Sfeptembcr 26, 1914 
LAND AND WATEE 
Noj'ou, where the course of the river turns from north 
and south to east and west had not been reached, for 
if they had the Gorman line would have been enveloped. 
Its commanders would retire before that ! We are 
also, of coui'se, and rightly, left in complete ignorance 
of the strength Avith which this movement is being 
attcmjjted. 
But, tlu'ee or four days ago, the French had in 
this movement abeady reached Lassigny and had 
occupied the heights to the east of that village. The 
news of that occupation means (1) that the Germans 
still possess their main line of communications and 
could still use the i-ailway down the Oise valley as far 
as Noyon; (2) tliat the French had enough men to 
spare in this quarter for a continued advance within a 
day's march of the river and of the railway line up 
northward and round the right German wing. 
Meanwhile, much further to the north and form- 
ing no part of the general French defensive line, the 
communications round St. Quentin were being held by 
the Germans against a French force of unknowa 
magnitude, which was advancing upon them from 
Aniiens. Peronne had akeady been abandoned, and the 
shock betAveen the advancing army (which might here 
so seriously menace the very existence of the Gorman 
defensive line to the south) and the German troops 
defending St. Quentin was upon the point of being 
joined : but at the moment of waiting this, upon the 
Wednesday evening of the week, no news of contact 
being yet established in the neighbourhood of St. 
Quentin has reached London. 
It is not probable that in face of such pressure on 
their western side and nearly behind them the Germans 
can hold the plateau above the Aisne. We sliall 
almost certainly hear of a French advance here and of 
a German retu-ement. 
SECT. IL— THE CENTRAL SECTION OF THE WESTERN OR SOISSONS LEVEL. 
- * ... * 
.•••■r.ii-»;;i.-N ■■•. 
,- > 
^ 
^^ 
SOiSSONS. 
CRAONNE 
PONT 
ARCY 
'"•• •'' •■' .-.; :• .• .' J ■■ A 
To BERRY 
AU BAC 
I 3 S « 
SCALE OF MILES. 
••M«>.*~* /?/£^f oF the Plateau B'Main Defensive Line. 
BBOi First German Gun Positions. 
This section is entrusted to the British con- 
tingent and runs eastward along the Aisne for nearly 
twenty miles fi-om Soissons past the Pont d'Arcy. 
The crossing of the Aisne seems to have lx>en a matter 
of greater difficulty here than with the French lower 
dowTi, but was effected during the same Sunday and 
Monday at Missy to Chivres, at Conde, and further 
east, unfortunately at very great expense. The 
Guai'ds were heavily engaged in and near the wood of 
Soupir on the Monday, and it seems possible that tlie 
last detachments were not got across until the 
Tuesday, September 15th. Once, however, that river 
was bridged and crossed an advance comparable to 
that undertaken by the French to the west was con- 
ducted by the British contingent. The British troops 
took the slopes ojjposed to them, and occupied in 
particular Vas.sogne and Vendresse on the same day 
(Thm-sday 1 7th) that the French to the west had 
thrown back the Geraian defensive on to the central 
ridge. >It is to be presumed that a corresponding lino 
was held by the British westward from A'endresse 
through the line of villages halfway up the slopes. 
TliL<3 section, where the British advance liad been made 
on to the hills, suffered from counter attacks by 
night exactly as the French section had suffered 
between the Tuesday and the Wednesday, but tlie 
British held their own firmly, and counter attacks 
do not appear to have succeeded in making them 
lose ground at any moment, or in pushing them back 
towards the river. Here, as in the first or western 
section, the main German defensive had been thrust 
back on to the highest point of the ridge, but there 
it was during Sunday last, September 20th, still 
maintained. It even held the critical nock of Bravo. 
It can hardly continue in that position. The Hanking 
movement up the Oise, as it compels the Germans 
west of Soissons to retire, will compel a retirement 
before the British contingent also. AVhile the British 
contingent had avoided being forced back dming the 
violent counter-offensive assaults of the Gennans 
during these days they had also captured some 200 
prisoners and, like the French to the west, a few 
machine guns. But what was more important, a 
certain number of pieces from the heavy German 
artillery which had hitherto overlooked the Valley of 
the Aisne, were isolated by this advance and fell into 
the hands of the British. 
THIRD OR RIGHT WESTERN SECTION. 
llie third or right western section of the Gonnan 
defensive position concerns a much smaller section of 
country than the two othei's to the left of it, but a 
very important one. 
The plateau which forms the whole of the 
western limb of the general Gorman defensive Hue 
here ends in the bold headland of Craonnc. This 
headland has not only exceedingly steep sides but 
also stands so well up above the Plain to the cast 
7* 
