ght come to handgrips again. Bolstered up by reenforcements, General
Manoury 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 ente