This was the first German offensive movement
since their retreat from the Marne, and it was powerful and well
handled. General Foch fell back into defensive positions, but had
much ado to hold his own. He evaded giving battle around Rheims
and took up a position at Souain, which he held with the jaunty
obstinacy he had displayed so often in the retreat through northern
France. It was obvious that he could not hold out long, but by
clever generalship, and especially by an extraordinarily brilliant
use of the cavalry arm, he held off the army for that day. That
night strong reenforcements came to his aid, and on September 19,
1914, the balance of the forces was more nearly equal.
On September 19, 1914, therefore, the situation of the armies was
much as follows: The Germans, acting under the general command of
Field Marshal von Heeringen, controlled Rheims under the gunfire
of their heavy artillery from two points, the heights of Nogent
l'Abbesse to the southeast of Rheims, and the hill of Brimont a
little over half a mile to the northeast. Their right flank was
covered by the powerful defenses of the Aisne and the guns of the
Craonne plateau, their left flank was a series of intrenchments
along the river Suippe, which merged into the second line of defense
of the main army under the Duke of Wuerttemberg.
On the other side of Rheims, or to the west of the cathedral city,
the Allies also held two heights, one at Pouillon, between the
Aisle and the Vesle, and therefore to the northwest of the city,
and the other on a sharp steep, known as the Mountain of Rheims,
near Verzenay, on the south side of the river.
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