Evening star., 1915-01-22
Germans Force Retreat at
scissors After Bombard-
ment and Charge.
HAND-TO-HAND STRUGGLE
RACES DAYS AND NIGHTS
Gen. Won Kluck's Veterans. Sweeping
Across Plateau. Carry Trench After
Trench by Storm.

| BEFORE. SOISSO\S January Is. by
! courier to Berlin. January 90 via Lon
den. January 21 4:35 p.m.--Gfere fol-
lows the second part of a DESCRIPTIVE
| story of the battle of scissors; the frs
part was printed in The Star yester
dav The delay in transmission of this
| second part occurred between Berlin anC
| London. In the first section of the
! story. which was written at the helc
| headquarters of an unnamed German
general, the battle of scissors was
! likened to the battle of Antietam. ane
! the ground over which it was fough'
| vas described. Eight days OF hshtihE
| had resulted in the French beng drr'ei
| from the heights whence they had eN'
pected to launch fresh offensive move
| ment. The losses in these encounters
were very heavy.)
The battle began Jauary s. A severe
| bonlbardment from field guns ana hea's
artillery was followed by a frehCl
| charge The Germans could hot laane
| an effective defense against this ot
| saught The French, with sleal s';.ia,n uaat
! carried part of the German poSltlons
but by their success they dampened ,ne
vtgor of their artillery bomeardmenI
| which could not be continued "i,hou'
| endangering their own men. .
|
heavy fire on the rearward communlca :
tions of the French, preventing lue
bringing up of reinforcements. ueS go
iperate to-hand struggle on LARRY
nights in the valley, and on the WOODED
| spur crowned by tho Shot-Wreckeo
buildings of La Perriere farm. Nelther
| side was able to gain decisive do
vantage. 10Th
| Gen Won Kluck meanwhile was gath
erinp his forces for a counterStroke,
which came not through the valley. ou'
across the high plateau to the eas.,
ward. large part art OF srface wnen of III" the pIa
teau. which is fairly level. was crossed
by row after row of deep trencnes'
each trench with clear field 1or the
| fire of its guns
Barbed Wire Entanglements.
! IT seemed impossible in the cold light
of the day. and after the passing eA-
citement of battle. to conceive OF
troops successfully storming such en-
trenched positions. The Associated
Press correspondent counted In some
places as many as five such successive
lines of permanent French trenches,
each with it's ENHANCEMENT of barbed
| wire supported on iron posts Whlch
we're screwed into the ground. no
Ineers might cut their way through the
first ENHANCEMENT before the general
attack, but it was necessary for the
| others to make the advance across the
exposed positions under fire The at
hackers, however, were Gen. Won
| Kluck's veterans. who after the famous
dash on Paris, the battle Of the Marine
and the retirement to the Aisne. had
been remaining here in comparative
| ina ctiyity since the middle of Septem-
Der.
| They succeeded somehow in sweeping
| across the plateau. first in the center
and then. on January Is. on the left
or eastern flank. carrying trench after
| trench by storming an uninterrupted
and Irresistible attack. BY nightfall
of January 13 they had driven the
French from the plateau. On the fol-
lowing 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.
! The earlier operations made this com
paratively easy: in fact. many of the
| French had no alternative but to sur
render. as the only path OF escape. over
which Il retreat might have been at
tempted. was commanded completely
! from the plateau above.
The correspondent reached the battle
field over the turnpike leading from
scissors. approaching by automobile as
| far as the village of Crouy. scant
mile from the French outposts which
, were the scene three days earlier OF