the engineers attached to the
First Army Corps had also established a pontoon bridge, and the
whole brigade crossed the river in the evening and dug itself in.

Late on Sunday afternoon, however, a weak spot showed itself in
the German line and Sir John French threw the First Division of the
First Army Corps across the river near Bourg. Some of the infantry
crossed by a small pontoon bridge and a brigade of cavalry started
to follow them. When they were in mid-stream, however, a terrific
storm of fire smote them. The cavalry pushed on, but could not
ride up the hill in the teeth of the bombardment. The infantry
were eager to go, but nothing was to be gained by the move, so
the cavalry returned over the pontoon, by a most extraordinary
occurrence not having lost a single member in the three hours it
had been scouting on the hostile side of the Aisne. The infantry
intrenched themselves solidly to await the morning.

The main forces of the First Division were especially lucky. Using
the canal aqueduct they made their way toward Bourg, and drove
the Germans back toward the main ridge.

More than three-quarters of the summit of the ridge had been won,
the entire Second Infantry Brigade was across, the Twenty-fifth
Artillery Brigade was across, ready to support, and General Bulfin,
instead of tiring his men by making them intrench there, ordered
them to rest, throwing their outposts in front of the hamlet of
Moulins.

This ended the first day's fighting on the battle of the Aisne.
Of the Third Army Corps, a small body of men had reached Chipres.
There they had been joined by a small force from the Second Army
Corps. In the First Army a strong detachment dug itself in not
far from Pont d'Arcy. The incomparably superior position of the
Germans, their huge numbers, their possession of innumerable guns,
made even this shaky tenure dangerous, though all held on. Sir
John French had tested and found out the German strength and the
result was not encouraging.

Although this repulse of the British army at every point was a
decided victory for the German gunners, Field Marshal von Heeringen
had been impressed by two things: the courage of the British attacking
army, and the destructiveness of the French artillery on the south
bank of the river. The German commander withdrew all his men from
the advanced trenches on between the ridge and the river, keeping,
however, strongly intrenched detachments of riflemen at all commanding