January 23, 1915. 
LAND AND WATEE 
the river saw that one of the bridges had been re- 
established — that of Missy. It had only been done 
at very great sacrifice, and there is much in the 
work of the sappers that night to recall the Bere- 
sina. Across the Missy Bridge munitions began 
to be forwarded to the further bank, especially 
those for field guns, which were most badly needed, 
when, just before eight o'clock in the morning, 
after little more than an hour's full daylight for 
this work, the single temporary bridge was again 
carried away before the rising flood, and this while 
the force in front of the French division had in- 
creased to perhaps four to one. 
A retirement was ordered, and while the 
French still clung to the village of Cuffies and the 
spur at P, they were taken back from Crouy. If 
Crouy was untenable, the forces along the slopes 
to the right were obviously untenable also. On 
this same day, Wednesday, as the right fell back, 
the left abandoned the edge of the spur and fell 
back in line with the right astraddle of the great 
high road to the valley. The position was there- 
fore as in the accompanying sketch B. 
The division which the flood had cut off from 
reinforcement was only withdrawn with the great- 
est difiiculty, but apparently in perfect order. 
By Thursday, January 14, the remains of the 
division — probably not more than half of those who 
had set out on the Tuesday— were back in Sois- 
sons ; the Crouy-Missy road was abandoned and all 
the north bank of the river from a point about half 
a mile above Soissons to a point about half a mile 
above Missy itself. Further to the east and to the 
west the French held the hills, and the total result 
was that the Germans had here advanced across a 
wedge of ground nine furlongs wide upon a front 
CuHies "" 
topof?lc±ecat^: 
Bridge u^-p 
'Bridge' 
^ 
of three miles, touched the river Aisne upon that 
front, and were within a mile of Soissons, the cap- 
ture of which would give them a bridge across the 
river. 
French detachments held a small point in 
Missy village, where the bridge was again repaired 
and so allowed the French right to retire across it. 
The guns protecting this retreat could not be 
trusted to the bridge, and after being rendered 
useless (no very important detail, for there was no 
ammunition left to speak of) fell into the hands of 
the enemy: other guns had also been abandoned 
further to the left, presumably from the loss of 
their teams and crews, as the ground here is not 
of a nature to bog them even after such heavy rains. 
By that Thursday evening the French retire- 
ment was complete, and the French had lost, per- 
haps, 5,000 in killed, wounded and prisoners; in 
'yi 
**«=■ P:. 
^<% 
91. ^^ 
Town 
4/^ Octwi Barrier 
'St. Pautr 
Main RatUvati^'^ 
Station and 
exceedin^^^ important junction 
