The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1918-09-09
after HARD FIGHT
French Troops Faced Powerful
Resistance.
Five German Divisions Failed
To Hold One French.

With the French Army in France,
Sept. S.-The troops of General Man.
gin between the Aisne and the Disc
rivers now are virtually behind their
old wire entanglements in their OLD
trenches of 1917. All along the edge
of the forest of Coucy and thru the
western horn of the St. Gobain forest
the Germans are only two hundred
yards away and in some places they
are in the old Hindenburg line that is
plainly visible from the heights west
Of Chateau Coucy. The Oise-Aisne
canal and the River Ailette, that runs
between the heights and the chateau
and which forms sort of advanced
post of their main line six miles fur
ther back at Fresnes were not ADAM
doned voluntarily, but wrested from
the enemy after a struggle of five
days, during which five different Ger
man divisions tried to hold off a sin
gle French division. =
THE divisions that tried to prevent
the crossing Aof the canal and river"
the Associated Press correspondent
was informed by a French officer who
has participated in most of the cam
paigns of the war, accomplished the
greatest concentration of machine gun
fire that has been witnessed in this
war" The French troops were obliged
to face that fire at range of twenty
yards in order to cross the Oise-Aisne
throwing bridges over the canal seven
teen yards wide. suffering not only
from the quick firers but were in good
range of German grenades. 1t re-
quired two days to advance to the
Ailette from the village of Pont Saint
Mard. Machine guns were massed
thickly all along the canal in front of
Coucy and in the woods, thickets and
| marshes.
Finally Got Across.
The French engineers finally sue
ceeded in bridging the canal and over
! the first bridge an enraged sergeant
charged the Germans around a ma
chine gun position and single handed
| made twelve of them prisoner. Such
was the work that went on both along
the river. and the canal during the
five days, each day exhaustfng Ger
kmany's best divisions. Twenty-Five
quick firers WERE found in a small
| thicket called Etauraissage wood.
They were almost as thick in Vache
wood and the more extensive timbereJ
i land fronting Coucy-Le-Chateau ana
| Coucy-La-Ville. Where the French
Tcould get at them, they charged and
killed the German gunners on their
pieces but many emplacements were
too well hidden or protected for q Iii
| rect attack and it was necessary to
| shell them.
During several hours French pro-
the timber and when the infantry
| charged they had to go on to Coucy-
La-Ville to catch the enemy who had
fled. leaving his guns and an enor-
nous amount of materials and sup
| plies behind.
Coucy-Le-Chateau and the height on
which it stands were thus turned from
the north and thanked at the same
from the south while thousands of
shells filled the ruins of the surround
mo y,
southeast was taken about the, same
time and with it the Germans lost
positions on which they had spent a
tremendous effort. They retired be-
hind their three lines of barbed wire
on the line to Fresnes. The booty
they left behind in two immense en-
cheering dumps included locomotives,
| railroad material of all sorts and a
great number of quick firers and en-
placement guns and one fifteen-inch
gun with which they had bombarded
French towns far behind the lines east
of the Ailette.