Important as
was this movement, however, it was the least of the three elements
in General von Moltke's plan for the shattering of the great defense
line of the Allies.
The second element in this plan was, contrary to Germany's usual
tactics, the determination to attack the center of the French line
and break through. Almost three-quarters of a million men were
concentrated on this point. The armies of General von Buelow, General
Hausen and the Duke of Wuerttemberg were massed in the center of the
line. There, however, General Foch's new Ninth Army was prepared
to meet the attack. It will be remembered that, in the disposition
of the troops, these respective armies were facing each other across
the great desolate plain, the ancient battle ground. If the German
center could break through the French center, and if at the same
time General von Kluck, commanding the German right, could execute
a swift movement to the southeast, the Fifth French Army would
be between two fires, together with such part of the Ninth Army
as lay to the westward of the point to be pierced. This strategic
plan held high promise, and it would have menaced the whole interior
of France southward from the plain of Champagne, but even this
second part of the plan, important as it was, does not appear to
have been the crucial point in the campaign.
The glory of the victory, if indeed victory it should prove, as
the successes of the previous two weeks had led the Germans to
believe, was to be given to the crown prince.
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