“Ignoring our guns, the German artillerymen, probably relying on concealment for immunity, were concentrating all their efforts in a particularly forceful effort to enfilade our trenches.  For them it must have appeared to be the chance of a lifetime, and with their customary prodigality of ammunition they continued to pour bouquet after bouquet of high explosives or combined shrapnel and common shells into our works.

“Occasionally, with a roar, a high angle projectile would sail over the hill and blast a gap in the village.  One could only pray that our men holding the trenches had dug themselves in deep and well, and that those in the village were in cellars.

“In the hazy valleys, bathed in sunlight, not a man, not a horse, not a gun, nor even a trench was to be seen.  There were only flashes, and smoke, and noise.  Above, against the blue sky, several round, white clouds were hanging.  The only two visible human souls were represented by a glistening speck in the air.  On high also were to be heard more or less gentle reports of the anti-aircraft projectiles.

“But the deepest impression created was one of sympathy for the men subjected to the bursts along that trench.  Upon inquiry as to the losses sustained, however, it was found that our men had been able to take care of themselves and had dug themselves well in.  In that collection of trenches on that Sunday afternoon were portions of four battalions of British soldiers—­the Dorsets, the West Kents, the King’s Own Yorkshire light infantry, and the King’s Own Scottish Borderers.”

ARMIES IN A DEADLOCK

Later reports from the Aisne valley, up to October 17, when the big battle had been five weeks in progress, indicated little change in the general situation.  Bombardments and artillery duels, varied by general attacks, occurred daily all along the line.  The main positions of both armies were firmly held, though the French had gained some ground north of Rheims and continually threatened the German center.  The left of the Allies’ line had crept north to and beyond Arras, where there was severe fighting for several days; and at the end of the thirty-fifth day of this battle of the Rivers the lines of the opposing armies extended almost continuously from beyond Arras on the northwest, south in a great curve to the Aisne valley, thence east to Verdun, where the Crown Prince’s army kept hammering away at that fortress without success, and thence southwest to Nancy and the Alsatian border.

By this time the armies of the center were in a species of deadlock.  The strain on both sides had long promised to get beyond human endurance and the antagonists of the Aisne were likened by a French officer to two exhausted pugilists, who would soon be unable to inflict further punishment upon each other.  But there was no sign of “throwing up the sponge” on either side, though beyond the actual sphere of conflict it was felt that “something must give way soon.”