occupation, by the Germans, of a defensive position, each side began the attempt of outflanking the other on the W., with the result that the German front by Sept. 16 was thus traced out: the neighbourhood of Noyon, the plateaus S. of Vic-sur-Aisne and Soissons, the tableland of Laon, the heights N. and W. of Reims, Ville-sur-Tourbe (N. of), Varennes, to the Meuse near Forges Wood, N. of Verdun.
Mention has been made of German operations, after the battle of the Marne, S. of Verdun, and a brief narrative of them is now required. The brilliant defence made by the French III. Army about Verdun was followed a few days later by a mishap. Thenceforward, until the American offensive in 1918, there existed the "pocket of St. Mihiel," a salient jutting into the French position which affected the course of operations throughout the war in the Verdun-Epinal area.
Owing to the exhaustion of the corps of the French III. Army the pursuit of the German V. Army after the battle of the Marne was not pressed; the main body of the French III. Army halted abreast and W. of Verdun, while its VI. Corps and Gen. Durand's group (the 65th, 6yth and 75th Res. Divs.) passed through Verdun and crossed to the right bank of the Meuse. On the 16th the VI. Corps was to move N. towards Mangiennes, while Gen. Durand's three divisions marched parallel and E. of it from Etain towards Spincourt. Thus Gen. Sarrail had divided his army into two parts, separated by the Meuse, and while the right of the III. Army was advancing northwards on a broad front E. of the Meuse by Mangiennes and Spincourt, three German corps, the XIV., Bavarian III. and V. Reserve were moving from W. and S.W. of Metz to attack westwards behind it, in the general direction Toul-St. Mihiel.
The defence of the Hauts-de-Meuse was at this time changing hands. The II. Army was in the process of entrainment on its way to the western flank to extend the battle-front E. of Amiens. The VIII. Corps, however, which had been transferred from the I. to the II. Army on Sept. 15, and had taken over the defence of part of the Hauts-de-Meuse, was at first left in position, but on the 19th it was ordered by the French Higher Command to entrain at once for St. Menehould, whence it was to be transported to join the VI. Army N. of Paris, thus creating a gap which Gen. Sarrail could not fill.
In the meantime, the three reserve divisions were sent off to hold the Hauts-de-Meuse on a broad front between Dieppe, E. of Verdun, and Vigneulles, N.E. of St. Mihiel. The three divisions were thus extended over a front of 20 m., with a wide gap of six miles between Grimaucourt and Tresauvoux. With the VI. Corps Gen. Sarrail intended to retake Etain, and did not appear to suspect the danger approaching the Hauts-de-Meuse farther S. ; behind the long screen of the reserve divisions along the Hauts-de-Meuse he had no mass of manoeuvre in reserve to meet the unexpected. The gap in the battle-front created by th'e withdrawal of the VIII. Corps from in front of St. Mihiel therefore remained unfilled.
The Bavarian III. Corps advancing westwards towards Vigneulles and St. Mihiel, N. of the XIV. Corps, therefore found the way practically open for it. On Sept. 20, at 8:30 A.M., Hattonchatel, Hattonville, and Vigneulles were bombarded, and at 5 P.M. the Bavarians entered Vigneulles. During the night Hattonchatel was taken without resistance being offered, and the French retired in disorder on St. Mihiel, abandoning the Hauts-de-Meuse to the Bavarian III. Corps, who were astonished at such an easy victory. The enemy by the morning of the 21st held the entire sector of the Hauts-de-Meuse between Combres and Heudi court, a front of 12 miles.
On the 2ist Gen. Sarrail issued orders for the recapture of the lost sector of the Hauts-de-Meuse, but was unable to stop the German offensive on the right bank of the Meuse from Vigneulles on St. Mihiel. He was, however, more successful on the left bank. On the 24th the 65th Res. Div. was brought down by rail from Verdun towards St. Mihiel. It had to detrain at Woimbey, and thence marched to Rupt on the St. Mihiel-Bar-le-Duc road. Here it was rejoined by the remnants of the 75th Div. from the right bank. These two divisions held up the German advance along the Bar-le-Duc road and forced it back on Chauvoncourt. The VI. Corps, with the 6sth Div., was able to remain on the right bank of the Meuse, its front running obliquely from Maizey to St. Remy. It was, however, unable to cut the German communications between St. Mihiel and Vigneulles; and the situation established on Sept. 24 1914 remained unchanged for over three years. (F. E. W.*)
MARQUESTE, LAURENT HONORÉ (1848-1920), French sculptor, was born at Toulouse June 12 1848. He was a pupil of Jouffroy and Falguiere, and won the Prix de Rome in 1871. In 1893 he became a professor at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. He became a member of the Institute in 1894, having received the Legion of Honour in 1884, and being made officer in 1894, and commander in 1903. His works include a large number of statues which decorate the monuments and buildings of Paris, including Victor Hugo for the Sorbonne (1901) and others for the monumental Quai d'Orsay station, the College des Beaux Arts, the Grand Palais, and the Hotel Dufayel in Paris, which was very much criticised; as well as monuments for North and South America. He is also the author of "La Cigale" (1900), statues of Victor Hugo, Leo Delibes, Ferdinand Fabre, and many others, besides "Galatea" (see 24.496; PL VII.) and a large output of classical subjects. He gained the Grand Prix at the Universal Exhibition of 1900. He died in Paris April 5 1920.
MARSCHALL VON BIEBERSTEIN, BARON ADOLF VON (1842-1912), German diplomatist, was born at Carlsruhe Oct. 12 1842, his father Augustus, Baron Marschall von Bieberstein being chamberlain to the Grand Duke of Baden, and his mother before her marriage Baroness von Falkenstein. He was educated at the Gymnasium of Frankfort-on-Main and at the universities of Heidelberg and Berlin. He studied law and from 1871 to 1882 held various administrative offices in the Grand Duchy of Baden. From 1875 to 1883 he sat in the Upper Chamber of the Baden Diet. In 1883 he was sent to Berlin as minister for Baden in the Federal Council and from 1884 to 1890 he represented the Council in the Imperial Insurance Office. In 1890 he succeeded Count Herbert Bismarck as Secretary for Foreign Affairs under the Caprivi chancellorship and continued to hold that office under Prince von Hohenlohe; but he had incurred the enmity of Prince Bismarck by refusing his advice when he first assumed office, and the result was a fierce press campaign against him which finally obliged him to speak out when he appeared as a witness at the trial of certain journalists in 1896 for lèse-majesté. He was also violently opposed by the Agrarians because he advocated the reduction of corn duties, and in 1897 he resigned office, and a few months later was appointed German ambassador in Constantinople. There he remained for nearly 15 years, creating a commanding position for himself and a growing ascendancy in Turkish affairs for his Government. To him was largely due the promotion of the Bagdad railway. In general European politics Baron Marschall had taken during his Foreign Secretaryship a strongly imperialist attitude. After the Jameson raid and the Emperor's telegram to President Krüger, in the drafting of which Baron Marschall, according to the later testimony now available, bore a leading part, it was he who declared in the Reichstag that the maintenance of the independence of the Boer republics was a "German interest." He was also an advocate of a strong naval policy for Germany. In 1907 he was principal German delegate in the Hague Conference, and was the exponent of Germany's resolute and successful opposition to any practical discussion of the question of restriction of armaments. In May 1912 he was appointed to succeed Count Wolff-Metternich as ambassador to Great Britain, but he had only been in London a short time when his health finally broke down. He died at Badenweiler Sept. 24 1912.
MARSH, CATHARINE (1818-1912), English philanthropic worker, was born at Colchester Sept. 15 1918, being the child of an evangelical clergyman, sometime rector of Beckenham. In company with her father she did remarkable pioneer missionary work amongst navvies. She wrote Memorials of Captain Hedley Vicars (1856), an account of the officer-missionary who was killed in the trenches before Sevastopol, and English Hearts
