By the morning of 20th August 1914, General Dubail with his 1st Army and General de Castelnau with the 2nd Army, had exhausted themselves in fruitless attacks on Sarrebourg and Morhange. The concept of "offensive a outrance" had withered before heavy German artillery, barbed wire and the ubiquitous machine-gun. The French, with incredible bravery, threw themselves into the attack again but this time coinciding with the German General Rupprecht's counter-attack. Bavarian soldiers tore into the French ranks without mercy. Castelnau soon had no choice but to withdraw and did so to the line of the Grande Couronne but this exposed Dubail's troops who then had to retreat. In effect the policy of "offensive a outrance" died in the killing fields of Lorraine and amongst the corpses of soldiers with their bright red pantaloons there were no doubt bodies of some of their officers still wearing white gloves. http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=War_Memorials_and_Cemeteries:_Lorraine
