Soissons, it will be remembered, lies at the
western end of the high bluffs that form a bank to the River Aisne
for over fifty miles. It is on the high road between Rheims and
Compiegne, and on the south side of the Aisne, and consequently
returned into French hands on September 13, 1914. No sooner did
the French armies enter the little town, however, than Soissons,
dominated by the twin towers of its ancient cathedral, became a
target for the concentrated fire of the Germans, whose artillery,
it will be remembered, had been supplemented that morning by the
huge guns brought on from Maubeuge by the magnificent forced marches
of General von Zwehl. By noon the lower half of that once lovely
city was in flames. On every hand walls collapsed as though they
had been made of pasteboard. Women and children were buried beneath
the ruins or blown to pieces as they fled into the streets. One
of the towers of the cathedral was damaged, and there was not a
corner of the town that was safe from fire. The French batteries
tried to cover the city and silence the batteries opposing them
on the north front of the river, but the odds were too great.
All day long, and throughout the greater part of every night, for
the first three days of the battle of the Aisne, September 13,
14, and 15, 1914, the bombardment of Soissons was continual, and,
in addition to being a wreck, the town became a shambles.
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