y.

General Maunoury's army, encamped in the forest of the Compiegne,
was again the first to give battle, as it had been in the battles
of the Marne. Using some heavy guns that had been sent on from
Paris, in addition to the batteries that had been lent him by the
British, he secured some well-planned artillery positions on the
south bank, and spent the morning in a long-range duel with the
German gunners near Soissons. The Germans had not all taken up
their positions on the north side of the Aisne on the morning of
September 12, 1914, and the heavy battery of the Fourth British
Division did good service early in the morning, dislodging some
of these before it wheeled in line beside the big French guns,
in an endeavor to shell the trenches and level the barbed-wire
entanglements, that an opportunity might be made to cross. But
the results were not encouraging of success, for the reply from
the further shore was terrific. General von Kluck's army might
be worn out, but the iron throats of his guns were untiring, and
he knew that huge reenforcements were on the way.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XX

FIRST DAY'S BATTLES

That first day of the battle of the Aisne, September 12, 1914,
which was indeed rather preparatory than actual, was also marked by
some unusually brilliant cavalry work in General Allenby's division.
The German line was on the farther side of the Aisne, but all the
hill country between the Marne and the Aisne had to be cleared of
the powerful rear guards of the retreating German army, or perhaps
it would be more correct to say the advance guards of the new German
line. Early in the morning the cavalry under General Allenby swept
out from the town of Braisne on the Vesle and harried in every
direction the strong detachments that had been sent forward, driving
them back to the Aisne. Over the high wooded ridge between the
Vesle and the Aisne the Germans were driven back, and the Third
Division, under General Hamilton, supported the cavalry in force,
so that, by the evening, General Hamilton's division was able to
camp below the hill of Brenelle, and even, before night fell, to
get their guns upon that height, from which they could reply to
the German batteries snugly ensconced upon the frowning ridge on
the northern bank of the Aisne.

The Fifth British Division, under Sir Charles Fergusson, found
itself in a tight place at the confluence of the Vesle and Aisne
Rivers, for at