Remembering the tremendous difficulties of carrying out a retirement under such conditions, it is amazing how well the men held together. Their losses were great, but not nearly so great as the circumstances seemed to exact. Many of the missing men found their way back to their regiments, from which they were separated in the desperate rush of the fighting. The attack on the French army on our right seems to have been heaviest in the neighbourhood of St. Quentin. But the French met it with courage and coolness, sweeping the ranks with their artillery, and advancing with the bayonet under covering fire. For a time they were able to resume the offensive, and drove thousands of the enemy across the river. But here, as on the left wing, the story was the same. The numbers of the enemy seemed inexhaustible. No sooner was one column wiped out than another was there to take its place. There was nothing for it but to retire fighting. In continuation of the deeply interesting despatch of Sir John French of September 17, the first portion of which is quoted at the beginning of this chapter, he says:— On the 1st September, when retiring from the thickly-wooded country to the south of Compiègne, the 1st Cavalry Brigade was overtaken by some German cavalry. They momentarily lost a Horse Artillery battery, and several officers and men were killed and wounded. With the help, however, of some detachments from the 3rd Corps operating on their left, they not only recovered their own guns but succeeded in capturing 12 of the enemy’s. Similarly, to the eastward, the 1st Corps, retiring south, also got into some very difficult forest country, and a somewhat severe rearguard action ensued at Villers-Cotterets, in which the 4th Guards Brigade suffered considerably. On September 3rd the British Forces were in position south of the Marne between Lagny and Signy-Signets. Up to this time I had been requested by General Joffre to defend the passages of the river as long as possible, and to blow up the bridges in my front. After I had made the necessary dispositions, and the destruction of the bridges had been effected, I was asked by the French Commander-in-Chief to continue my retirement to a point some 12 miles in rear of the position I then occupied, with a view to taking up a second position behind the Seine. This retirement was duly carried out. In the meantime the enemy had thrown bridges and crossed the Marne in considerable force, and was threatening the Allies all along the line of the British Forces and the 5th and 9th French Armies. Consequently several small outpost actions took place. On Saturday, September 5, I met the French Commander-in-Chief at his request, and he informed me of his intention to take the offensive forthwith, as he considered conditions were very favourable to success.