TAXIS SAVE PARIS
______Round Two in the great Franco-Prussian world conflict started in 1914. And, just as in all the other rounds, France soon found itself on the losing end of the war, at least temporarily.
______The German Army had successfully sidestepped most of the French defenses by invading Belgium (the French were outraged at this obvious contravention of the rules). Germans were looking forward to scarfing down their sausages with some really good wine.
______Indeed, by the beginning of September the Germans had crossed the Marne and were threatening to surround Paris from the east. 500,000 civilians left the city and the French government beat feet for Bordeaux.
______Remarkably, the French 6th Army actually counterattacked at this time, throwing the Germans back in confusion (they were only used to seeing the backs of French soldiers). A gap opened up in the extended German lines and the French attempted to take advantage of it. The First Battle of the Marne had begun.
______The battle raged for three days, with neither side able to break the other until the French 6th Army started to collapse. General von Kluck was optimistic enough to make reservations at the Paris Ritz for himself and his staff.
______Just when all seemed doomed fresh troops arrived... by Taxi! The Military Governor of Paris had every taxi in the city commandeered, some 600 of them, and employed them to shuttle some 6,000 soldiers to the threatened sector of the front. It was enough to turn the tide and General Helmut von Moltke, the commander-in-chief in the West, ordered the German armies to withdraw and reconsolidate on the River Aisne.
______At the end of the First Battle of the Marne the French suffered 250,000 casualties and the Germans about the same. The British suffered around 12,000 men killed or wounded, probably because they got caught in the crossfire.
______One-half million men were dead. And this was just the beginning.
HOW DID PIE PLATES STOP SOVIET TANKS?
