Boy Allies in the Trenches; Or, Midst Shot and Shell Along the Aisne

by Clair W. Hayes

  CHAPTER XVI.

  THE GERMAN ATTACK.

  A battle, as severe in its hand-to-hand struggle and toll of life asFredericksburg or Antietam, in the American Civil War--yet in this vastconflict only an incident, chronicled as "progress" in the officialreports--such was the battle of Soissons. It was the most terrific andthe most bitterly contested of the great war up to date, January 8.

  There, for eight days, men fell, torn with shell and bullet, and overthese trenches men charged in the face of certain death.

  A German attack in force opened the battle on January 8. General Joffrehad slightly altered his plan, as outlined to Hal and Chester, andimmediately the battle began the French made a counter-attack.

  The Aisne river, at this point, is one of the most strategic positions.The battlefield covered a front of approximately seven miles. On thewestern side is a deep valley, running northward, which is bounded oneither side by turnpikes from Soissons, La Fere and Laon.

  A high, level plateau rises steeply a couple of hundred feet from thevalley of the Aisne and formed the center and eastern flank of thebattlefield. The plateau is deeply notched by three steep-sided ravinesrunning down to the Aisne. Through these General Joffre, if he chose,could bring up supports unnoticed and without danger to positions onthe plateau.

  The French counter-attack, then, was made up the valley to the westbetween the two turnpikes.

  Immediately the Germans had begun their offensive the French made readyfor their attack by a terrible artillery bombardment. Field guns andheavy artillery concentrated their fire on this section of the Germantrenches, and there was such a rain of shell and shrapnel on thedefenders that they were unable to make an effective defense against theFrench infantry attack which followed.

  The French, with great dash, carried part of the German positions; butthis success dampened the vigor of their artillery bombardment, whichcould not be continued without endangering their own men. The big Germanguns opened a heavy fire on the rearward communications of the French,preventing the bringing up of reenforcements.

  Meanwhile, General Von Kluck, the German commander, was gathering hisforces for a counter-stroke, which came, not through the valley, butacross the high plateau to the eastward, a large part of which was heldby the French. The surface of the plateau, which is fairly level, wascrossed by row after row of deep French trenches, each trench with aclear field for the fire of its guns.

  It seemed impossible, in the cold light of the day after the passingexcitement of battle, to conceive of troops successfully storming suchintrenched positions But this is just what the Germans did, or thoughtthey did, for their officers did not realize that the giving way of theFrench at this point was part of General Joffre's counter-stroke.

  There were five successive lines of permanent French trenches, each withits entanglement of barbed wire, supported on iron posts. German pioneerscut their way through the first entanglement before the general attack,but it was necessary for the others to make the advance across theexposed positions under fire.

  These attackers, however, were General Von Kluck's veterans, who, afterthe famous dash on Paris, the battle of the Marne and the retirement tothe Aisne, had remained in comparative inactivity since the middle ofSeptember.

  They succeeded in sweeping across the plateau, first in the center andthen on the eastern flank, carrying trench after trench by storm in aninterrupted and irresistible attack.

  The French retired from the plateau. Then they gave up the valley belowand retreated across the river. The Germans advanced through the valley.

  The narrow turnpikes had become great cemeteries. Four thousand Germantroops, engaged in the work of burying the dead as fast as they fell, hadbeen unable to clear the field of even their own dead after eight days,while the field was strewn with the bodies of French infantrymen, intheir far-to-be-seen red-and-blue uniforms, swarthy-faced Turcos,colonials, Alpine riflemen and bearded territorials.

  There came a lull in the fighting. The French retained a footholdnorth of the river at St. Paul, where the bridge from Soissons crossesthe stream; but the bridge head was commanded by German artillery onthe heights.

  The promenade along the exposed side of the plateau, in sight of Soissonsand the bank of the Aisne, also held by the French in force, gave arather uncanny feeling of insecurity. However, it was less dangerous thanit seemed, for a slight haze rendered the group in German field grayinvisible to the French artillery on the heights on the opposite side ofthe valley.

  In the part of the field where Hal and Chester had been on the eighth dayof the fighting, at the edge of the plateau, the struggle had beendesperate. Here, with the final German assault, the French had foughtstubbornly and a hand-to-hand struggle ensued.

  Regiments of French troops, rather than retire to safety down adeclivity, had contested this section of the field to the last, finallyto be mowed down by the German artillery as the infantry was forced back.

  Hal and Chester had taken no important part in the battle, and hadremained with the little body of British troops, held with masses ofinfantry of the French, in reserve, and had only been thrown forward withthe reenforcements when General Joffre decided that it was time to haltthe tide of the German advance.

  Immediately heavy reenforcements were hurled upon the Germans, and thelatter must have been surprised by the fact that an apparently beatenenemy could come back so strongly to the attack. It became evident,however, after the eighth successive day of fighting, that the Germanleaders realized that General Joffre had anticipated the German attack;for, when French reenforcements were hurled forward in force, and theentire line assumed the offensive, the Teutons gave back rapidly.

  All that they had gained at such terrible sacrifice was again soon in thehands of the French. To their recent positions the French advanced--andbeyond--carrying trench after trench which had been occupied for a fewdays by the enemy.

  There was no staying this terrible drive.

  The greatest pressure by the French was brought to bear upon the twoflanks of the enemy, and these gave back while the German center held;but soon this gave way also and retreated, for General Von Kluckperceived that if it did not keep pace with the retreat of either flank,it was likely to be cut off and annihilated.

  Thus, from apparent victory the Germans had met defeat. It was a hardblow to the Kaiser, who from the rear watched the battle as it progressedand stood nervously clenching and unclenching his hands as victory turnedinto defeat.

  The first two rows of German trenches had fallen into the hands ofthe French, and there the troops prepared to make themselves at home.Thousands upon thousands of men were set to work burying the dead,and soon the field was cleared of the bodies. The losses on bothsides had been enormous, for the battle of Soissons had been thebloodiest of the war.

  General Joffre, who had moved his headquarters somewhat toward the rearwhen the German advance began, reoccupied his old quarters once more, andit was here that Hal and Chester, having been summoned, found him.

  "I have a mission that I thought you would like to undertake," saidthe general.

  "We shall be glad to," returned Chester.

  "The little village of Pom lies just beyond our farthest outpost," saidGeneral Joffre. "Take the squadron of British and occupy it. You shouldbe able to do so with little difficulty."

  The lads saluted and departed, rejoicing that they had some workahead of them.

  The British raised a loud cheer when they learned that they were toadvance, for they had had little part in the terrible fighting aroundSoissons, and were growing restless.

  It was after dark when the little force moved out from the trenches andadvanced upon Pom. They marched quietly and swiftly, and morning foundthem in the streets of the little town.

  Here they encountered a small force of the enemy, who, however, gave waybefore them, evidently believing them the vanguard of a larger force.

  "Now," said Hal, "half of us may as well turn in while the other halfstands guard. Bre
ak in the doors of some of these houses, men."

  Then it was that His Lordship, the lanky Englishman who had afforded somuch amusement to the others, came to life. Up to this time he had beenmarching along with hanging head, apparently in nowise concerned in whatwas taking place.

  He ran lightly up the steps of the nearest house, and, putting hisshoulder to the door, broke it in with ease. Immediately hedisappeared within.

  Into this house Hal and Chester also went, and instructed their men tooccupy the adjoining buildings.

  "We can give a good account of ourselves in here, should we be attacked,"Hal explained.

  "Right," Chester agreed. "But do you anticipate an attack?"

  "I do," replied Hal. "As soon as the Germans we drove out report to themain body, a strong force probably will be sent against us."

  "And are we supposed to hold them off?"

  "We are supposed to stick until ordered to fall back, I reckon,"Hal replied.

  "Well," declared Chester, "we are at the very opposite side of the townand can see them coming--if they do."

  They were attracted by a peculiar noise at the opposite side of the roomin which they stood.

  It was His Lordship, dead to the world, snoring, with wide-open mouth.

  "The sergeant was right," said Hal. "His Lordship can sleep anywhere."

  Almost at this moment there came a warning from without.

  "Germans approaching in force, sir," cried the sergeant, poking his headin the door.

  And at that moment there came a clattering of horses' hoofs, and a momentlater a French officer entered the room.

  "General Joffre orders you to fall back, sir!" he said.