That attack wrecked the German scheme for resuming the offensive, and was the most effective means of assuring that end. It is impossible indeed not to recognise that the feat which reduced a force like the German armies to immobility is a masterpiece of strategy wholly without parallel in the annals of war. Whether we look at the breadth and boldness of its conception, at the patience and command of organisation with which it was carried out, at the grasp it displayed of the real conditions governing the operations of modern mass armies, or at the clear purpose and unswerving resolution with which it was followed, the plan equally calls forth surprise and admiration. From the military standpoint, victory or defeat is the answer to the question: Which side has accomplished the purpose it had in view? The German purpose of re-seizing the initiative was not accomplished. The German scheme of turning either one or both flanks of the Allied line was not accomplished. That is military failure. From the beginning of October, when the struggle round Rheims was at its height, the feature of the campaign broadly was that the weight of the fighting passed progressively from the centre of the fighting front to the wings--to West Flanders on the one side, and to the Argonne and the Upper Meuse on the other. Progressively the Allied forces were placed where it was intended they should be placed. They accomplished the purpose which it was intended they should accomplish--that of keeping the main military strength of Germany helpless while they wasted that strength. That is military success. To sum up. The Germans entered France with a force of more than a million and a half of men. The like of such a military expedition the world till then had never seen. The plan of it had been studied and worked out in detail for years. On the preparations for it had been bestowed a colossal labour. It appeared certain of success. It was defeated by an exercise of military skill and resource which, however regarded, must stand as one of the greatest records of mastery in the art of war. FOOTNOTE: [33] Some 70,000 motor-cars and motor-omnibuses are said to have been employed. APPENDIX Despatches of Field-Marshal Sir John French on the Battles of the Marne and the Aisne, addressed to Lord Kitchener, Secretary of State for War. I. Sept. 17, 1914. MY LORD-- In continuation of my despatch of Sept. 7, I have the honour to report the further progress of the operations of the forces under my command from Aug. 28. On that evening the retirement of the force was followed closely by two of the enemy's cavalry columns, moving south-east from St. Quentin. The retreat in this part of the field was being covered by the 3rd and 5th Cavalry Brigades. South of the Somme General Gough, with the 3rd Cavalry Brigade, threw back the Uhlans of the Guard with considerable loss.