BRITISH BLOW UP A BRIDGE

At Lagny one of the sights of the town was a shattered bridge, which was blown up by General French as soon as he got his army across it.  At that time British infantry and artillery had poured through the town and over the bridge for several days.  General French’s idea was to keep raiding detachments of German cavalry from incursions into the beautiful villas and gardens of the western suburbs.

Fifteen minutes after the bridge had been reduced to a twisted mass of steel and broken masonry a belated order came to save it, but the British engineers who had received the order to destroy it had done their work well.

The inhabitants were cleared out of all the neighboring houses, which were shaken by the terrific explosion when the charge was set off.  Every window in the nearby houses was shattered.

The people of Lagny took the destruction of their beautiful bridge in good part.  They were too grateful for their deliverance from the Germans to grumble about the wrecked bridge.

GERMAN LOSSES AT THE MARNE

There is no doubt that the German losses in the engagements at the Marne far exceeded those of the Allies and were most severe, in both men and material.  The Germans made incredible efforts to cross the Marne.  The French having destroyed all the bridges, the Germans tried to construct three bridges of boats.  Sixteen times the bridges were on the point of completion, but each time they were reduced to matchwood by the French artillery.

“There is not the slightest doubt,” said a reliable correspondent, “that but for the superb handling of the German right by General von Kluck, a large part of Emperor William’s forces would have been captured at the Marne.  The allied cavalry did wonders, and three or four additional divisions of cavalry could have contributed towards a complete rout of the Germans.”

The general direction of the German retirement was northeast, and it was continued for seventy miles, to a line drawn between Soissons, Rheims and Verdun.

A week after the battle the field around Meaux had been cleared of dead and wounded, and only little mounds with tiny crosses, flowers and tricolored flags recalled the terrible struggle.

The inhabitants of neighboring villages soon returned to their homes and resumed their ordinary occupations.

FALL OF MAUBEUGE

While the fighting at the Marne was in progress, German troops achieved some successes in other parts of the theater of war.  Thus, the fortified French town of Maubeuge, on the Sambre river midway between Namur in Belgium and St. Quentin, France, fell to the Germans on September 7.  The investment began on August 25.  More than a thousand shells fell in one night near the railway station and the Rue de France was partially destroyed.  The loss of life, however, was comparatively slight.