Evening star., 1923-07-15
Big Battle of the Champagne
Fought Five Years Ago

Their operations were fruitful dur
ing the whole first fortnight. On
July came the first precise In
formation, a simple intimation that
the attack was imminent on the
Champagne front.
nEthe 14th. a detachment led by
lieutenant, fighting like %
whirlwind, carried out the best Of
all the raids and the ono which gave
the best results obtained in several
weeks. It was then learned that the
attack was merely a question OF
hours and the artillery preparation
would commence at ten minutes pass
midnight. At AIS am. the infantry
would leave the trenches under cover
of a rolling barrage.
On July II at IL pm. Gen.
Gauraud gave the order to begin the
| counter-offensive preparation. Il
was launched a. half hour later, fore
stalling the German bombardment
At the hour mentioned-ten min
utes past midnight-the German bonn
bardment was launched with ter
rible roar. Ii surprised no one. In
| this period of expectation. where
every day the attack was felt TO be
more imminent, the commander of
the army had been able to visit even
| the posts OF the colonels and enable
them to share his firm confidence.
At 4:15 the rockets OF the vigilant
lookout men OF the line observation
ascended in the breaking dawn; the
waves of the assault rushed forward.
Then our own barrage descended like
WhtrlWind on our first positions.
where the enemy was arriving and
which the German guns Of all CALI
bers and minenwerfer had already
hammered. The battle was going to
be enacted according to schedule. In
the same way that the observation
| detachments had done their duty, the
advance elements of the first-iine bat
talions We're carrying on, fulfilling
the mission which had been inrusted
TO them. to hold back and disin>
! tegrate the enemy Each man re
! mained where duty commanded him
| TO hold Many OF these must have
| fallen into the hands of the Ger
mans
But from the 1rst minutes Of the
| attack. SO TO speak, they saw clearly
that II was defeat for the enemy.
| While the attacking troops had ar
rived before the line of redoubts, all
[ the machinery behind them was con-
tinuing to function according 10 the
1 Schadula hasad on tho bypotbo.is - =
victorious progress. The barrage
rolled rhythmically far in advance
of the furious waves breaking against
the dyke which was resisting them.
And the divisions of the second line,
fully convinced that the first were
| pursuing their regular advance like
the hands of a clock had advanced
oehind them al the appointed hour:
! the motor conveys, supply wagons.
horse-drawn batteries, in columns on
the roads-in all that our artillery
men fired with open sights, pounding,
grinding. increasingly, the men. the
heavy trucks and the horses Never
has any one seen such carnage. AT the
source of the Aisne. on that little hi
lock which Gen. Marchand used 10
love and which is called Place de Top
era, seventy corpses were lying in
one heap. But it was in the region of
the Monts, which we had just aban-
, doned during the night, in conform
ance with the plans of the command,
that the carnage was the greatest.
They were seen to appear at the crest,
at present denuded, where no cover
masked them from view, and then to
lplunge down the slopes. p~r
X * X ~
GA GREAT personage" said one 80
the first prisoners, lis opserSs
ing this from up there" In fact. tSias
German emperor, as formerly frosfE
the top of the Grand Couronne 3G
watched for the moment to rush l,nSsstS
Nancy, was waiting on Mont BlgfkssI
In Ludendorf's house, for the hourzn
enter Chalons. Thus he was ablessa:
zee another Of his dreams fade. ,gys:
The Gouraud army had before ies4fxS
line at the eve OF battle thirteen dfSkss
sions. some of the crack division : -; ~;
VIII be recognized by. their nsSS$
designations. They were from ives SNcs
east, from the region of Trugny ~
I that of Massiges, the 18th BavarIazS8
the Sd Guard, the 26th Division, tYgs
Ersatz Division of the Guard. the
lssth Division. the 2Ssth, the 1st, the
Dismounted Cavalry Division of the
Guard. the I'd .Bavarian Division. lsei
Bavarian. ssth Infantry Division, I'D
Infantry Division, the 33d Reserve.
plus nine or ten divisions in reserve.
that Is to say, twenty-five divisions
at the lowest estimate
Today, in Indianapolis, Cen oouraud
, Joins in the celebration of that great
battle. greeting again the men who
fought under him five years ago, and
the writer who had the honor OF shak-
ing his hand one hot July day in the
little village OF Cuperly, just behind
! the lines. feels safe in saying that the
| reunion in the Hoosier state today
, will bring forth expressions of Amer
lean patriotism. different perhaps,
from the demonstration the same men
put over at Champagne, but never
theless quite as sincere. N" -