At dawn also everyone of the French armies advanced, and within two or three hours of sunrise found themselves engaged with the German front. The spirited order to the troops issued that morning by General Joffre had left no doubt in the minds of Frenchmen on the importance of the issue. It read: "At a moment when a battle on which the welfare of the country depends is going to begin, I feel it incumbent upon me to remind you all that this is no longer the time to look behind. All our efforts must be directed toward attacking and driving back the enemy. An army which can no longer advance must at all costs keep the ground it has won, and allow itself to be killed on the spot rather than give way. In the present circumstance no faltering can be tolerated." Yet in spite of the powerful efforts of the French armies they were all held in check, and General Sarrail was beginning to give way. Though the fighting in the center had been stationary on this sixth of September, 1914, it had been desperate. D'Esperey was facing the 150,000 men of Von Kluck's army, and the effect of the British attack on Von Kluck's flank had not yet been felt. He more than held his own, but at great cost. General Foch, with the Ninth Army, had a double problem, for he was wrestling with General von Buelow to hold the southern edge of the Sezanne Plateau, while General von Hausen's Saxon Army was trying to turn his right flank. A violent attack, which, for the space of over two hours seemed likely to succeed, was launched by the Duke of Wuerttemberg against General Langle and the Fourth Army. The attack was repelled, but the French losses were proportionately great. There could be no denial that many such attacks could break through the line. General Sarrail's army, fighting a losing game, showed marvelous stubbornness and gameness, but even so, it could not resist being pushed south of Fort Troyon, itself unable to support the battering it might expect to receive when the German siege guns should be brought into place. [Illustration: BATTLE OF THE MARNE--END OF GERMAN RETREAT AND THE INTRENCHED LINE ON THE AISNE RIVER] At every point but one the Germans had a right to deem the day successful. The only reversal had been a minor one before the forest of Crecy. Yet, of all the generals on that front Von Kluck alone was in a position to see the gravity of the situation. The British had caught him on the flank as he tried to pierce the left wing of General d'Esperey's army, and if he should now retreat, that army could envelop him and thus catch him between two fires.