There was no darkness that
night. As the Germans evacuated each village they set fire to it.
The invaders actually held their machine guns at work in the burning
village until the position was no longer tenable. The wind blew
gustily that night, and all the hours long, the Germans collected
their dead, built great pyres of wood and straw and cremated their
comrades who had fallen on the field of honor.
The next day, at this point, developed fighting of the same general
character. One of the most heroic defenses of General von Kluck's
army was that of the Magdeburg Regiment, which held its advanced post
ten minutes too long and consequently was practically annihilated.
Although the French had everywhere shown themselves superior with the
bayonet and at close infighting, even as the Germans had displayed
an incredible courage in advance under gunfire, and rightly held
their heavy artillery to be the finest in the world, in the melee
around the colors of the Magdeburg Regiment, there was nothing to
choose for either side. The lieutenant color bearer was killed, in
the midst of a ring of dead, and not until almost the whole regiment
had been killed under the impact of far superior numbers, were the
tattered colors taken into the French lines. It was on this day,
Tuesday, September 8, 1914, that the British army realizing that
it had turned the flank of General von Kluck's southern divisions
sent its heavy batteries to the pressure on the banks of the Ourcq.
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