Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1915-01-22
STORY OF BATTLE
OF .s0|ss0Ns As
TOLD BY PRESS
CORRESPONDENT
Long Lines of Dead on Battle
field Where Fighting Was
Hand-to-hand With Bay
onetS and CIubbed Rifles.

d-to-hand With Bay
onetS and Clubbed Rifles.
DESPERATE STRUGGLE
VICTORY FOR GERMANS
Men Who Perish Have Letters
Fresh From Wives and Chill
dren, All Hoping That Loved
Ones May Meet Soon.
tiere follows the second part OF a de-
scrlptive story Of the battle Of soissons.
the first part OF which was sent out In
the night report OF January 20
The delay in transmission Of this second
part occurred between Berlin and London.
In the first section OF the story. which was
written al the field Headquarters OF an un-
named German general, the battle OF Sois-
sons was likoned 10 the battle OF Antietam.
and the ground over which It was fought
was described. Eight days OF lighting had
resulted in the French being driven from
the heights whence they had expected TO
launch fresh offensive movement The
losses in these encounters were very
heavyD
tsY noRsIno JOURNAL SPECIAL LEASED wlasl
Before scissors, Jan. s tby courier
to Berlin, Jan. 20, via London, Jan.
N m l.-frhn hattla hAOn
January s. A severe bombardment
from field guns and heavy artillery
was followed by a French charge.
The Germans could not make an ef-
fective defense against this onslaught.
The French. with great dash, carried
part Of the German positions but by
their success they dampened the
vigor Of their artillery bombardment
which could not be continued with
out endangering their own men.
The German guns In turn opened a
heavy fire on the rearward commune
cations of the French preventing the
bringing up of reinforcements. A
desperate hand-to-hand struggle on
fairly even terms ragged for four days
and nights on the valley and in the
wooded spur crowned by the shot
wrecked buildings Of the La Perrierre
farm. Neither side was able to gain
"a decisive advantage
All Cut Up With Trenches.
General Won Kluck meanwhile was
gathering his forces for counter
stroke which came not through valley
by across the high plateau to the east
ward, large part of which was held
by the French The surface of the
plateau, which is fairly level, was
htf "a nf npan
trenches, each trench with a clear
field for the fire of its guns.
1t seems impossible in the cold light
of day and after the passing of the
excitement of battle to conceive of
troops successfully storming such en-
trenched positions. The Associated
Press correspondent counted in some
places as many as five successive lines
of permanent French trenches, each
with its enlargement of barbed wire
supported on iron posts which were
screwed into the ground. Pioneers
might cut their way through the first
entanglement before the general at
tack. but it was necessary for the 9TH
ers to make their advance across the
positions under fire The attackers
however were General Won kluck's
veterans who, after the famous dash
on Paris. the battleof the Marine and
the retirement to the Aisne, had been
remaining here in comparative mac
tlvity since the middle of September.
Drive Them Across River.
They succeeded somehow In sweep
ing across the plateau, first in the
center, and then on January 10, on
the left or eastern flank carrying
trench after trench by storm in an in
tarrftnipH 81 frpnGiet ihla utfurIx
BY nightfall of january t3 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 VIC
tory was completed by an advance
Through the valley on that same day.
The earlier operations made this
comparatively easy in fact many of
the French had no alternative but to
surrender, as the only path of escape
over which Il retreat might have been
attempted was commanded complete
ly from the plateau above.
The German Location.
The correspondent reached the bat
tlefield over the turnpike leading
from Scissors, approaching by auto
mobile as far as the village of Crouy,
a scant mile from the French outposts
which were the scene three days ear
Her of desperate combats. The road
is cut into the side of the hill between
the plateau and the valley. The mar
row margin of roadside on one hand
before the drop into the valley had
become one long cemetery The Ger
mans had inferred there their dead
OF past months in long rows of graves,
each surinounted by a stone or wood
en- cross telling sometimes of one. OF
ten or twenty or thirty or more com
rades lying at rest beneath. On the
opposite side Of the road were on
frances to numerous tunnelled stone
quarries driven several hundred feet
into the hillside. Within the quarries
had been lodged German troops, the
number in each cavern varying from
a company to a regiment
Picture of battle-ground.
The village Of Crouy itself present
ed the familiar picture Of she'll
wrought destruction with which the
correspondent has become so well ac-
quainted after five months of travel
through the war zone. From the bat
tlefield on the plateau above was un-
folded a panorama of the precipitous
sides of the Aisnc 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 CEN
tury abbey emerging from the maze