STORIES OF HEROIC SACRIFICE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 217, 1 June 1918, Page 7

STORIES OF HEROIC SACRIFICE

FRANCE THRILLED BY BRITISH VALOUR SPLENDID STAND AGAINST GERMAN HORDES (Kec. May 31, 8.10 p.m.) Paris, May 30. Stories of the heroic sacrifice by the four British divisions aro thrilling Franco. The Jjigfttli, Twenty-first, Twenty-fifth, and Fiftieth Divisions were sent to lierry-nu-Buc to undergo a complete rest after their long engagements m Pieiirdy and Fhuders, where they had foug-ht brilliantly. The Crown Prince's hordes broke suddenly upon these exhausted divisions, who wero swamped with gas, charged by squadrons of tanks, and assaulted by twenty German divisions. Yet the British withstood this crushing superiority without flinching. .Moving back foot by foot they held the heights entrusted to their keeping. Thrice they threw back the assaulting waves and still held the heights after eight hours of .hand-to-hand fighting and massacre. At the end of the day some han'dfuls of the heroes, submerged by an overwhelming mass, fell back across the the Aisne.

The gallantry of the French troops at Soissons on Tuesday was equally splendid. Their resistance constituted, a threat to the Germans who were pouring over the Vesle. The German generals therefore launched two divisions. upon the devoted Frenchmen, parlies of whom fought to the last man. The fighting at Soissons was furious. The town was taken and retaken threo times. Finally, the French occupied the- heights immediately west of the town, where they aro still holding out. There was an equally fierco struggle south-east of Soissons, where the French aro now holding the hills south of the Grise Stream. General von Isle again end again failed to take Reims. His attempts only accentuated the enemy's enormous losses.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

ANOTHER NARRATIVE . London, May 30. Mr. George Penis, writing to t'ho "Daily. Chronicle," says the British divisions on the Aisne bore the brunt of one of the fiercest assaults on the Aisne front on Tuesday. A portion of a British ■ brigade retiring near I'outrAvert on Tuesday evening, in company inth French Territorials, took refuge in Gerniconrt Wood. The Germans surrounded them, and the British and French deckled to mako a last stand. A handful of French Territorials survived, but the British fell to a man. In another instance it was necessary to blow up tho Aisne bridges near Craonne. British officers offered themselves for tlio job and succeeded, but perished. The Fiftieth British Division, consisting of Territorials, encountered the heaviest shock. The bombardment saturated the air with poison gas, and the Germans, hideous in their masks, broke like- a tidal wavo over our thin line, overwhelming it. . The heroic line withdrew step by step through the wooded and marshy ground to tho Aisne. ' The French on the left resisted with equal bravery. The Fiftieth lost contact with the French for a brief period, and also with tlio British divisions to the eastward, and it was necessary tn retreat further south. They reached tho hills north of the -Vosle at nightfall, after losing a number of officers and men.

In the Centre; ; Tho British centre, consisting of portions of the Eighth and Twenty-Fifth Divisions, was more fortunate. Tho latter division had been in reserve. Its support in (Uβ low and difficult ground at the eastern end of the Aisne Valley became important. The centre maintained its second lino until Me in the 'afternoon. TW Twenty-Fifth Division held-the British right, defending the lino of tile canal against four German divisions and the strongest .fleet of tanks tho enemy lias yet employed. This north-western edge of tho Champagne Plain if- favourable to tho use of assaulting cars. The defenders held on oostinately until the retreat of the left wing obli"e<l it to move correspondingly. ' . To-day's fighting was again severe, with results necessarily favourable to the enemy, because our reserves are only beginning to rei'ch the front. The strong thrust towards Soissons, simultaneously with the drives south of the Vesle, suggest that the enemy is already strongly reinforced. Tim enemy's boldness won through, but tho French resistance has increased, nml tho enemy will be obliged to act with greater prudence on tho ■\isne, or ho may render his communications difficult We>w«e unable to destroy all tho bridges, but the air squadrons will have an opportunity to complete the task. It is still debatable whether the attack is a major or minor operation.—Aus.-N.Z. Cable Assn.

THE BATTLE OF SOISSONS Paris, May 30. The newspaper "Intransigeant" says that 1200 shells fell in Soissous on May l>7 before tho hospital, ambulance, and civilians were removed. Tho defenders front lines wero blotted out, and the bombardment of gas-shells,. of -.unprecedented violence, lasted for two . hours. The destruction of the wires made .communication impossible. ;X.ho defenders emerged from their dug-ouls as the Germans left their trencnes. Tho enemy crossed the canal slowly, and tho seventyfives and machine-guns mado the most of tho target; but tho defenders had to retire before the ceaseless pressure. The "Liberte's" correspondent says that tho most critical moment vMs when tho Crown Prince's army, having forced the defences, reached tho river between Vnilly and Font-Arcy at noon on Monday. The passage of the Aisno by llio enemy when tho British, on the right, and tho French, on tho left, were still engaged on tho opposite bank might have entailed tho gravest consequences. The desperate lask of holding the enemy till theso troops with their material crossed tlio river was entrusted to a picked division. The most furious fighting developed at 1 in the afternoon, and lasted until nightfall. The Germans threo times crossed the Aisne between one and six o'clock, without succeeding in ejecting tho French heroes from their positions. The village- of Saint Mard changed hands eix times. One regiment withstood repeated assaults in tho evening by forces six times ae strong as itself, and, by frequently counter-attacking, held the enemy till midnight, the hour fixed for its retreat. Thus tho British aild French troops in tho direction of Sailly and Pout-Avert were saved from envelopment, and almost all the material was saved.' The remainder was destroyed—Router.