DEFENCE OF THE AISNE.

Taihape Daily Times, 19 July 1918, Page 5

DEFENCE OF THE AISNE.

BRITISH FACE GREAT ODDS.

ENEMY TANKS IN FORCE.

Out of the mass of detail which reaches mo concerning the progress of the battle on the Aisne heights I am able to reconstruct with some approach to accuracy the story of the part played by the British divisions in the fighting of the first two days, says Reuter’s correspondent, writing on May 29, from the western front.

Wc have on the battlefcld four divisions, which h'eld the front from Craonne, the wreck of which lies under the eastern extremity of the Chemin des Dames crcs,t to Bermericourt, a village south of the river, and immediately north of the hill fortress of Brimont —a distance of about 10J miles. On our right the 21st Division was in consisting of the 50th Territorial Division in front of Bermericourt. Our left consisting o fthe 50th Territorial Division was in touch with the: French troops holding the Chemin des Dames. As far as our sector was concerned, the weight of the German attack fell on the 50th Division at the left end of the line. The 50th was directly in the way of a mass of German troops advancing on the California Plateau, above Craonnc, with a view to taking the whole line of the crest in flank. B'eforo attacking the Gormans had done their best by a three hours’ gas bombardment to shake the morale of the men. • The 50th came in for the worst of the bombardment, and had then to stand the shock of the heaviest part of the German infantry attack, The troops bore it magnificently. They held on until the men were drowned under the German numbers. The same fate overtook the French division on the crest on right, and a retirement to the second line became inevitable. Thence the men of the 50th Division made a gallant attempt to recapture Craonnc by a counter-attack, whch was defeated, it seems, chiefly through the machine-gun fire of the German tank’s "taking' them in the right flank. The impression of men who'took part in the battle is that the enemy used tanks in greater number than he had ever done before. In the end the 50th was obliged to fali back in general retreat to the river, never losing for more than a few minutes its touch with the French division on its left.

On the right of the sector our, 21st Division and a French Division stood the assault like rocks. The Germans made the mistake of attacking in the proportion of only two to one—four German divisions against one French and one British —and consequently made no progress. It was along the Chemin des Dames, where the density of the attack, was greater, that the Anglo-French line, was submerged.

Our men are full of admiration for the French. They grow almost lyrical in praise of These seasoned old warriors'who take the ' German offensive as part of the soldiers ; daily round, arid" refuse to the disturbed by the sudden arrival of twice tlieir number of Germans on their front. The - ' baffle was full of incidents which illustrate the spirit of comradeship between tlic French and British soldiers of all ranks. In Gernicourt Wood, south of the Aisne between Pontavert and Berry au Bac, detachments of a brigade pf one of our divisions were swept together in the retreat with part of a French territorial regiment composed of men verging on the fifties. Young Britishers and elderly Frenchmen fought it out together to the very last. Of the British practically none escaped, and the tale of their heroism is told by the men of the French territorial regiment who survived.

The Brtish ej-clist battalion which took part in the fight for Fismes among the French troops earned most generous praise from the French officers who watched its work. On the roads behind the battlefield French and British walking wounded arc to be seen together, helping each other along in perfect French and British lorries, returning from the front, after depositing loads of shells for the guns, pick up a miscellaneous load of French and British lightly wounded. Refugees from the villages captured or endangered by the German

advance are helped along by British transport drivers as willingly as by the French. The two armies have learned to know each other so closely that the difference of language has ceased to be .an embarrassment. Our men and the French poilus understand each other without speech, and often in spite of it.