British Position on September 12, on the Eve of the Battle of the Aisne.
CHAPTER XXIX.
THE CROSSING OF THE AISNE.
On Saturday, September 12, 1914, the 6th French Army managed to secure several good artillery positions on the south bank of the river, and all day long there was a long-range duel with the German guns on the other side. Our Third Army Corps, working from west to east, gained some high ground east of Soissons, and their guns now took part in the duel. Until near midnight the rival guns hurled shot and shell at each other, while German searchlights flashed their broad beams to and fro searching the Allied positions. During the night our Third Army Corps and the right of the 6th French Army managed to capture half of the town of Soissons.
If you look at the picture-diagram on pages 248-9, you will notice that a little tributary, the Vesle, joins the main stream near Condé. While the Third Corps was attacking Soissons our cavalry was busy driving the enemy out of the valley of the lower Vesle.[124] Throughout the previous day (11th September) Allenby's men had been working through the woods and along the roads, clearing the ground, and preparing for the advance of the infantry. At Braisne,[125] which stands on the Vesle, they found the Germans in force, holding the little town, the bridge, and the surrounding heights with infantry and machine guns. In the brisk fight which followed the Queen's Bays greatly distinguished themselves. About midday our cavalry won the town, and began driving the enemy to the north. Some hundreds of prisoners were captured, and the Germans retreated so hastily that they were obliged to throw a large amount of gun ammunition into the river. It could clearly be seen under two feet of water. By the evening of the 12th the valley of the Vesle was clear, and both the Second and First Corps were approaching the main stream. The Second Corps lay across the Vesle, with the First Corps to the east of it. The Allies were now ready to undertake the tremendous task of crossing the river Aisne.
Sunday morning, 13th September, saw the great task begun, and the evening saw it successfully ended. As the Allies moved out towards the river the whole line of heights fronting them seemed to flash fire. From hundreds of German howitzers and field guns a storm of shot and shell raged along the south bank of the river, and from line after line of trenches hidden in the trees on the steep slopes sped a hurricane of bullets from machine guns and rifles. The bombardment was terrific; the whole valley appeared to throb as the shrapnel burst and the huge shells flew into fragments with a deafening roar. It seemed as though nothing could live in that zone of death. Nevertheless the Allies, crouching amid the bushes, doubling from one spot of shelter to another, moved swiftly forward in long, thin, skirmishing lines. Meanwhile British and French guns played upon the German trenches, and to some extent kept down the rifle and machine-gun fire.
Already the Allied engineers were engaged on the most dangerous and difficult work known to war. The river was swollen with the recent heavy rains, and its muddy torrent roared along, bearing on its surface the wreckage of many broken bridges. Near Soissons the engineers tried to push pontoons across the stream. Calmly and coolly they constructed their bridges under a deadly fire, only to see them splintered to matchwood by the guns of the enemy. As they worked, German rifles and machine guns blazed at them from short range across the river, and the enemy, encouraged by his success, attempted to build bridges of his own. As, however, the first bridge section approached the stream, a British shell burst above it, and immediately the section and its bearers were no more. So fierce, however, was the fire of the enemy that our engineers had to give up trying to bridge the stream at this point. All attempts to silence the German batteries which were doing the mischief proved vain.
