Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-01-22
STRUGGLE
RACES FOR -FOUR DAYS
Then Won kluck, With His Veter-
ans, Makes Successful Dash
Against French.
GREAT VICTORY NEAR sorssoNs
Battlefield Dotted With Corpses by
Hundreds, but Very Number Takes
Away Impression OF Slaughter.
Careful to Avoid Hand Grehades.

courier to Berlin, January 90. via Lon
don. January FL. 1895 p. M).-Notc:
The following is the second part or a
descriptive story OF the battle Of Sois-
sons. The delay In transmission OF
the second part occurred between Ber-
| lin and London.
! In the first section OF the story. which
was written at tho field headquarters
or an unnamed German general. the
bnttie Of Scissors was likened to the
battle of Antietam. and the ground
over which It was fought was de-
scribed. Eight days OF lighting had
resulted in the French being driven
! from the heights. whence they had ex-
! pected TO launch n fresh offensive
movement. The losses i'm these en-
counters were very heavy-The Asso-
ciated Press
The battle began on January S. A
severe bombardment from field guns
and heavy artillery was followed BY a
french charge. The Germans could
not make an effective defense against
! this onslaught. The French, with
| great dash, carried part Of the Ger
man positions. but by their success
they dampened the vigor OF their artIl-
| lery bombardment. which could not he
continued without endangering their
| own men.
The German guns in turn opened
with heavy fire on the rearward com
municatlons Of the French. preventing
the bringing up OF reinforcements A
desperate hand-to hand struggle on
Iairly even terms, ragged for four DAYS
ana nights In the valley and on the
wooded spur crowned by the shot
wrecked buildings of La Pcrriere farm
| Neither side was able to gain n dec,
sive advantage
General Won Kluck, meanwhile, was
gathering his forces for n counter
stroke, which came. not through the
valley, but across the high plateau to
the eastward. large part of which
was held by the French. The surface
OIL the plateau was crossed by row az
ter row of deep trenches. each trench
with clear field for the fir. of n.
guns.
SUCCESSFULLY STORM
ISTRENCHED POSITIONS
IT seemed impossible to conceive OF
troops successfully stormins such in
trenched positions. The Associated
Fress correspondent counted in some
places five such successive lines OF per-
mahent French trenches, each with ira
on iron posts screwed into the ground
Pioneers might cut their way through
the first ENHANCEMENT before the gen
eral attack, but 1t was necessary for
the others TO make the advance across
tho exposed positions under Are. The
attackers, however, were General Won
hiucks veterans, who after the IA
nous dash on Paris, the battle of the
Marine and the retirement to the Aisne.
had been remaining here in comma
tive Inactivity since the middle of Sen.
TENDER. They succeeded sotneh in
sweeping across the plateau, first in
the centre and then, on January 10, on
the left or eastern flank, carrying
trench after trench by storm in an un-
interrupted and irresistible attack. BY
h'shtfall of January 10 they had driven
the French from the plateau. On the
Following day they cleared the French
from the valley below and drove them
across the river. The victory was COM
pleted by an advance through the val.
ley on that same day.
Earlier operations made this COM
pnratirely easy: In fact, many Of the
French had no alternative but to BUR
render az the only path Of escape was
commanded completely from the plateau
above
The correspondent reached the bat
tleheld over the turnpike leading from
soissons, approaching by automobile as
far as the village Of Creuy, scant
mile from the French outposts. which
were the scene days earlier OF DESPERATE
combats. Tho roads is cut into the
side OF the Hill between the plateau
and the valley. The narrow margin
OF roadside on one hand before the
drop into the valley had become one
long cemetery. The Germans had in
tered there their dead OF past months.
In long rows OF graves, each SUR
mounted by stone or wooden cross.
telling sometimes OF one, oftener Of
| twenty or thirty or more comrades.
lying al rest beneath. On the oibosite
side or the road were entrances to nu-
merous tunneled stone duArfIes driven
| several hundred feet Into the hillside.
Within the quarrIes had been lodged
German troops, the number OF each
cavern varying from n company to A
regiment.
FAMILIAR PICTURE
OF DESTRUCTION
| The village or Creuy itself presented
a familiar picture OF she'll wrought de-
struction. From tho battlefield on the
plateau above was unfolded n panorama
OF the ptecipitous sides OF the Aisne
Valley and the French positions on the
opposite hills. Scissors. In full view
below. seemed startlingly close, with
the towers Of the cathedral and the
thirteenth!century abbey emerging from,
the maze OF stone houses
| slight haze made 1t impossible to
ascertain TO what extent soissons had
suffered under b6mbardment.
| The battlefield still is dotted with
corpses by the hundreds principally Of
! French soldiers who fell during their
hasty retirement from the trenches.
Thty crossed open fields, under artil-
lery and Infantry fire, and death over.
took some az they ran. The positions
OF the bodies show that most OF the
French retlred fighting. although some
fell on their faces as they were
stumbling toward the rear. Some lie
sprn"ling on their backs. faces to the
fhuh, OCCASIONALLY with heads piilowed
on knanahcks. showing that death was
not instantaneous. and that perhaps a
l a. L..