The infantry
intrenched themselves solidly to await the morning.
The main forces of the First Division were especially lucky. Using
the canal aqueduct they made their way toward Bourg, and drove
the Germans back toward the main ridge.
More than three-quarters of the summit of the ridge had been won,
the entire Second Infantry Brigade was across, the Twenty-fifth
Artillery Brigade was across, ready to support, and General Bulfin,
instead of tiring his men by making them intrench there, ordered
them to rest, throwing their outposts in front of the hamlet of
Moulins.
This ended the first day's fighting on the battle of the Aisne.
Of the Third Army Corps, a small body of men had reached Chipres.
There they had been joined by a small force from the Second Army
Corps. In the First Army a strong detachment dug itself in not
far from Pont d'Arcy. The incomparably superior position of the
Germans, their huge numbers, their possession of innumerable guns,
made even this shaky tenure dangerous, though all held on. Sir
John French had tested and found out the German strength and the
result was not encouraging.
Although this repulse of the British army at every point was a
decided victory for the German gunners, Field Marshal von Heeringen
had been impressed by two things: the courage of the British attacking
army, and the destructiveness of the French artillery on the south
bank of the river.
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