Editing First Battle of the Marne (section)

===The eve of battle===
[[File:Battle of the Marne - Map.jpg|thumb|right|250px]]
By 2 September, [[John Keegan]] said that "the German strategic effort, though neither Moltke nor Kluck perceived it, was beginning to fall apart".{{sfn|Keegan|1998|page=108}} Moltke realized he did not have sufficient forces to carry out the Schlieffen Plan which envisioned the 1st army of Kluck encircling Paris to the west and south. Instead, he issued a Grand Directive changing the order of battle for the German attack. He ordered that Paris be bypassed on the north. The Germans would now attempt to entrap the French forces between Paris and Verdun. To accomplish this, the 2nd Army of Bülow became the primary striking force with the 1st Army (Kluck) ordered to follow in echelon to protect the western flank of the 2nd. At the time of this Grand Directive, Moltke based his decision on an intercepted radio transmission describing the French retreating across the Marne.{{sfn|Herwig|2009|page=220}} Kluck, who was as bold as Bulow was cautious,{{sfn|Meyer|2007|pages=157–158}} was not pleased with the change of plans which would require him to halt his advance to wait for Bulow. Instead, interpreting the order broadly (or disobeying it), Kluck turned his line of march from south to southeast, becoming closer but not in echelon with Bülow, and on 3 September his forces crossed the Marne River {{cvt|60|km|mile}} east of Paris, the first Germans to do so. Kluck was in pursuit of the French 5th army which was still retreating. Kluck's boldness was based on his confidence that the French and British were a depleted and defeated force.{{sfn|Strachan|2001|page=253}}  He was unaware that a new French army, the 6th of Joseph Gallieni and Maunoury, was guarding Paris to his west and he discounted the British Expeditionary Force which had apparently abandoned the battlefield.{{sfn|Herwig|2009|pages=220–221, 230}}{{sfn|Meyer|2007|page=188}}

The French commander Joffre was preparing for the propitious time when he would counterattack. He reinforced his newly created 6th and 9th armies. On 3 September Joffre dismissed Lanrezac, commander of 5th army, and replaced him with [[Louis Franchet d'Espèrey]]. This was done despite the fact Lanrezac had been right, as Joffre had been wrong, about the German offensive coming from Belgium and had also been right in violating the French "cult of the offensive" by taking a defensive posture against the invading Germans and preserving his army to fight another day. The French government fled Paris on 2 September fearing the Germans would conquer the city.{{sfn|Meyer|2007|pages=190–191}}

On 4 September, while meeting with the British General [[Sir Henry Wilson, 1st Baronet|Henry Wilson]], d'Esperey, the new commander of the French 5th army, outlined a plan for a French and British counter-attack on the German 1st Army. The counterattack would come from the south by d'Esperey's 5th Army, the west by the BEF, and at the [[Ourcq River]] by Gallieni and Manoury's new Sixth Army. Gallieni had come to the same conclusion on 3 September and sent Maunoury and the 6th Army east to find the German's flank.{{sfn|Herwig|2009|pages=226–229}} On 4 September, Joffre spent much of this afternoon in silent contemplation under an ash tree. At dinner he received word of d’Esperey's plan for the counterattack. That night he issued commands to halt the French retreat in his Instruction General No. 5 and ordered the counterattack to begin on 6 September. The BEF was under no obligation to follow orders of the French, but Joffre believed British participation was crucial. Joffre first attempted to use diplomatic channels to convince the British government to apply pressure on BEF commander John French. Then, on 5 September, Joffre journeyed to BEF headquarters for discussions which ended with him banging his hand dramatically on a table while shouting "Monsieur le Maréchal, the honour of England is at stake!" Following this meeting, French agreed to the operational plan to commence the following day.{{sfn|Herwig|2009|page=230}}