and decisive a
character that he gained positions which alone have enabled me to
maintain my position for more than three weeks of very severe fighting
on the north bank of the river."

The offensive of this entire movement was intrusted to the First Corps.
The artillery strength of the armies of General von Kluck and Von Buelow
was such that it was almost impossible for the Second and Third British
Army Corps to assail them by a charge up the bluff. But, meantime, the
French had not been idle. On September 13, 1914, General d'Esperey's
Fifth Army crossed the Aisne east of Bourg, and on the following day
commenced the assault on the Craonne plateau.

The next day, Tuesday, September 15, 1914, was a day of several small
victories for the Germans. General von Zwehl was hard hitter and a
quick hitter. Having disposed of his artillery where he thought it could
be of the most use, he aided Field Marshal von Heeringen with counsels
of counterattack, counsels that the Field Marshal fully indorsed. The
Sixth French Army under General Manoury, at the extreme west of the
line, was the chief point of attack. Though well placed on a strong
position at Nampcel, the Germans drove the French before them like
clouds before the wind, recaptured the spurs, forced the French backward
through the Morsain ravine and back to their original crossing place of
the Aisne between Viv and Fontenoy.

The Third Corps of the British suffered heavy loss of life without any
opportunity to retaliate, for it was too thoroughly and completely
dominated by the guns of Vregny.

The lull of Wednesday, September 16, 1914, was a foretaste of the
deadlock which was gradually forming. The French Fifth Army had been
compelled to abandon all idea of a direct attack upon the Craonne
plateau, the natural position being far too strong. The Second and Third
Corps of the British army could do nothing. Sir John French, though
eager to push the advantage, secured by his position on the heights, was
well aware that such a move was not possible unless the entire French
line was ready to cooperate with him, for, if he tried to drive down
upon the ridge of the Aisne, or, for that matter, tried to flank it, the
line of the Duke of Wuerttemberg would bend back upon him and nip him in
a way which would render escape difficult.

A sudden recrudescence of activity on the western front gave rise to the
hope that the deadlock might yet be avoided, that the two great armies
mi