THE MARNE BATTLE-FIELDS (1914) [Illustration: JOFFRE Commander-in-chief of the French Army] Copyright 1919 by Michelin & Cie. _All rights of translation, adaptation, or reproduction (in part or whole) reserved in all countries._ FOREWORD _For the benefit of tourists who wish to visit the battlefields and mutilated towns of France we have tried to produce a work combining a practical guide with a history._ _Such a visit should be a pilgrimage, not merely a journey across a ravaged land. Seeing is not enough, one must understand: a ruin is more moving when one knows what has caused it; a stretch of country which might seem dull and uninteresting to the unenlightened eye, becomes transformed at the thought of the battles which have raged there._ _We have, therefore, prefaced the description of our journeys by a short account of the events which took place in the vicinity, and we have done our best to make this account quite clear by the use of many illustrations and maps._ _In the course of the description we give a brief military commentary on the numerous views and panoramas contained in the book._ _When we come across a place that is interesting either from an archæological or an artistic point of view, there we halt, even though the war has passed it by; that the tourist may realise it was to preserve intact this heritage of history and beauty that so many of our heroes have fallen._ _Our readers will not find any attempt at literary effect in these pages; the truth is too beautiful and tragic to be altered for the sake of embellishing the story. We have, therefore, after carefully sifting the great volume of evidence available, selected only that obtained from official documents or from reliable eye-witnesses._ _This book was written before the end of the war, even then the country over which it leads the reader had long been freed. The wealth of illustration in this work allows the intending tourist to make a preliminary trip in imagination, until such time as circumstances permit of his undertaking a journey in reality beneath the sunny skies of France._ HISTORICAL PART IMPORTANT NOTE.--On pages 4 to 16 will be found a brief summarized account of the Battle of the Marne and of the events which immediately preceded it. We recommend the reading of these few pages attentively, and the consultation of the maps annexed to the same, before reading the descriptive part which commences at page 17. A clear understanding of the action as a whole is absolutely necessary to comprehend with interest the description of the separate combats. [Illustration: THE BATTLE OF THE MARNE (1914)]