The Campaign of the Marne by Sewell Tyng

Author:Sewell Tyng [Tyng, Sewell]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Westholme Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The resolute tone of this proclamation electrified the nation, instilling new hope and awakening new confidence. Throughout France, Galliéni's ringing phrases served at once to arouse a realization of the deadly peril in which the capital stood and to dispel the doubt and uncertainty of the last days. Paris was threatened with disaster, of that there could be no doubt, but no less surely, it would be valiantly defended. The words “jusqu'au bout,” used by Galliéni are hardly susceptible of translation in their full significance. Only in the original do they retain their connotation of determination never to surrender that linked them throughout the remainder of the war in the minds of the people with an unalterable will to conquer.

Galliéni determined, if necessity arose, to leave the enemy no more than a shell of a city. With Hirschauer, his Chief of Engineers, he mapped out a program of ruthless destruction to include every building or edifice that might prove of military value to the enemy. The bridges of the Seine without exception were doomed ; the Eiffel Tower was to become a mass of twisted wreckage. Military expediency alone controlled and every consideration of sentiment fell before it. With the flight of the Government and Galliéni's proclamation, the true situation could no longer be minimized or disguised, and preparations hitherto deferred for fear of causing undue alarm now proceeded without concealment. The Governor's confidence in the populace proved not to be misplaced, for though thousands left the city, packing the south-bound trains,6 there were no disorders. Catching the spirit of its resolute defender, the population of Paris grimly awaited the future.

Preparing a great city to withstand a besieging army presents problems of overwhelming magnitude and complexity.7 Though Michel's plan of defence had established the tactical dispositions of the defending forces beyond the possibility of important alteration, little had been done or could be done before the outbreak of hostilities towards its execution, for it necessarily involved the demolition of buildings and other structures, the cutting of trees to provide adequate fields of fire and extensive encroachments of like character upon private property. The actual construction of the defences envisaged by the plan required the immediate provision of vast quantities of building material, thousands of tons of concrete, thousands of feet of lumber, millions of yards of barbed-wire, tools and machinery of all sorts, and above all labour. The few companies of engineers attached to the garrison hardly sufficed for more than foremen to supervise the work, and to use the Territorial infantry meant sacrificing much-needed military instruction. Civilian labourers were needed, thousands of them, who had to be enlisted without crippling essential industries already handicapped by the general mobilization, and who had to be fed, lodged and paid.8 As each fortification neared completion, its prescribed armament had to be set in place, stocks of munitions provided, its garrison installed and communications established. Reserve depots of munitions had to be placed at accessible points to serve the 2924 guns of assorted calibres 9 that constituted the armament of the Entrenched Camp.

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