Poor Rheims lay between,
wide open to the eruption of destruction that belched from the
throats of the German howitzers.
* * * * *
CHAPTER XXIV
END OF THE BATTLE
After September 22, 1914, there was a lull in the fighting at Rheims,
and as afterward appeared, this was due mainly to another change
of plan on the part of the German Staff. But it was no part of
General Foch's intentions to leave the bombardment of the cathedral
unrevenged. He had, indeed, caused an unparalleled slaughter on the
night of September 19, 1914, as has been stated, but his troops
were avid for reprisal and the French strategist knew well how
dangerous it is to allow an army, eager for action and revenge,
to eat its heart out vainly. He was too wise to run the risk of
a countercharge, but four days later his opportunity came, and
he took advantage of it to the full.
At dawn on September 26, 1914, a detachment of 15,000 Germans,
including all that remained of the famous Prussian Guards Corps,
that same body that had fought so marvelously on many occasions,
and which had suffered the most cruelly in the affair of the marshes
of St. Gond, made a sortie from the base line at Nogent l'Abbesse to
destroy the railway line between Rheims and Verdun, this line was,
indeed, the principal link of communication to that all-important
fortress that protruded its bristling salient into the heart of
the German position.
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