The question will have arisen in some minds why, if the defenses of
the Chemin des Dames were as strong as I had represented them to be,
last Monday's attack should have so quickly overcome them. Detailed
narratives are being accumulated which throw light on this subject. I
take the case of the division holding the French left a week ago. We
all remember its front, which was naturally and artificially of the
strongest. It had nearly twelve hours' notice of what was afoot.
In the first place, the German artillery preparation, though short,
was of infernal violence. The rolling barrage was two miles deep.
It destroyed the French telephone wires and filled the battery
emplacements and machine-gun posts with various kinds of poison gas.
Dust and artificial smoke clouds isolated groups of defenders and hid
the waves of assault till they broke with a four-fold superiority of
force. Many groups were thus surrounded, but fought on for a couple
of hours, causing the enemy heavy losses. Many short counterattacks
delayed advances and every line of trench wire was used.
But the next most important thing, since reinforcements could not
arrive immediately, was that the mass of the division should be held
together and drawn back gradually for the defense of more essential
positions. These lay beyond the Soissons bridgehead. Reinforced last
Tuesday night, the division defended the plateau southeast of Soissons
for four days with obstinate heroism.