The Chattanooga news. [volume] (Chattanooga, Tenn.) 1891-1939, 1918-09-05
.D0UCHB0Y FALLS
OFF FO0TL0C
Accident Reveals Fact That
Germans Had Retreated
Back Toward Aisne.
MANY E MPTY DUG-0UTS
Found When Strong Patrol
Armed With Machine Guns
Presses Forward.
MANY E MPTY DUG-0UTS

| win the American Army on tnt
Aisne- Vesle Front. Sept. 4.-0 y. M
An American doughboy's falling into
the Vesle river tipped off the Ameri.
can troops to the fact that the Ger.
mans had fallen back toward the
Aisne, giving up their position on tn,
northern bank of the Vesle.
| When the splash of tie falling
American was not answered by burst
! of machine gun fire, the troops imme-
diately realized that the Germans had
| retreated.
The doughpoy was member of an
! American patrol that was crossing a
footbridge, constructed out Of tree
trunk. when his foot slipped and he
! took plunge into the pattle-tamous
stream.
Instead Of the splash drawing Ger
man machine fun fire. there was a
The doughboy swan ashore and his
comrades quickly infiltrated the north
ern bank.
They encor-tered no opposition
whatsoever, finding only deserted po-
sitions that had previously bristled
with machine guns,
Machine Gun Patrol.
and strong tonnnat. patrol, armed
with light machine guns, gwarmed
forward. They found innumerablc
empty dugouts and as they went on
they met with occasional bursts of
isolated machine gun fire from the
plateau on which Paars, Pcrles and
BaslieuX- en- Fismettes rest.
The Americans continued their
progress northward OF the Soissons
road and Magneux. but when day
broke Krupp field guns opened up
against the southern slope Of the pla-
tcau.
German airplanes swooped down
ward. loosening machine gun fire and
bombs against the American detach-
mcnts.
,,ls zsAi~mesV Rec onnoiter.
American affifisn VINO wefe sent out
to reconnoiter. reported a thick smoke
screen along the Aisne river, obscur-
ing the territory. Despite this, Ameri-
can long range guns continue bonn
harding the German positions in that
region, the artillerists firing by targets
registered on maps.
The cannonade was followed by n
heavy bombardment from French and
American guns on the Juvigny pla-
tcau (ncrth of the Aisne) which put
down violent enfilading fire.
In the meantime light American
forces were pressing onward towards
tho plateau.
~ Swim River.
Many Of the Americans did not wnit
for the engineers to build bridges
across the Vesle but plunged into the
stream and swan across. The river
was fifty feet wide Mt that point, but
nearby It was SO shallow that the
men were able to ford it.
a-h ~, ,,he Ent tro Ua1,, =
tackled our observation machines. thus
seeking to hide the German movement
toward the northeast.
1t was necessary for the Germans to
eXtricate their troops and materials
toward Rheims owing to the fact that
the Conde and Kailly region were
under short range fire from both the
northern and southern banks of the
Aisne in the scissors region.
The absence of roads towards the
east retarded the German movements.
Ravines Crenohed With Gas.
As they fell back the Germans
sought to hinder the American advance
by drenching the ravines leading to
the plateau with gas. Americans came
upon a number of German machine
gunners who had been killed by their
own gas.
What resistance there was did not
compare in bitterness with that offered
by the German rear guards when the
retreat was made northward from the
Marne. ...
The German MACHINE gunners would
keep up their fire until the Americans
were nearly upon them and would then
fair back. instead of fighting at close
quarters as they formerly did.
Innumerable German bodies were
,ound, the men having been killed by
tho many weeks of artillery fire that
was rained against the German po-
,itions.
The Germans had not even taken
the trouble to bury their own corpscs.