Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-05-30

good. is for the moment an academic
question.
Seven divisions belonging to Won
Hutiers army two months asu have
already been identified on the new
front of attack. German airmen or
this occasion have been bold, and
numbers are meeting their match.
l must do justice to the British
divisions which had to bear the brunt
of one of the tiercest parts of the
German assault on the Aisne Not
merely because they are British.
Nowhere could national pride be more
out of place than on this battlefield
where the best Hlanhood of the two
races stand shoulder to shoulder united
in common effort and endurance. serv-
ing under the same chiefs with the
warmest loyalty and showing in many
ways that they realize as never before
the equality of their virtues and the
good fortune of partnership.
Watch them on the road going up
to the lines and exchanging little gifts
and greetings. or coming down and
joining hands to help some party of
refugees on its way. Hear their
stories of each other. how one was
"epatant" and the other splendid. by
Jove." and you will begin to under.
stand the growth of Il comradeshir
that would shame even whispers OF
petty jealousy sometimes audible out
side the danger zone.
English and French lie Together
Monday evening when the enemy
had got across the Aisne near Ponta.
vert part of the British brigade was
falling back. a group of French ter.
ritorials. firing continuously upon the
swarming graycoats, We're taking
refuge in Germicourt wood and being
gradually surrounded. Some English
men and older F'renchmen decided to
make their last stand to die there to.
gether or to beat the enemy off. A
handful of terrtorials got away to tell
the tale. The Englshmen fell to a
man.
The French officer who told me of
this episode of the battle spoke Of a
British cyclist battalion fighting with
the French before Fismes. and of the
fate of some British officers who lost
their lives in blowing up Aisne
bridges near Craonne. There was no
time to take the usual precautions,
but the thing had to he done, and they
did it. My informant showed that he
felt all the nobility and pathos of
these sacrifices, and he wished. as
much as l. that the folk at home
should hear Of them.
The first reports seemed to indicate
that the success of the German as
sault on the British sector led the de-
| tenders by a threat of development to
retreat from the Aisne heights.
This was not so. The Germans first
crossed the river further west and the
British left was therefore obliged to
fall back.
As the numbers and positions of the
four British divisions have been given
in Marshal Haig's communique, can
presumably speak with the same def.
niteness of their part in the battle.
Fiftieth Bears Shock
1t was the left. and particularly the
Fiftieth Division, that had to bear the
heaviest Of the shock. The lombard.
ment which lasted three hours. was of
indescribab!e intensity, the chill night
air being soon saturated with poison
gas. and when at dawn the German
infantry, hideous in their masks. broke
like a tidal wave upon the thin British
line it was overwhelmed. The Fiftieth
is a territorial division. Never was
North Country pluck needed or more
plentifully given than In this desperate
encounter of yesterday.
A counter-attack toward Craonne
failed under a flank fire from tanks
and machine guns, and step by step
the heroic line was withdrawn through
wooded and marshy ground to the
Aisne.
The French on the left were resist
ing like masses with the same brav.
cry; contact was lost with them for a
short time. as also with the British
Twenty-fifth and Eighth Divisions fur.
ther east, and as the men fell back a
front could be preserved only by a
converging retreat toward the south
by night. When the hills north Of
Vesle were reached the Fiftieth Divi
sion had lost a number of its officers
and other ranks.
The British center, consisting of
part Of the Twenty-fifth and Eighth
divisions. was more fortunate. The
Twenty.fifth had been In reserve. and
its support in the low and difficult
ground at the east end of the Aisne
Valley was most important. 1t and
the Eighth maintained their second
positions till late In the afternoon.
On the right the Twenty.hrst divi,
sion. together with the neighborins
French division. had to defend the line
of the canal from Berry-au.Bac to
Bermericourt against the onset of
four German divisions. aided by the
strongest fleet of tanks the enemy has
yet put into the field. This north
western edge OF the great plain Of
Champagne 10 very favorable ground
for the use OF cars OF assault. and II
was here that the French made thsiI
Arst sxpsftments With tndi@erenf g
Il DItss ~ A6ye - eAn. AE(q&ly,