596. The First World War: The Miracle on the Marne (Part 3)
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General Joffre was now developing his plan. We hung on his every word. We saw, as he evoked it, the immense battlefield over which the corps, drawn by the magnet of his will, were moving like pieces of intricate machinery, until they clicked into their appointed places. We saw trains in long processions labouring under the weight of their human freight, great piles of shells mounting up by the sides of the ready and silent guns, and all this was taking place behind a veil so thin and tenuous that none could perceive it, but through which no German appeared able to see. Yet Joffre seemed to be pointing the Germans out to us, blundering blindly on, hastening to their fate, their huge, massive, dusty columns rushing towards the precipice over which they would soon be rolling.
As a prophet, he was heard with absolute faith. We were listening to the story of the victory of the Marne. And we absolutely believed. Reminiscences there of um a crucial exchange on the 5th of September 1914 from Edward Spears, who was a British liaison officer with the French Army, and I suppose specifically with General Joffre, the commander of the French army. And this is
a decisive moment in the history of the First World War and therefore of the entire 20th century, because it is when Joseph Chauffre is outlining his plan to save Paris, to save France, and to save the entire Allied war project in the face of what many of the Allies had come to fear was an irresistible German onslaught. Yeah, it's an incredible scene, Tom. And actually we'll come back to it a bit later, this this exchange when Joffre outlines his plan. So we're into the third episode of this epic series, and maybe we should remind ourselves and our listeners where we've got through and the terrible danger in which the Allies now find themselves.
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