[Illustration: Map illustrating the Retreat of the French Armies from the Sambre and the Meuse
Hard fighting followed, and on the 29th the French were driven out of Rethel, and were forced to retreat once more. The town was set on fire by bursting shells, and more than half of it was burned. A Saxon officer, whose diary afterwards fell into the hands of the French, blamed them for the destruction of the place. He said that the French burned the town in order to prevent the Germans from pushing their ammunition wagons across the river Aisne, on both sides of which Rethel is built. We need not pause to apportion the blame. The inhabitants fled, and then the Germans looted and destroyed to their hearts' content. "The place is a disgrace to our army," wrote the Saxon officer.
The Germans now crossed the Aisne, and the French fell back rapidly.
Now let us leave this main line of retreat for a few moments and follow the fortunes of a French army which had been pushed into Lorraine as far back as 14th August, in order to hold the Bavarians, who were operating south of Metz. Up to the 20th of August this French army did very well, but on that day it was badly beaten by the Bavarians at Château Salins,[68] a place about twenty-five miles south-east of Metz. In this battle the Bavarians claimed to have captured thousands of prisoners and 150 guns. No doubt they won an important victory.
The French now fell back to the Vosges mountains, not far from Nancy, and on the 23rd and 24th the Germans, largely reinforced, advanced into the region of Luneville. This forced the French to retire south. On the 25th, however, they made two successful counter-attacks, one from the south to the north and the other from the west to the east, and forced the enemy to fall back. For fifteen days they held up the Bavarians, and by the end of that time the turn of the tide had come, and the French were advancing all along the line.
All these operations involved much fierce fighting, and the Germans were not always victors. Some of the French counter-attacks during the retreat were very successful, and the Germans were checked again and again. For example, on 24th August, near Spincourt, north-east of Verdun, the French had a real success. They drove back the Germans, pursued them with great effect, and captured a number of guns. Nevertheless, by the evening of the 27th, all the strongholds in North France, except Maubeuge, were in the hands of the enemy. Montmédy and Mezières surrendered, almost without firing a shot; but Longwy,[69] though it was an out-of-date fortress, and had but a small garrison, made a heroic resistance, and held out for twenty-four days.