urb its aim. The villages, the orchards, the grottoes, crammed with
machine-guns, were so many fortresses; the whole valley was a veritable
hell. There were incessant counter-attacks, which the Allies, on the
bare plateau, entirely devoid of cover, could repel only with the
greatest difficulty. They pushed forward step by step, and by fits and
starts. On the 19th our troops were hard put to it to hold the ground
they had taken the day before; on the 20th they barely began to nibble
at the ravines, at Ploisy and L'Echelle. On the 21st the Americans took
Berzy-le-Sec, and the French were astride the lower waters of the Crise;
on the 23d they went down into the ravine of Buzancy. But not until the
25th did they gain possession of the promontory of Villemontoire; and
only on the 29th did a Scottish division, after three days of forward
fighting, carry Buzancy. This last success, to be sure, was decisive,
for it uncovered the upper valley of the Crise. And so, on August 2, the
enemy gave way; that day the Allies crossed the valley along its entire
length, and advanced across the eastern side of the plateau as far as
the Vesle. On the same day they entered Soissons--at last. The ancient
capital of the French kings, the city which formerly disputed the claim
of Paris to be called the metropolis, is now no more than a mass of
ruins. For four long years the war has laid its heavy hand upon her; and
it is no new thing for her, since she had played an important military
role in 1814, 1815, and 1870. She owes it to her fine location, in the
heart of a broad valley, where the roads from south and east meet. Let
us hope that her martyrdom will soon come to an end.
[Sidenote: The Allies hold the entire plateau.]
Here ended the second battle of the Marne. The Allies have regained
possession of the whole plateau which extends from the Marne to the
Vesle and the Aisne. They have established themselves in the valleys of
those great rivers, from Soissons to Braisne, Bazoches, and Fismes--even
to Rheims. They find there formidable obstacles to be overcome: a broad,
moist, sometimes swampy bottom; facing them the cliff of the
Chemin-des-Dames and the plateau of the Vesle, with its cap of
limestone, and its numerous windings lined with villages and grottoes.
Except in case of a surprise or a voluntary retirement, it will be a
hard job to carry these positions. But sufficient unto the day is the
evil thereof. The results already achieved are
|