FRANCE'S PART IN THE WAR.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16026, 18 September 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

FRANCE'S PART IN THE WAR.

BT LIEUT. -COLONEL A A. - GRACE, N.Z.F. A.

Whatever the successes of the Germans against the Russians in the East may have been and whatever they may be in the future, it is only by decisive victory in the West that they may hope for final triumph. In other words, the Germans' hope of victory consists in their subduing France and her allies in the West.

Twice already in the history of Europe France has been the last ditch which stood between civilisation and barbarism, twice she has saved Europe from the dominion, of cruel and bloodthirsty hordes, and already in this the greatest of wars she has struck such a blow against Che enemies of freedom and of the rights of free peoples, that it looks as if the modern barbarians who seek to conquer Europe have already been foiled in attaining their accursed object. The two decisive victories which the French race gained over barbarians who threatened the civilisation of Europe, were fought at Chalons-sur-Marne in 451 A.D., and at Tours in 732 A.D. It is an extraordinary coincidence that it was in the valley of the Mane, on the very same ground where she signally defeated the huge army of Huns under Attila, that she defeated,, a year ago, the hordes of the modern "Huns" under the execrable Kaiser.

Attila, the Scourge of God, ruled from the Black Sea to the confines of China. Like the Kuiaer, he believed he was divinely appointed to conquer the world. Like the Kaiser, he found that to conquer the "worll he must first conquer France, and in France he met his fate. Crossing the Rhine with an army of 700,000 men, he ravaged the valleys of the Marne, the Seine and thj Loire, and laid siege to Orleans. Here he was attacked by an allied army of Gallo-Romans under Aetius and of Visigoths under Theodoric, and •wAs forced to retire from the valley of the Loire to that of the Marne, -where he formed an entrenched camp at Chalons. The allies concentrated on the invaders' position-; the army of the Gallo-Romans forming one wing and that of the Visigoths the other wing. In the battle which fol- ; lowed the command of Aetius was worsted, and Theodoric, the leader of the Visigoths,,was slain, but his son, Thorismund, maddened by the death of his father, led his followers so furiously' to the assault that they penetrated the fortifications of the Huns, who, it is said, lost 300,000 men. Attila was filled with fear, and prepared to destroy by fire his plunder and baggage. But the allies were too ■weakened to assault next day, and taking advantage of the respite thus given him the Scour-> of God retreated precipitately over the Rhine, and -was no more seen in France. His hope of world-wide conquest was blasted, and civilisation was preserved from annihilation.

At the beginning of the eighth century the Mahommedans, crossing the straits of Gibraltar, overran Spain. They next determined on crossing the Pyrenees and conquering France, but were boldly resisted by Odo, King of Acquitaine. .This noble upholder of civilisation kept the hordes of the barbarians at bay for a time, 1 but at length, unable to stem the tide of invasion any longer, he was forced to solicit the help of the warlike Franks, living north. of the Loire. ' These free and generous people, under the leadership of their famous duke, . Charles Martel. responded manfully, but in * spite of their "extraordinary exertions the; Mahommedans, reputed to have numbered nearly a million, forced their wav into the r middle of France. It was at Tours, on the Loire, that the fate of Christendom.was to. be decided, and it was for the redoubtable Charles and his unconquerably men that victory declared herself, on October 10, 732 A.D. The followers of Mahomet were terribly defeated, and the remnants of their host driven in rout across the Pyrenees. Thus for a second time did France save Europe. In the veins of her gallant sons to-day courses the blood of the valiant men who defeated Attila, and of the dauntless Franks who fought; at 'Tours and have given their honourable name to the nation.

It is truly strange that in these late times it should be the fate of France to be called to resist to the death the barbarous hordes of Germany, who would destroy Christian civilisation and impose on a conquered Europe as a substitute the abhorrent Kultur of the agnostic scientists and arrogant militarists of Germany. Yet such is the absolute fact. If General Joffre's army had been overwhelmed in the early days of the war, Europe ere now would have found herself prostrate before a tyrant as cruel as was Attila, and as' merciless as was Abd-er-Rahman the Mahommedan ; and it is an extraordinary circumstance, attributable to a cause which has its origin in the restrictions which geography places upon strategy,. that on the same ground where Attila met his fate at the hands of the progenitors 'of the French race, the French of to-day should have signally defeated the " Huns" of modern times.

The battle of the Marne will always stand out as one of the greatest battles, for, if not absolutely decisive, it at any rate settled the question of a German conquest of France. The war may not be ended for a long time yet, but- when it is ended it will be found that but. for the happy result of the battle of the Marne all would have gone wrong with the cause of the Allies from the beginning. As a result of that battle, the .Allies were given time to organise their strength, until at the present time everything points to their being able to concentrate an overwhelming preponderance of force at the decisive point at the psychological moment, wherever that point may be and whenever that time may come. It is impossible "to say, at this length of time, by what tactics the soldiers of ancient France defeated the barbarians of Attila on the Marne, and the hosts of Abd-er-Rahman at Tours, but we know with some exactness how the modem French > armies defeated the modern " Huns" on the Marne, a year ago. Thev beat the Germans at their own game. Following the principles of strategy laid down by Clause wit z, their great authority on the way to conduct war, the Germans sought to hold the French armies along their front while they launched an overpowering enveloping movement at the left flank of the French line. On f.he extreme left of that line were the two British) army corps, and 011 them fell the tremendous stroke delivered by Von Kluck's five army corps. How proud every Britisher should be of Field-Marshal French's little army, how proud that it played its part so bravely beside the great French host, which was standing so manfully against the invading German hordes. The Germans strategy on that great occasion is laid bare. They drove back their enemy's left flank as far as Paris, and then they intended to launch an overpowering blow, delivered by Von Kluck at the lines of communication of the French armies passing south through a point which has been located somewhere in the neighbourhood of Sezanne. But, before the blow could fall, their own right flank and their own lines of communication passing north across the Aisne were struck by a-quarter of a million of troops who issued from behind the fortifications of Paris. It was a masterstroke, which hurled Von Kluck in confusion back to the line of the Aisne, and destroyed irretrievably the German plan for the conquest of France. Happy are we that in the launching of that stroke British soldiers played so prominent and glorious a part! We may well cherish the hope that with the help of their good allies, the Russians and the Italians, the armies of General Joffre and Field-Marshal French may in the good time of Providence finish the work which they have so splendidly , begun.