The story starts on August 29th 1914 and ends on September 10th of the same year. It begins with the cry "The Prussians are coming!" and ends with General Joffe's statement that the "Battle of the Marne had ended in a decisive victory". In August 1914 several huge German armies, totalling more than one million men had invaded Northern France through Belgium. Within weeks they were close to Paris. But the German right wing, instead of wheeling to the East of Paris, as the famous Schlieffen plan required, crossed to the West of Paris, exposing its flanks. The counter-attack was led from Paris, using the taxi fleet in a famous dash to take soldiers to the front, and thwarted the German plan. The Kaiser's armies retreated and the war soon settled down into the immobility of the trench system. This account vividly paints the characters of the leading players, the imperturbable French C-in-C, General Joffre; the brave and brilliant military governor of Paris, General Gallieni, who first suggested the brilliant counterstroke that saved Paris; General von Moltke, the reluctant and artistic German C-in-C. Georges Blond tells the story of the Marne battle - the fatigue of the armies, the appalling casualties, the huge difficulties in communications, and the agonizing of the generals.
