The Boy Allies in the Trenches | Page 4

the
Marne, and from the Marne to the northern and eastern shores of the
Aisne.
But here the German line held.
The fighting along the Aisne, continuing without cessation, already had
been the bloodiest in the history of wars; and here, the French on one
side of the river, and the Germans on the other, the two great armies
had proceeded to intrench, making themselves as comfortable as
possible, and constructing huts and other substantial shelters against the
icy hand of King Winter, who had come to rule over the battlefield.
The French cabinet, which had fled from Paris to Bordeaux when the
German army drew close to Paris, had returned to the former capital,
and affairs of state were being conducted as before. With several
millions of fighting men at the front, France still had an additional two
million to hurl into the thick of the fray at the psychological moment.
Recruiting in England, slow at first, was now beginning to be more
satisfactory. Lord Kitchener had in the neighborhood of a million and a

half men being trained and prepared for the rigors of war. These, also,
would be hurled into the thick of the fight when the time was ripe.
It was plainly evident, however, that the Allies were content to hold
their present lines. There was little doubt that it was their plan to let the
real fighting be held off till spring, when, by hurling an additional three
million men into the field, they believed they could settle German
militarism once and for all.
Rumors of other countries joining in the great war grew more rife daily.
Portugal already had given assurances that she would throw her army to
the support of Great Britain should she be asked to do so. A great
diplomatic _coup_--a great victory for British statesmanship--had
cleared the way for the entrance of Rumania and Greece into the war on
the side of the Allies. This coup had been to gain from Bulgaria
assurances that Bulgaria would not go to the support of Germany
should Rumania and Greece take up arms.
The Italian populace, also, was clamoring for war. In Rome
demonstrations against Germany had become frequent and violent. It
appeared to be only a question of time until Italy also would hurl her
millions of trained fighting men into the field in support of the Allies.
From Ostend the great battle line extended due south to Noyen, where
it branched off to the southeast. South of Noyen French soil had been
almost cleared of the Germans. Alsace had in turn been invaded by the
French, who had penetrated to within twelve miles of Strasbourg. The
French troops also had progressed to within eight miles of Metz, in
Lorraine.
The forward move by the southern army of France had been sudden,
and the Germans had been forced to give way under the desperation
and courage of the French troops.
Once before, in the earlier days of the war, the French had reached
Metz and Strasbourg, but had been hurled back by overwhelming
numbers of the enemy and forced to retreat well into France. Then the
German line in Alsace and Lorraine had been weakened to hurl denser

masses of Germans upon the British and Belgians in the north.
The French had not been slow to take advantage of this weakening of
the southern army of the Kaiser, and, immediately bringing great
pressure to bear, had cleared French territory of the invader in the
south.
But the French commander did not stop with this. Alsace and Lorraine,
French soil until after the Franco-Prussian war, when it had been
awarded to Prussia as the spoils of war, must be recaptured. The French
pressed on and the Germans gave way before them.
Meantime, in the Soissons region the French also had been making
progress; but the Kaiser, evidently becoming alarmed by the great
pressure being exercised by the French in Alsace-Lorraine--in order to
relieve the pressure--immediately made a show of strength near
Soissons, seeking thereby to cause the French to withdraw troops from
Alsace-Lorraine to reënforce the army of the Soissons to stem the new
German advance there.
Taken somewhat unawares by the suddenness of the German assault
upon their lines near Soissons, the French were forced to give back.
They braced immediately, however, and the succeeding day regained
the ground lost in the first German assault.
Then the Germans made another show of strength at Verdun, southeast
of Soissons. General Joffre immediately hurled a new force to the
support of the French army at that point.
Meanwhile, as the result of the German assaults upon Soissons and
Verdun, in an effort to lessen the pressure being brought to bear by the
French in Alsace-Lorraine, there had been a lull in the fighting in the
latter