Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1915-01-09

A Town on the AlSne, france, Lee.
15.- Correspondence of The Associat-
ed Press)-A little battle graveyard
by .he roadside, only half dozen sold
Ter graves with wooden crosses, marks
the high water point reached by the
British in the battle of the Aisne in
mid-September 1t lies near the
Chemin Des Danes (road of the
LADIES', which roughly parallels the
Aisne three or four miles north of the
river and only short distance from
the battered sugar factory of Troyon,
for which the royal Sussex regiment,
the kings royal rifles and the royal
North Lancashire regiment paid so
heavy price in the battle of Septem-
Der Is.
Field Marshal Sir John French reg
listers the names In his report of Oct.
s, in which he tells how the British
forces, following up the retirement OF
the Germans from the Marine line,
crossed the Aisne east of scissors and
fought their way to the top of the
ridge of hills on the north bank,
where they were checked and held by
the German troops.
This was three months ago; the
Germans later drove the allies from
the hills almost to the river and now
hold the ground in strong force, en-
trenched to the eyes. There Is, there
fore, noIharm in revealing what Sir
John may not have known, that a
dangerous gap had opened between
two of the retiring German armies at
this point, and that by a slightly more
vigorous offensive he might have
thrust the British forces into the open
ing and split the German army in two
and that it was the German army corps
Of which the correspondent OF The AS
ISOLATED Press is now the guest, which
arrived only in time to close the hole
and enable the German armies to
stand on the line of the Aisne instead
of continuing their retreat to some
other line further north. The English
troops were already we'll over the
crest of the ridge and the Germans
had a doubly difficult task to fight
their way up the steep northern slope
of the range and reestablish their brok-
er line.
Trenches Cover Field.
The ground over which /the battle
then swayed is now labyrinth of ap'
proach trenches. zig-zags and par
allels. marking the successive stages
by which the German troops Slapped
and fought their way forward to their
present lines. They now hold the
greater part of the southern slope. the
allies lines, now occupied by the
French instead of the English, are in
the lowlands of the valley. All the
high points on this side of the river
are held by the Germans so that the
French have no observation points
from which to direct the fire Of their
artillery. They can only fire blindly
over the ridge at points where they
suspect the presence of German bat
tries or infantry supports, notably at
little village called Cerny, which is
now as picturesque heap OF ruins as
can be found along the whole Alsne
front.
In the noon luncheon hour during
which the French artillery is usually
silent, visit was paid in reasonable
security to the village. During the
rest of the day and night shells are
dropping in it at intervals. Particu
lar attention is paid to the village
well. the assumption probably being
that the Germans come there for wa
ter, and although the French artillery
practice is not so good as was that OF
the British, German officers discourage
their men from the use of that spring.
Half mile away, in a sheltered spot
in the valley, within radius OF fltty
yards, the correspondent counted -FOUR
teen fresh shell holes. "The French
guessed that one of our batteries
might be in that spot" said the artll
lery lieutenant, acting as guide, and
have just dropped a salvo OF shells
there. The battery is not there, how
ever, as you see.'
Occasionally the French send up one
| of their aeroplanes to attempt to peel
over the ridge to locate batteries, bu'
the anti-baloon guns and machine guns
adapted to high angle fire generally
drive the flyer Off before he accom-
plishes his mission. The sight, as
! witnessed this morning on another
part of the line, is one of the pretties
in war. Perhaps six thousand feet up
grey smoke ring suddenly marked
itself against the blue sky, as symmet
rical and we'll defined as the Whlr
puffed out by a smoker or az the hale
around a saints head in an ole
masterpiece Before the eye coult
pick out the aeroplane, darting blaci
speck against the blue, there were
half dozen other smoke whirls painted
on the sky. The aeroplane doubled
back out of danger but from shrapne
already under way six or eight more
of the grey wreaths tumbled out int
the group. The rings held their shape
for Ave minutes or so and then sloWl!
| blanched into thin haze.
| A half hour later the French f1yel
again essayed to cross the German
lines at a point few miles away
The shrapnel this time seemed tt
burst all around him but he got ava!
! unframed. He usually does, as aim
ling at such targets is as yet an EN-
pirical art,
Before the war c. was pictures
que town clinging to the side or
steep hill near the Aisne, with nearl!
a thousand inhabitants, fine chateau
and extensive wine cellars. Now 1t Il
- 1.,,,11I pict,,roonno ihaan of RUM