German Sharpshooters on the Heights of the Aisne.
Photo, Newspaper Illustrations, Ltd.
Farther west, however, the French, in the gray of the morning, threw two bridges across the river, and immediately infantry and guns of the 6th Army swarmed across them. By the afternoon the French were fighting their way up the ravines on the other side. A little distance to the east of Soissons you will notice that the river forks, and in two channels flows round an island. At this point British engineers were also successful in throwing pontoons across the river, and the 11th British Brigade dashed across them, and began to dig themselves in on the other side.
Smith-Dorrien's men, the Second Corps, were lying astride of the lower Vesle. As they advanced against the line of the Aisne they suffered heavy loss, especially on the left, where there was much open ground. Stubborn attempts were made to bridge the river opposite to the village of Missy, but they failed again and again. Nevertheless, by the afternoon rafts had been constructed, and these, laden with troops, were hauled to and fro across the stream. By this means two brigades gained the other side, and immediately lined out in the woods, where they fought for the rest of the day. Meanwhile Smith-Dorrien's 3rd Division was struggling hard to cross at Condé.[126] On the other side the Germans were lying in tiers of trenches on the steep slope, and some of them were sheltered behind the ramparts of an old French fort at Condé. So fierce and continuous was their fire that our men failed to cross the river at this point. The Germans held Condé all that day, and for many weeks after.
Haig's division, on Smith-Dorrien's right, attacked the enemy along a front of about six miles. You will notice that they had to cross, first a canal, and then the river. The canal was easily bridged, but the flat ground between the canal and river was terribly swept by German fire, and here again it was found impossible at most points to construct pontoon bridges. The men, however, were got across by means of boats and rafts.
Still farther east an iron road bridge had been blown up by the Germans; but they had not made a complete job of it, and one of the broken girders which remained above the water formed a kind of switchback across the stream. In the middle it was under water, and the muddy river swirled fiercely around it. The upstanding girder was discovered by one of our men, and immediately an attempt was made to get troops across it. Ropes were stretched from bank to bank, to give the men something to hold on by, and across this quivering plank of steel they made their way in single file. At one point they were nearly up to their waists in water. Despite rifle and machine-gun fire, a small force crossed the river by this perilous path, and as it pushed forward the engineers were able to strengthen and enlarge the frail bridge for the passage of the remainder. The crossing of the river by means of this broken girder was one of the most stirring incidents yet recorded. (See Frontispiece.)
It was on the right of the British line that the greatest success was achieved. At a place called Bourg (see map on page [240]) a branch canal is carried across the river by means of a low aqueduct with a broad towing-path. By some happy chance the Germans had not destroyed this aqueduct, and were holding it with only a small force. When, however, the British cavalry prepared to cross by means of the towing-path, shrapnel and bullets were rained upon them. The horsemen, however, dashed across, and infantry followed hard behind them. Meanwhile the engineers were busy building a pontoon bridge by the side of the aqueduct, where they were sheltered from the enemy's fire. The rest of the 1st Division was got across by means of the pontoon bridge, and in the evening was partly entrenched two miles north of the river. The 5th French Army was by this time across the river too, and the Moroccans were covering the British flank.
A thousand deeds of cool and daring courage were done on that September morning. If you are to form an idea of what our men had to face, you must try to imagine them creeping nearer and nearer to the river through a deadly hail of shot and shell—the engineers working calmly on the bridges while marksmen hidden in the woods were picking them off, and the machine guns and artillery of the enemy were making havoc amongst them; the frail rafts, crowded with men, being hauled to and fro, and death taking its toll every passage; the infantry crawling forward yard by yard up the steep slopes, in spite of the fire from above, and all the while huge shells from the German howitzers hurling up fountains of water from the river or tearing vast holes in the ground. Sudden and hideous death faced our men every minute; yet they "stuck it" with bull-dog courage, and the river was crossed.
