With a great deal
of trouble and with far more delay than had been anticipated, the
crown prince's army had at last managed to get within striking
distance of the forefront of the great battle line. His forces
occupied the territory north of Verdun to a southern point not
far from Bar-le-Duc. Here the German secret service seems to have
been as efficient, as it failed to be with regard to conditions
only fifty miles away. General Sarrail's army, which confronted
the army of the crown prince, was somewhat weak. It consisted of
about two army corps with reserve divisions. Nor could General Joffre
send any reenforcements. Every available source of reenforcements
had been drawn upon to aid the Sixth Army, encamped upon the banks
of the Ourcq, in order that Paris might be well guarded. No troops
could be spared from the Fifth and Ninth Armies, which had to bear
the brunt of the attack from the German center. General Sarrail,
therefore, had to depend on the natural difficulties of the country
and to avoid giving battle too readily against the superior forces
by which he was confronted. It was a part of the plan of the French
generalissimo, however, to feel the strength of the German center,
and if it proved that they could be held, to release several divisions
and send them to the aid of General Sarrail.
Subordinate to this contemplated attack by the crown prince, yet
forming a part of it, and, in a measure, a fourth element in the
campaign, was the double effort from the garrisons of Metz and
Saarbrucken, combining with the armies of the Bavarian Crown Prince
and the forces of General von Heeringen.
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