It was true. His Lordship had stretched out on the cold, hard ground.
"Great Scott! Can he sleep there?" asked Chester, in surprise.
"His Lordship," said the sergeant calmly, "can sleep anywhere!"
CHAPTER XVI.
THE GERMAN ATTACK.
A battle, as severe in its hand-to-hand struggle and toll of life as Fredericksburg or Antietam, in the American Civil War—yet in this vast conflict only an incident, chronicled as "progress" in the official reports—such was the battle of Soissons. It was the most terrific and the most bitterly contested of the great war up to date, January 8.
There, for eight days, men fell, torn with shell and bullet, and over these trenches men charged in the face of certain death.
A German attack in force opened the battle on January 8. General Joffre had slightly altered his plan, as outlined to Hal and Chester, and immediately 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 the western side is a deep valley, running northward, which is bounded on either side by turnpikes from Soissons, La Fere and Laon.
A high, level plateau rises steeply a couple of hundred feet from the valley of the Aisne and formed the center and eastern flank of the battlefield. The plateau is deeply notched by three steep-sided ravines running down to the Aisne. Through these General Joffre, if he chose, could bring up supports unnoticed and without danger to positions on the plateau.