Belgian aeroplanist, who risked and lost his life in destroying it.

After the destruction of this Zeppelin the Germans confined their aerial activity to the use of scouting aeroplanes, several of which were destroyed by shots from the forts. Attempts to reach the aeroplanes with shells were often unsuccessful, however, owing to the inability to shoot high enough.

AVIATION CAMPS IN EUROPE

In the early days of the great war only an occasional flash of news was received about the French and Russian aeromilitary operations or those of the German corps along the Russian and French frontiers. It was difficult to imagine that they were idle, for the German-Russian and the FrenchGerman frontiers had been the locations of many military aeronautical camps or fortresses. These were described at the outbreak of hostilities as follows:

"Along the German frontier facing Russia are the important aero centers of Thorn and Graudenz, while the nearest aero base in Russia is at Riga, farther north.

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'Against German invasion there are French centers at Verdun, Nancy, Luneville and Belfort. The most important is at Belfort. Sixty miles from the Belgian frontier and 170 miles from Liege is the great center at Rheims, with the even more important base at Chalons-sur-Marne only twentyfive miles distant.

"Seventy-five to 100 miles is the scouting range of the military aeroplanes, while the dirigibles will scout 500 to 1,000 miles from the base, according to the duration efficiency. The Zeppelins might, taking some risk, travel even farther. With this taken into consideration, the fact that there are only two German aero centers on the French frontier-Aixla-Chapelle and Metz-is not very significant. The range of the Vosges occupies the territory where there is no aero center.

"Back of the mountains, along the Rhone from Dusseldorf to Strasbourg, there are a dozen aero stations, some of them devoted to aeroplanes and dirigibles, others to dirigibles alone.

"The latest data show that Germany has sixty stations,

including private dirigible hangars, while France has thirty, in most cases of greater extent than those in Germany. Russia, eight months ago, had ten, but it is believed that this number has been increased twofold since that time.

HOW GERMAN EMPIRE IS FORTIFIED AGAINST AERIAL ATTACKS

CENTERS FROM WHICH KAISER WILLIAM'S DIRIGIBLE AND AEROPLANE FLEETS OPERATE. ONLY THOSE CITIES THAT HAVE AERODROMES ARE SHOWN ON THIS MAP. SEVERAL BELGIAN AND FRENCH AERODROMES ALSO ARE SHOWN.

"The two principal Belgian centers are at Brasschaet, near Antwerp, and Etterbeck, near Brussels. The aviators operating in the early engagements have undoubtedly_flown down from Brussels and are in temporary camp at Liege. There are probably not more than four Belgian escadrilles, or little fleets of four machines each, on the scene, while Germany's force is supposedly greater."

CHAPTER XVIII

BATTLE OF THE AISNE

Most Prolonged Encounter in History Between Gigantic Forces A Far-Flung Battle Line-Germans Face French and British in the Aisne Valley and Fight for Weeks-Mighty Armies Deadlocked After a Desperate and Bloody Struggle.

F

OR a few days after the tide of battle in France turned in favor of the Allies (September 9), the German forces continued to retreat to the north, closely followed by the French and British armies that had fought and won the battle of the Marne, as described in a previous chapter. This northward movement was marked by heavy German losses in men and munitions of war, and lasted until Saturday, September 12, when the Germans were found to be occupying a position of great defensive strength on the River Aisne, north of Soissons. At that time they held both sides of the river and had a formidable line of intrenchments on the hills to the north of eight road bridges and two railway bridges crossing the Aisne. Seven of the road bridges and both the railway bridges had been destroyed.

The Allies gained some high ground south of the Aisne, overlooking the Aisne valley, east of Soissons. Then began (on Saturday, September 12) an action along the Aisne which was destined to go down in history as the greatest and most prolonged battle of all time. Two days, three days, a week, two weeks, three, four, five weeks it lasted, with varying fortune to the contending armies, but no decisive result. Germans, French and British, literally by the thousand, fell under the continuous hail of shrapnel, the hurricane of machine-gun and rifle fire, or in the desperate bayonet charges of daily occurrence, but still the battle raged. Minor positions were

gained and lost, towns and villages along the far-flung battle line were occupied and evacuated, countless deeds of heroism were wrought, to be sung and celebrated by posterity in a dozen different lands-but the lines on both sides held and victory refused to perch on any banner.

Modern scientific strategy exhausted its utmost efforts; flanking and turning movements were planned, attempted and failed; huge masses of men were hurled against each other in every formation known to military skill; myriads of lives and millions of money were sacrificed in historic endeavors to breach the enemy's front-but ever the foeman held his ground and neither side could claim decided advantage. Intrenchments such as the world has never seen before covered the countryside for fifty miles. Teuton, Gaul and AngloSaxon, Turco and Hindu, literally "dug themselves in," and refused to budge an inch, though hell itself, in all its horror and its fury, was loosed against them.

And thus the battle of the Aisne-also aptly called, from its exten and ramifications, the battle of the Rivers-continued through many weeks while all the world wondered and stood aghast at the slaughter, and the single gleam of brightness that came out of that maelstrom of death and misery was the growing respect of Frenchman, German and Briton for the individual and collective courage of each other and the deathdefying devotion that was daily displayed by all.

FIGHTING CONTINUOUS DAY AND NIGHT

Beginning as an artillery duel in which the field-guns of the French and Germans were matched against each other from opposite heights as never before, the battle of the Aisne soon resolved itself into a series of daily actions in which every arm of the opposing hosts engaged. There was little rest for the troops day or night. Artillery fire beginning at daybreak and continuing till dusk might break out again at any hour of the night, the range of the enemy's intrenchments being known. Frequently the artillery seemed to open fire in the still watches of the night for no other reason than to prevent the enemy in his trenches from getting any sleep at all, and many a man was borne to the rear on both sides suffering from no wound, but from utter

exhaustion—a state of collapse which is often as deadly as shrapnel to the soldier in the field.

For weeks at a time the only real rest for many of the troops engaged along the line of battle came in snatches of a few hours when they were temporarily relieved by fresh troops brought up from the rear, and these in their turn might be soon exhausted by the continuous strain of keeping on the alert to repel attacks-or, as frequently happened, their ranks might be decimated, or worse, when they were ordered to a charge. Officers and men suffered alike from the strenuous nature of the demands made upon them—and so far as actual casualties are concerned the battle was one in which officers of all ranks, in all the armies, suffered perhaps more severely, in proportion to the number engaged, than in any previous battle. Hundreds of British officers, for example, were among the victims whose bones lie rotting in the valley of the Aisne, as whole pages of their portraits in the London journals, bearing many of the best known names in the British Empire, testified in mute protest against the horrors of war. And both Germany and France have a similar "roll of honor."

REPORTS OF THE BATTLE

While the great battle of the Rivers was in progress the most connected stories of its daily developments came through the British official news bureau, and these are reproduced in part in the pages that follow. The author of these reports is believed to be Colonel Swinton, of Field Marshal French's staff, who is generally credited with having contributed to the literature of the war some of the most interesting and enlightening accounts of the operations of the British and French armies in the field. And these reports are given here, because of their general character of apparent truth and fairness, and in the absence of any similar reports from the other side.

OPENING OF THE GREAT BATTLE

The following report from the British headquarters covers the period when the Allies' forward movement was halted along the Aisne and also describes the terrain, or country, in which the subsequent fighting occurred:

"From Thursday, September 10, the British army made