting
The Allies are united in heart and will, not by any hidden designs, but by their open resolve to defend civilization against an unscrupulous and brutal attempt at domination
February 4, 1918
The following official statement is issued: The meetings of the third session of the Supreme War Council were held at Versailles on January 30 and 31 and February 1 and 2. In addition to the members of the Supreme War Council itself, viz, M Clemenceau and M Pichon for France, Mr Lloyd George and Lord Milner for Great Britain, Signor Orlando and Baron Sonnino for Italy, and the military representatives of the Supreme War Council - General Weygand, General Sir R H Wilson, General Cadorna, and General Bliss - there were also present for the greater part of the purely military discussions the French and British Chiefs of the General Staffs, General Foch and General Sir W Robertson, the Italian Minister of War (General Alfieri), and the Commanders-in-Chief on the Western front - General Petain, Field Marshal Sir D Haig, and General Pershing.
Mr A H Frazier, First Secretary of the United States Embassy in Paris, was present during the political discussions.
The Supreme War Council gave the most careful consideration to the recent utterances of the German Chancellor and of the Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, but was unable to find in them any real approximation to the moderate conditions laid down by all the Allied Governments. This conviction was only deepened by the impression made by the contrast between the professed idealistic aims with which the Central Powers entered upon the present negotiations at Brest-Litovsk and their now openly disclosed plans of conquest and spoliation. In the circumstances, the Supreme War Council decided that the only immediate task before them lay in the prosecution, with the utmost vigour and in the closest and most effective cooperation, of the military effort of the Allies until such time as the pressure of that effort shall have brought about in the enemy Governments and peoples a change of temper which would justify the hope of the conclusion of peace on terms which would not involve the abandonment, in face of an aggressive and unrepentant militarism, of all the principles of freedom, justice, and the respect for the law of nations which the Allies are resolved to vindicate.
The decisions taken by the Supreme War Council in pursuance of this conclusion embraced not only the general military policy to be carried out by the Allies in all the principal theatres of war, but more particularly the closer and more effective co-ordination under the Council of all the efforts of the Powers engaged in the struggle against the Central Empires. The functions of the Council itself were enlarged and the principles of unity of policy and action initiated at Rapallo in November last received still further concrete and practical development.
On all these questions a complete agreement was arrived at after the fullest discussion with regard both to the policy to be pursued and to the measures for its execution. The Allies are united in heart and will, not by any hidden designs, but by their open resolve to defend civilization against an unscrupulous and brutal attempt at domination. This unanimity, confirmed by a unanimity no less complete both as regards the military policy to be pursued and as regards the measures needed for its execution, will enable them to meet the violence of the enemy’s onset with firm and quiet confidence, with the utmost energy, and with the knowledge that neither their strength nor their steadfastness can be shaken.
The Supreme War Council gave the most careful consideration to the recent utterances of the German Chancellor and of the Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, but was unable to find in them any real approximation to the moderate conditions laid down by all the Allied Governments. This conviction was only deepened by the impression made by the contrast between the professed idealistic aims with which the Central Powers entered upon the present negotiations at Brest-Litovsk and their now openly disclosed plans of conquest and spoliation. In the circumstances, the Supreme War Council decided that the only immediate task before them lay in the prosecution, with the utmost vigour and in the closest and most effective cooperation, of the military effort of the Allies until such time as the pressure of that effort shall have brought about in the enemy Governments and peoples a change of temper which would justify the hope of the conclusion of peace on terms which would not involve the abandonment, in face of an aggressive and unrepentant militarism, of all the principles of freedom, justice, and the respect for the law of nations which the Allies are resolved to vindicate.
The decisions taken by the Supreme War Council in pursuance of this conclusion embraced not only the general military policy to be carried out by the Allies in all the principal theatres of war, but more particularly the closer and more effective co-ordination under the Council of all the efforts of the Powers engaged in the struggle against the Central Empires. The functions of the Council itself were enlarged and the principles of unity of policy and action initiated at Rapallo in November last received still further concrete and practical development.
On all these questions a complete agreement was arrived at after the fullest discussion with regard both to the policy to be pursued and to the measures for its execution. The Allies are united in heart and will, not by any hidden designs, but by their open resolve to defend civilization against an unscrupulous and brutal attempt at domination. This unanimity, confirmed by a unanimity no less complete both as regards the military policy to be pursued and as regards the measures needed for its execution, will enable them to meet the violence of the enemy’s onset with firm and quiet confidence, with the utmost energy, and with the knowledge that neither their strength nor their steadfastness can be shaken.
The splendid soldiers of our free democracies have won their place in history by their immeasurable valour. Their magnificent heroism and the no less noble endurance with which our civilian populations are bearing their daily burden of trial and suffering testify to the strength of those principles of freedom which will crown the military success of the Allies with the glory of a great moral triumph.
Unanimity at Versailles
The heroism of the Allied Armies and the privations which the Allied peoples are enduring alike demand that the result of the struggle shall prove their faith not to have been vain
February 4, 1918
The official statement upon the proceedings of the Supreme War Council at Versailles last week is eminently satisfactory. It tends to dispel the deceptive “fog of peace” which has been gathering - and has been artificially thickened - in many Allied capitals during the drear months of winter. It reaffirms the determination and the objects of the Allies in unmistakable terms and with a welcome note of virility.
After “the most careful consideration” of the recent utterances of the German Chancellor and of the Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Supreme War Council has been “unable to find in them any real approximation to the moderate conditions laid down by all the Allied Governments.” In other words, the national declaration of our war aims laid before the representatives of British Labour by Mr Lloyd George as the irreducible minimum of our conditions of peace, and the notable message of President Wilson, have evoked no response from enemy spokesmen that reveals any honest disposition to accept the principles upon which a lasting and honourable peace can alone be founded.
After “the most careful consideration” of the recent utterances of the German Chancellor and of the Austro-Hungarian Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Supreme War Council has been “unable to find in them any real approximation to the moderate conditions laid down by all the Allied Governments.” In other words, the national declaration of our war aims laid before the representatives of British Labour by Mr Lloyd George as the irreducible minimum of our conditions of peace, and the notable message of President Wilson, have evoked no response from enemy spokesmen that reveals any honest disposition to accept the principles upon which a lasting and honourable peace can alone be founded.
The plans of “conquest and spoliation” openly disclosed by the representatives of the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk have but strengthened the conclusions drawn from the statements of Count Hertling and Count Czernin. These conclusions are that the only immediate task before the Allies is the prosecution, with the utmost vigour and in the closest and most effective cooperation, of the military efforts of the Allies. When these efforts shall have brought about in the enemy Governments and peoples such a change of temper as to bring them to accept the Allied terms we may hope for and talk of peace without moral treason to our cause. Until that moment comes, suggestions of peace will, indeed, imply the abandonment “in the face of an aggressive and unrepentant militarism” of all the principles of “freedom, justice, and respect for the law of nations” which the Allies are resolved to vindicate.
Nor is it only their purely military efforts that the Allies are determined to continue. There will be a “closer and more effective co-ordination” under the Council, of all the efforts of the Powers engaged in the struggle against the Central Empires. To this end, the functions of the Supreme War Council itself have been enlarged, and the postulates of unity of policy and action, tardily recognized at Rapallo last November under the pressure of the Austro-German offensive against Italy, have been given further “concrete and practical development.” If, after the fullest discussion of policy and of measures, the Allies are “united in heart and will”, their ideal and practical agreement is of the happiest augury. They cherish no hidden designs, but are unshakably resolved jointly to defend democratic civilization against an unscrupulous and brutal attempt to force German military mastery upon the world.
The French Premier, M Clemenceau, is understood to regard the outcome of the Conference, or rather session, of the Supreme War Council with marked satisfaction. Throughout the British Commonwealth and the United States, no less than in Italy and among our sorely-tried Allies in Belgium, Rumania, and Serbia, this declaration of the Allied purpose will be received with hearty approval. The movement of Italian opinion in favour of a thoroughly democratic national war progranune, to which our telegrams again bear witness, will be strengthened and encouraged by it. Signor Orlando, whose forthcoming statement of policy is eagerly awaited throughout the Peninsula, will be able now to speak in terms that should remove the last trace of misapprehension from Italian minds; and we trust that, despite the criticisms directed against some aspects of Italian diplomacy in the past, Baron Sonnino, the Foreign Minister, will be able fully to support his chief.
The heroism of the Allied Armies and the privations which the Allied peoples are enduring alike demand that the result of the struggle shall prove their faith not to have been vain. It is only by the full co-ordination of Allied efforts and aims in the defence of the principles of freedom that the military success of the Allied arms will be crowned “with the glory of a great moral triumph”.
Nor is it only their purely military efforts that the Allies are determined to continue. There will be a “closer and more effective co-ordination” under the Council, of all the efforts of the Powers engaged in the struggle against the Central Empires. To this end, the functions of the Supreme War Council itself have been enlarged, and the postulates of unity of policy and action, tardily recognized at Rapallo last November under the pressure of the Austro-German offensive against Italy, have been given further “concrete and practical development.” If, after the fullest discussion of policy and of measures, the Allies are “united in heart and will”, their ideal and practical agreement is of the happiest augury. They cherish no hidden designs, but are unshakably resolved jointly to defend democratic civilization against an unscrupulous and brutal attempt to force German military mastery upon the world.
The French Premier, M Clemenceau, is understood to regard the outcome of the Conference, or rather session, of the Supreme War Council with marked satisfaction. Throughout the British Commonwealth and the United States, no less than in Italy and among our sorely-tried Allies in Belgium, Rumania, and Serbia, this declaration of the Allied purpose will be received with hearty approval. The movement of Italian opinion in favour of a thoroughly democratic national war progranune, to which our telegrams again bear witness, will be strengthened and encouraged by it. Signor Orlando, whose forthcoming statement of policy is eagerly awaited throughout the Peninsula, will be able now to speak in terms that should remove the last trace of misapprehension from Italian minds; and we trust that, despite the criticisms directed against some aspects of Italian diplomacy in the past, Baron Sonnino, the Foreign Minister, will be able fully to support his chief.
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