oury checked the German attack and regained all the
ground that had been lost. Concentrating on the need of driving
the invaders out of the quarries of Autreches, the French succeeded.
This eased the western end of the line, and the Second and Third
British Army Corps were left in peace.

Friday, September 18, 1914, is again a date of moment, not because
anything of importance was transacted, but because nothing was
transacted. It was a day of realizations. It was a day that convinced
the Allies that the German positions could not be broken down by
frontal attack, just as the battles of the Marne had convinced
the Germans that the road to Paris was not yet open. The six days
from September 12 to 18 had revealed beyond preadventure that the
German line along the ridge of the Aisne was not merely a convenient
halting place for a rear-guard action, but that it was formed of
lines of strong fortifications, almost impregnable and absolutely
beyond the hope of storming. The forces were too evenly balanced
for any concerted action to produce a desired effect, the possession
of air scouts eliminated any question of a surprise. In other words,
the conclusion was borne in upon the Allies with full force that,
much as the German plan had failed at Marne, so had the Allies'
plan failed at Aisne. The crossing of the Aisne, the winning of
the heights by Sir Douglas Haig were victories--not only that, but
they were full of that glory which goes with successful daring--yet
they led nowhere. The plan of the Allies must be abandoned and a
new one formed. This decision of a change of strategical plan,
then, closed the Allies' frontal attack upon the position of the
Central Powers on the ridge of the Maise, and marks the end of
the first phase of the battle of the Aisne.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXII

BOMBARDMENT OF RHEIMS AND SOISSONS

To be considered almost as a part of the advance upon the Aisne
were the bombardments of Soissons and of Rheims, the former being a
part of the first phase of the Aisne battles, the second belonging
to the second phase. Soissons, it will be remembered, lies at the
western end of the high bluffs that form a bank to the River Aisne
for over fifty miles. It is on the high road between Rheims and
Compiegne, and on the south side of the Aisne, and consequently
returned into French hands on September 13, 1914. No sooner did
the French armies enter the little town, however, than