At Mons the Army made retreat possible. The battle was not of long duration; but it was sufficient to put an end to Bernhardi's hopes. The fierce onset of the Germans was broken by the amazing skill and coolness of a numerically inferior army, provided with hardly any of the instruments which were to give the tone to the war. Yet the few British machine guns and the incomparable riflemen inflicted losses that had never been expected by the enemy. German officers have explained their amazement at seeing the cool unhurried firing after the troops had been hammered time and again with an overwhelming weight of artillery. They had scarcely any cover; but when the bombardment was over the quiet orders were instantly obeyed and the men met the enemy as though on manoeuvres. Dispositions had been carefully made and the Germans met a deadly check. But this skill and courage was called upon more searchingly in the retreat which followed. The Germans seemed to be round both their wings. Indeed the first few days were fought in certainly what must have appeared to be partial envelopment. Le Cateau was a rearguard battle, such as perhaps has never been fought in history before. The men were too tired to do anything but put their fortunes to the final test; and, though overwhelmed by shrapnel, they won through. Courage alone cannot explain such a feat. Experience and the coolness that is born of it only explains half; the skill of the commanders could alone have justified the decision to stand at such hazards and could alone have brought the men through them. Le Cateau was won by the better troops. The British were moved back; but the check they administered gave them breathing space for the future. The proportions of the force they had to meet were now clearer to the British commanders. By the Marne they had taken a surer measure. On the Aisne they put their judgment to the test and the successes of the First Corps in winning to the crest of the ridge, but lately cleared by the French, shewed that their reading of the situation was correct. Yet they were still to go through the final ordeal. They were taken north and set to tasks that were again incommensurate with their force. The army was still smaller than that of Belgium; and yet they were encouraged to look forward to Bruges, whence great German reinforcements were at that moment hastening south. Part of the army was falling back towards Ypres, and before this peaceful old Belgian town one of the decisive battles of history gradually emerged.