The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-09-18
BEGIN ACTION
 ALONG THE AISNE


 two feet of water.
 BEGIN ACTION
 ALONG THE AISNE
 "On our right the French reached tho line of the River Vesle. On this day ws began an action along the Aisne which is not yet finished and which may b, merely of rear guard nature on a largo scale, or may be the. commencement oi battle of more serious nature.
 Tt rained heavily Saturday afternoon and all through the night, which severe. ly handicapped transport.
 "On Sunday, the 18th, extremely strong resistance was encountered along the whole of our front, some 15 miles lr length. The action still consisted for the most part of long range gun fire. thai of the Germans being to great extent from cleverly concealed positions. Some of the actual crossings of the Aisne were guarded by strong attachments ol infantry with machine guns.
 By nightfall portions of more than three corps were across the river, the cavalry returning to the south side By this night or early next morning three pontoon bridges had been built and our troops also managed to get across the river by means of the bridge carrying the canal over the river
 ''On our left the French pressed, but were prevented by artillery fire from building a pontoon bridge at Soissons A large number of infantry, however the railway bridge left standing, ISOLATED GERMAN
 PARTIES FOUND
 During the last three or four days many Isolated parties of Germans have been discovered hiding in the woods a long way behind our line. As a rule they seemed glad to surrender and the condi- tlon or some of them may be gathered from the following incident:
 An officer proceeding along the road in charge of number of led horses re- ceived information that some of the en- emmy were in the neighborhood. He gave the order to charge, whereupon three German officers and 1O6 men surrendered.
 At Senlis, immeditely upon his ar- rival. proclamation was issued by the commander of division The main points were that all arms were to be ha nded in at town hall at once; that all civilians found with arms would be shot; no person was to be in the street after dark; no lights were to be main tained in the houses or streets: the doors of all houses were to be left open and the inhabitants were not to collect In groups. Any obstruction of the German troops or the threatening of them would be punishable by death. TOWN IS NOT
 SERIOUSLY HURT
 At Villers Cotterets. the mayor an- pears to have behaved judiciouslv and the supplies far in excess of the cana p'It1es of the place were demanded the town was not seriously damaged. The Germans evacuated the place on Sep- teinber II in such haste that they left pehlnu large amount of the bread reouisitioned.
 Inhabitants said the enemy had de- siroyed and abandoned 15 motor dor ries. seven guns and ammunition wav ors
 Rheims was occupied by the enemy on September 8. It was reoccupied bv the French after considerable fighting on September 13.
 'On the 12th, proclamation, a copy or which Is in the possession of the British army, was posted all over the town. A literal translation follows:
 Proclamation-In the event of an action being fought early today or in the immediate future in the neighbor- hood of Rheims the inhabitants are warned that they must remain abso- lutely calm and not try to take part in lEe IiShtln&. Tne erection of barri- cades the taking up of paving stones In the streets in way to hinder the movement of troops. or in a word any action that may embarrass the Ger man army is formally forbidden.
 With ah. idea to securing adequate ly the safety of the troops and to in- still calm into the population of Rheims the persons named below have been seized as hostages by the commander in-chief of the German army. These hostages will be hanged at the slight est attempt at disorder. Also the town will be- burned and the inhabitants hanged for any infraction of the above.
 "'By order of the German authori- ties. The mayor
 Here followed the names of S1 of the principal inhabitants of Rheims, With their addresses. including four priests. and ending with the words and some others.'"