The Boy Allies in the Trenches Part 22

"Why, he made a bargain with a big fat fellow, who, for four packs of cigarettes a day, agreed to let his lords.h.i.+p use his stomach as a pillow.

He's lazy, yes, but just the same he's a fighter. We began to respect him on the day he laid low sixteen Germans with eighteen cartridges. He did it as nonchalantly as though he were in a shooting gallery. But lazy!

Why, he was so lazy he would not brush the perspiration off his forehead.

He asked a neighbor to do it for him!"

The sergeant stopped and eyed His Lords.h.i.+p.

"Look," he said, "he's going to bed again."

It was true. His Lords.h.i.+p had stretched out on the cold, hard ground.

"Great Scott! Can he sleep there?" asked Chester, in surprise.

"His Lords.h.i.+p," said the sergeant calmly, "can sleep anywhere!"

CHAPTER XVI.

THE GERMAN ATTACK.

A battle, as severe in its hand-to-hand struggle and toll of life as Fredericksburg or Antietam, in the American Civil War--yet in this vast conflict only an incident, chronicled as "progress" in the official reports--such was the battle of Soissons. It was the most terrific and the most bitterly contested of the great war up to date, January 8.

There, for eight days, men fell, torn with sh.e.l.l and bullet, and over these trenches men charged in the face of certain death.

A German attack in force opened the battle on January 8. General Joffre had slightly altered his plan, as outlined to Hal and Chester, and immediately the battle began the French made a counter-attack.

The Aisne river, at this point, is one of the most strategic positions.

The battlefield covered a front of approximately seven miles. On the western side is a deep valley, running northward, which is bounded on either side by turnpikes from Soissons, La Fere and Laon.

A high, level plateau rises steeply a couple of hundred feet from the valley of the Aisne and formed the center and eastern flank of the battlefield. The plateau is deeply notched by three steep-sided ravines running down to the Aisne. Through these General Joffre, if he chose, could bring up supports unnoticed and without danger to positions on the plateau.

The French counter-attack, then, was made up the valley to the west between the two turnpikes.

Immediately the Germans had begun their offensive the French made ready for their attack by a terrible artillery bombardment. Field guns and heavy artillery concentrated their fire on this section of the German trenches, and there was such a rain of sh.e.l.l and shrapnel on the defenders that they were unable to make an effective defense against the French infantry attack which followed.

The French, with great dash, carried part of the German positions; but this success dampened the vigor of their artillery bombardment, which could not be continued without endangering their own men. The big German guns opened a heavy fire on the rearward communications of the French, preventing the bringing up of reenforcements.

Meanwhile, General Von Kluck, the German commander, was gathering his forces for a counter-stroke, which came, not through the valley, but across the high plateau to the eastward, a large part of which was held by the French. The surface of the plateau, which is fairly level, was crossed by row after row of deep French trenches, each trench with a clear field for the fire of its guns.

It seemed impossible, in the cold light of the day after the pa.s.sing excitement of battle, to conceive of troops successfully storming such intrenched positions But this is just what the Germans did, or thought they did, for their officers did not realize that the giving way of the French at this point was part of General Joffre's counter-stroke.

There were five successive lines of permanent French trenches, each with its entanglement of barbed wire, supported on iron posts. German pioneers cut their way through the first entanglement before the general attack, but it was necessary for the others to make the advance across the exposed positions under fire.

These attackers, however, were General Von Kluck's veterans, who, after the famous dash on Paris, the battle of the Marne and the retirement to the Aisne, had remained in comparative inactivity since the middle of September.

They succeeded in sweeping across the plateau, first in the center and then on the eastern flank, carrying trench after trench by storm in an interrupted and irresistible attack.

The French retired from the plateau. Then they gave up the valley below and retreated across the river. The Germans advanced through the valley.

The narrow turnpikes had become great cemeteries. Four thousand German troops, engaged in the work of burying the dead as fast as they fell, had been unable to clear the field of even their own dead after eight days, while the field was strewn with the bodies of French infantrymen, in their far-to-be-seen red-and-blue uniforms, swarthy-faced Turcos, colonials, Alpine riflemen and bearded territorials.

There came a lull in the fighting. The French retained a foothold north of the river at St. Paul, where the bridge from Soissons crosses the stream; but the bridge head was commanded by German artillery on the heights.

The promenade along the exposed side of the plateau, in sight of Soissons and the bank of the Aisne, also held by the French in force, gave a rather uncanny feeling of insecurity. However, it was less dangerous than it seemed, for a slight haze rendered the group in German field gray invisible to the French artillery on the heights on the opposite side of the valley.

In the part of the field where Hal and Chester had been on the eighth day of the fighting, at the edge of the plateau, the struggle had been desperate. Here, with the final German a.s.sault, the French had fought stubbornly and a hand-to-hand struggle ensued.

Regiments of French troops, rather than retire to safety down a declivity, had contested this section of the field to the last, finally to be mowed down by the German artillery as the infantry was forced back.

Hal and Chester had taken no important part in the battle, and had remained with the little body of British troops, held with ma.s.ses of infantry of the French, in reserve, and had only been thrown forward with the reenforcements when General Joffre decided that it was time to halt the tide of the German advance.

Immediately heavy reenforcements were hurled upon the Germans, and the latter must have been surprised by the fact that an apparently beaten enemy could come back so strongly to the attack. It became evident, however, after the eighth successive day of fighting, that the German leaders realized that General Joffre had antic.i.p.ated the German attack; for, when French reenforcements were hurled forward in force, and the entire line a.s.sumed the offensive, the Teutons gave back rapidly.

All that they had gained at such terrible sacrifice was again soon in the hands of the French. To their recent positions the French advanced--and beyond--carrying trench after trench which had been occupied for a few days by the enemy.

There was no staying this terrible drive.

The greatest pressure by the French was brought to bear upon the two flanks of the enemy, and these gave back while the German center held; but soon this gave way also and retreated, for General Von Kluck perceived that if it did not keep pace with the retreat of either flank, it was likely to be cut off and annihilated.

Thus, from apparent victory the Germans had met defeat. It was a hard blow to the Kaiser, who from the rear watched the battle as it progressed and stood nervously clenching and unclenching his hands as victory turned into defeat.

The first two rows of German trenches had fallen into the hands of the French, and there the troops prepared to make themselves at home.

Thousands upon thousands of men were set to work burying the dead, and soon the field was cleared of the bodies. The losses on both sides had been enormous, for the battle of Soissons had been the bloodiest of the war.

General Joffre, who had moved his headquarters somewhat toward the rear when the German advance began, reoccupied his old quarters once more, and it was here that Hal and Chester, having been summoned, found him.

"I have a mission that I thought you would like to undertake," said the general.

"We shall be glad to," returned Chester.

"The little village of Pom lies just beyond our farthest outpost," said General Joffre. "Take the squadron of British and occupy it. You should be able to do so with little difficulty."

The lads saluted and departed, rejoicing that they had some work ahead of them.

The British raised a loud cheer when they learned that they were to advance, for they had had little part in the terrible fighting around Soissons, and were growing restless.

It was after dark when the little force moved out from the trenches and advanced upon Pom. They marched quietly and swiftly, and morning found them in the streets of the little town.

Here they encountered a small force of the enemy, who, however, gave way before them, evidently believing them the vanguard of a larger force.

"Now," said Hal, "half of us may as well turn in while the other half stands guard. Break in the doors of some of these houses, men."

Then it was that His Lords.h.i.+p, the lanky Englishman who had afforded so much amus.e.m.e.nt to the others, came to life. Up to this time he had been marching along with hanging head, apparently in nowise concerned in what was taking place.

He ran lightly up the steps of the nearest house, and, putting his shoulder to the door, broke it in with ease. Immediately he disappeared within.

Into this house Hal and Chester also went, and instructed their men to occupy the adjoining buildings.