120 The Great War advancing force had been utterly defeated, if not routed. This the German bulletins promptly af- firmed, claiming the capture of 150 cannon, while French rumor pointed to the failure of an army corps to do its work and the disgrace of a general. Much more obscure was the story of the repulse or rout of the French columns sent against the Army of the Moselle, evidently established in the Ardennes west of Luxemburg and north of Longwy, Verdun and Stenay. Evidently the attempt was made to strike the German corps advancing through the dif- ficult Ardennes region. French bulletins soon ad- mitted the retreat of their columns beyond the Semols toward Verdun. German despatches an- nounced a crushing victory at Neufchateau, even more complete than in Lorraine, with the capture of generals and many thousands of soldiers and the rout of the French. Finally, in Belgium, along the Sambre and the Meuse and north of Maubeuge, an Anglo-French move against the German Army of the Meuse, com- ing south from Brussels had receded after desperate fighting at the moment of the sudden and utterly be- wildering fall of Namur. It was absolutely clear then that in different fields the French counter-offensive, so much advertised by French strategists before and since the war began, had failed utterly. What remained the real problem was whether defeat had so completely demoralized