HOW PARIS WAS SAVED.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 November 1917, Page 7

HOW PARIS WAS SAVED.

BLIND GENERAL EXPLAINS THE MARNE CHECK. During the week of anniversaries of the great historic days of the battle of the Manic, reminiscences of which are avidly sought by all Frenchmen, one of the principal actors in the tremendous drama, General Mnnoury, confided a few of his impressions to a correspondent of the '"Petit Parisien."

The General, the victor of the Ourcp, is, now blind, as the result of a wound, and lives in retirement on his estate in P.f-ance. He relates how "General Gallieni, the Governor of Paris, sent for him in those first days of September, and exclaimed, "Manoury, Paris must be saved. I'll give you all the troops von need," and Manoury describes the magic effect, of his own short order to his army: "The retreat is end"i!. Now 'right about, and forward." The tired discouraged soldiers sprang to the nttaek with irresistible dash. General Manoury lias a. word to say on the question so often raised: Why did the Germans retreat when Paris seemed already in their graspV He says:

"There was no miracle. The Germans retreated for the simple reason that they were beaten. To sneak of the Ourcq alone. Von Kiuek retreated because on September C General de La maze, with his reserve divisions, routed the army corps which von Klnck had left ill the neighborhood of Meaux as a covering. That was what decided the victory. The Germans abandoned their march on Paris because they could not continue it. There ia no mystery about that. ' ENEMY CHASED FIFTY MTLES. "Surprise has been expressed that we did 1101. push our success further. Shortness of munitions and lack of cavalry have been mentioned in explanation. As regards the Sixth Army, which I commanded, that is incorrect. I was not short of munitions, and did not stop until I had pursued the enemy for more than fifty mile}. "Paris ha* been ?;aveil, and von Kluck had stopped his retreat to take shelter in positions of which the defence 'had been already carefully prepared in peace time. "Of this I am certain, and I have irrefutable proofs of it. On our own ground, in time of peace, the Germans had chosen and prepared positions which formed a formidable defensive line. Then began the siege war. We had been privileged to fight in the open country as of yore. "In that form of warfare, which I hope will shortly recur, our troops wi(l always be victorious, not that stupid vanity leads 113 to nnder-estimate the enemy, but because our soldiers, who know why they are fighting, and who have accepted the war as a misfortune, which must be surmounted, will always be superior in open country to the enemy, wdiose moral depression increases in proportion to the duration of a struggle which had been represented to him as an opportunity of fruitful rapine and easy triumph."