The vigorous resumption of the offensive has brought about success. Officers, non-commissioned officers, and men! you have all of you responded to my appeal, and all of you have deserved well of your country.--JOFFRE. It had been no easy victory. The huge forces of Generals von Kluck, von Bülow, and von Hausen, comprising the flower of the German first line army, fought with stubborn and even reckless courage. During the opening days of the battle they contested the ground foot by foot. The character of the fighting in which the British troops were engaged, gathered from men who had taken part in it, was disclosed by the Paris correspondent of the _Daily Telegraph_:-- "The more we killed the more they seemed to become," said an officer who described to me some of the earlier phases. "They swarmed like ants, coming on in masses, though rarely seeking close contact, for they have learned to respect our rifles and our bayonets." On this point there is unprejudiced testimony. A non-commissioned officer of Hussars asked me to translate a letter found on a German officer killed while defending his battery. In the letter are these sentences:-- "German infantry and cavalry will not attack English infantry and cavalry at close quarters. Their fire is murderous. The only way to attack them is with artillery." Upon this advice the enemy seem to act. They make the best use of their guns, and keep up an incessant fire, which is often well directed, though the effect is not nearly so deadly as they imagine. Their machine guns--of which they have great numbers--are also handled with skill, and make many gaps in our ranks. But the enemy rarely charge with the bayonet. Under cover of artillery they advance _en masse_, pour out volleys without taking aim, and retire when threatened. This is the general method of attack, and it is one in which numbers undoubtedly count. But numbers are not everything; spirit and dash count for more in the end, and these qualities our soldiers have beyond all others in this war. Every officer with whom I have spoken says the same thing. Nothing could be finer than the steadiness and the enterprise of our troops. They remember and obey the order given by Wellington at Waterloo--they stand fast--to the death. Before this insistent and vigorous offensive the enemy have fallen back every day, pressed hard on front and on flank. Realising that the whole future of the campaign, if not of the war, hung upon the issue, the army of General von Hausen stood to the last. There was a hope that the German right might yet rally against the staggering attack thrown upon it. Mr. Massey wrote:--