The Outbreak of War 891
Map 22.3 The German Advance, 1914 The Germans moved quickly into Belgium
and France, largely following the SchliefFen Plan of 1905.
could thus count on troops that otherwise would have been needed in
southeastern France to halt a possible Italian invasion.
At the dawn of air warfare, a French reconnaissance pilot noticed
Kluck’s army changing direction as it swept toward a point southeast of
Paris, leaving its flank open. The French army rushed every available sol
dier into action, some arriving at the front in requisitioned Parisian taxis.
When the Germans crossed the Marne River on September 5, the French
counterattacked. Two German armies retreated, fearing that the French
might take advantage of a sizable gap between their forces. It was the end
of the Schlieffen Plan, and of the offensive war that the German generals
