"The two princ.i.p.al Belgian centers are at Bra.s.schaet, near Antwerp, and Etterbeck, near Brussels. The aviators operating in the early engagements have undoubtedly flown down from Brussels and are in temporary camp at Liege. There are probably not more than four Belgian escadrilles, or little fleets of four machines each, on the scene, while Germany's force is supposedly greater."

CHAPTER XVIII

BATTLE OF THE AISNE

_Most Prolonged Encounter in History Between Gigantic Forces--A Far-Flung Battle Line--Germans Face French and British in the Aisne Valley and Fight for Weeks--Mighty Armies Deadlocked After a Desperate and b.l.o.o.d.y Struggle_.

For a few days after the tide of battle in France turned in favor of the Allies (September 9), the German forces continued to retreat to the north, closely followed by the French and British armies that had fought and won the battle of the Marne, as described in a previous chapter.

This northward movement was marked by heavy German losses in men and munitions of war, and lasted until Sat.u.r.day, September 12, when the Germans were found to be occupying a position of great defensive strength on the River Aisne, north of Soissons. At that time they held both sides of the river and had a formidable line of intrenchments on the hills to the north of eight road bridges and two railway bridges crossing the Aisne. Seven of the road bridges and both the railway bridges had been destroyed.

The Allies gained some high ground south of the Aisne, overlooking the Aisne valley, east of Soissons. Then began (on Sat.u.r.day, September 12) an action along the Aisne which was destined to go down in history as the greatest and most prolonged battle of all time. Two days, three days, a week, two weeks, three, four, five weeks it lasted, with varying fortune to the contending armies, but no decisive result. Germans, French and British, literally by the thousand, fell under the continuous hail of shrapnel, the hurricane of machine-gun and rifle fire, or in the desperate bayonet charges of daily occurrence, but still the battle raged. Minor positions were gained and lost, towns and villages along the far-flung battle line were occupied and evacuated, countless deeds of heroism were wrought, to be sung and celebrated by posterity in a dozen different lands--but the lines on both sides held and victory refused to perch on any banner.

Modern scientific strategy exhausted its utmost efforts; flanking and turning movements were planned, attempted and failed; huge ma.s.ses of men were hurled against each other in every formation known to military skill; myriads of lives and millions of money were sacrificed in historic endeavors to breach the enemy's front--but ever the foeman held his ground and neither side could claim decided advantage. Intrenchments such as the world has never seen before covered the countryside for fifty miles. Teuton, Gaul and Anglo-Saxon, Turco and Hindu, literally "dug themselves in," and refused to budge an inch, though h.e.l.l itself, in all its horror and its fury, was loosed against them.

And thus the battle of the Aisne--also aptly called, from its extent and ramifications, the battle of the Rivers--continued through many weeks while all the world wondered and stood aghast at the slaughter, and the single gleam of brightness that came out of that maelstrom of death and misery was the growing respect of Frenchman, German and Briton for the individual and collective courage of each other and the death-defying devotion that was daily displayed by all.

FIGHTING CONTINUOUS DAY AND NIGHT

Beginning as an artillery duel in which the field-guns of the French and Germans were matched against each other from opposite heights as never before, the battle of the Aisne soon resolved itself into a series of daily actions in which every arm of the opposing hosts engaged. There was little rest for the troops day or night. Artillery fire beginning at daybreak and continuing till dusk might break out again at any hour of the night, the range of the enemy's intrenchments being known.

Frequently the artillery seemed to open fire in the still watches of the night for no other reason than to prevent the enemy in his trenches from getting any sleep at all, and many a man was borne to the rear on both sides suffering from no wound, but from utter exhaustion--a state of collapse which is often as deadly as shrapnel to the soldier in the field.

For weeks at a time the only real rest for many of the troops engaged along the line of battle came in s.n.a.t.c.hes of a few hours when they were temporarily relieved by fresh troops brought up from the rear, and these in their turn might be soon exhausted by the continuous strain of keeping on the alert to repel attacks--or, as frequently happened, their ranks might be decimated, or worse, when they were ordered to a charge.

Officers and men suffered alike from the strenuous nature of the demands made upon them--and so far as actual casualties are concerned the battle was one in which officers of all ranks, in all the armies, suffered perhaps more severely, in proportion to the number engaged, than in any previous battle. Hundreds of British officers, for example, were among the victims whose bones lie rotting in the valley of the Aisne, as whole pages of their portraits in the London journals, bearing many of the best known names in the British Empire, testified in mute protest against the horrors of war. And both Germany and France have a similar "roll of honor."

REPORTS OF THE BATTLE

While the great battle of the Rivers was in progress the most connected stories of its daily developments came through the British official news bureau, and these are reproduced in part in the pages that follow. The author of these reports is believed to be Colonel Swinton, of Field Marshal French's staff, who is generally credited with having contributed to the literature of the war some of the most interesting and enlightening accounts of the operations of the British and French armies in the field. And these reports are given here, because of their general character of apparent truth and fairness, and in the absence of any similar reports from the other side.

OPENING OF THE GREAT BATTLE

The following report from the British headquarters covers the period when the Allies' forward movement was halted along the Aisne and also describes the terrain, or country, in which the subsequent fighting occurred:

"From Thursday, September 10, the British army made [Ill.u.s.tration: In the above view the Rivers Marne, Ourcq, Aisne, Oise, and Meuse are clearly shown, exaggerated in size for convenience of reference. The position of the Allies September 20, 1914, is shown by a black dotted line running from between Amiens and Peronne to Verdun and Nancy. The German front is indicated by the shaded sections, which also show the German lines of communication or retreat, numbered from 1 to 7. At this time the Allies were pushing north to Arras, endeavoring to turn the German right flank in common of General von Kluck.] steady progress in its endeavor to drive back the enemy in co-operation with the French.

The country across which it had to force its way, and will have to continue to do so, is undulating and covered with patches of thick wood.

"Within the area which faced the British before the advance commenced, right up to Laon, the chief feature of tactical importance is the fact that there are six rivers running across the direction of the advance, at all of which it was possible that the Germans might make resistance.

These rivers are, in order from the south, the Marne, Ourcq, Vesle, Aisne, Ailette and Oise.

"The Germans held the line of the Marne, which was crossed by our forces on September 9, as a purely rearguard operation. Our pa.s.sage of the Ourcq was not contested. The Vesle was only lightly held, while resistance along the Aisne, both against the French and the British, has been and still is of a determined character.

"On Friday, September 11, but little opposition was met with along any part of our front, and the direction of the advance was, for the purpose of co-operating with our allies, turned slightly to the northeast.

The day was spent in rushing forward and gathering in various hostile detachments. By nightfall our forces had reached a line north of the Ourcq, extending from Oulchy-le-Chateau to Longpont.

"On this day there was also a general advance of the French along their whole line, which ended in a substantial success, in one portion of the field Duke Albrecht of Wuerttemburg's army being driven back across the Saulx, and elsewhere the whole of the artillery of a German corps being captured. Several German colors also were taken.

"It was only on this day that the full extent of the victory gained by the Allies on September 8 [at the Marne] was appreciated by them, and the moral effect of this success has been enormous. An order dated September 6 and 7, issued by the commander of the German Seventh Corps, was picked up. It stated that the great object of the war was about to be attained, since the French were going to accept battle, and that upon the result of this battle would depend the issue of the war and the honor of the German armies.

"On Sat.u.r.day, the 12th, the enemy were found to be occupying a very formidable position opposite us on the north of the line at Soissons.

Working from the west to the east, our Third Army Corps gained some high ground south of the Aisne overlooking the Aisne valley, to the east of Soissons. Here a long-range artillery duel between our guns and those of the French on our left and the enemy's artillery on the hills continued during the greater part of the day, and did not cease until nearly midnight. The enemy had a very large number of heavy howitzers in well-concealed positions.

"At Braisne the First cavalry division met with considerable opposition from infantry and machine-guns holding the town and guarding the bridge.

With the aid of some of our infantry it gained possession of the town about midday, driving the enemy to the north. Some hundred prisoners were captured around Braisne, where the Germans had thrown a large amount of field-gun ammunition into the river, where it was visible under two feet of water.

FATEFUL ENCOUNTER BEGINS

"On our right the French reached the line of the River Vesle. On this day began an action along the Aisne which is not yet finished, and which may be merely of a rearguard nature on a large scale, or may be the commencement of a battle of a more serious nature.

"It rained heavily on Sat.u.r.day afternoon and all through the night, which severely handicapped transport.

"On Sunday, the 13th, extremely strong resistance was encountered by the whole of our front, which was some fifteen miles in length. The action still consisted for the most part of a long-range gunfire, that of the Germans being to a great extent from their heavy howitzers, which were firing from cleverly concealed positions. Some of the actual crossings of the Aisne were guarded by strong detachments of infantry with machine-guns.

"By nightfall portions of all our three army corps were across the river, the cavalry returning to the south side. By early next morning, three pontoon bridges had been built, and our troops also managed to get across the river by means of the bridge carrying the ca.n.a.l over the river.

"On our left the French pressed on, but were prevented by artillery fire from building a pontoon bridge at Soissons. A large number of infantry, however, crossed in single file the top girder of the railway bridge left standing.

"During the last three or four days many isolated parties of Germans have been discovered hiding in the numerous woods a long way behind our line. As a rule they seemed glad to surrender, and the condition of some of them may be gathered from the following incident:

"An officer proceeding along the road in charge of a number of led horses received information that there were some of the enemy in the neighborhood. He gave the order to charge, whereupon three German officers and 106 men surrendered.

RHEIMS OCCUPIED BY GERMANS

"Rheims was occupied by the enemy on September 3. It was reoccupied by the French after considerable fighting on September 13.

"On the 12th, a proclamation, a copy of which is in the possession of the British army, was posted all over the town. A literal translation of this poster follows:

"'PROCLAMATION--In the event of an action being fought early today or in the immediate future in the neighborhood of Rheims, the inhabitants are warned that they must remain absolutely calm and must in no way try to take part in the fighting. They must not attempt to attack either isolated soldiers or detachments of the German army. The erection of barricades, the taking up of paving stones in the streets in a way to hinder the movement of troops, or, in a word, any action that may embarra.s.s the German army, is formally forbidden.

"'With an idea to securing adequately the safety of the troops and to instill calm into the population of Rheims, the persons named below have been seized as hostages by the commander-in-chief of the German army.

These hostages will be hanged at the slightest attempt at disorder.

Also, the town will be totally or partially burned and the inhabitants will be hanged for any infraction of the above.

"'By order of the German authorities. (Signed) "'THE MAYOR.'

"Here followed the names of eighty-one of the princ.i.p.al inhabitants of Rheims, with their addresses, including four priests, and ending with the words, 'And some others.'"

HOW THE BATTLE DEVELOPED

The following descriptive report from Field Marshal Sir John French's headquarters was issued September 22:

"At the date of the last narrative, September 14, the Germans were making a determined resistance along the River Aisne. The opposition has proved to be more serious than was antic.i.p.ated.

"The action now being fought by the Germans along their line is naturally on a scale which, as to extent of ground covered and duration of resistance, makes it undistinguishable in its progress from what is known as a 'pitched battle.'

"So far as we are concerned, the action still being contested is the battle of the Aisne. The foe we are fighting is just across that river, along the whole of our front to the east and west. The struggle is not confined to the valley of that river, though it will probably bear its name.