INVASION O F B E L G I U M A N D ALSACE-LORRAINE quitted Colonel von Reuster and Lieutenant Schad, who, between them, had substituted military for civil rule in Zabern. During these proceedings, the Crown Prince by telegram had signified his approval of the acts of Forstner, Reuster, and Schad. With the Zabern outrages fresh in their memories, it was therefore believed in France that Alsatians and Lorrainers would flock to the Tricolor with enthusiasm once the French crossed the frontier. 8 The French strategy in the eastern offensive was well conceived. If the six corps under Pau and Castelnau had been ready to take the offensive in the middle of August, the whole course of the western campaign might have been altered; but they were not ready, and the Germans were. When Castelnau advanced to the Saar the mobilization of his three corps was still incomplete, while the German army, based on Metz, was ready for immediate operations. Joffre had counted on the Meuse fortresses being able to detain the Germans in Belgium long enough to enable his troops to overrun the Rhine provinces, and threaten the invasion of Bavaria. The thoroughness of the German preparations, and the rapidity with which their armies were concentrated on the northern frontier, upset Joffre's calculations, and compelled him to abandon the offensive in order to concentrate for the defense of Paris. 9 * In August, 1915, it was announced from Berlin that Forstner was reported among the German dead at the front. •Principal Sources: The London Standard, The Independent, '.'Bulletins" of the National Geographic Society, The Fortnightly Review, "Nelson's History of the War" by John Buchan, Associated Press Dispatches, A. Hllliard Atteridge's "Marshal Ferdinand Foch" (Dodd, Mead & Co.)
289.