_On June 13 General von Hutier made a threatening thrust toward
Compiègne, which was parried by the French and was practically the
termination of further serious efforts in this phase by the Germans.
Mr. Perris tells the story of it as follows:_
South of the Aisne the high, bare farmlands extending from Soissons
to the borders of the forest of Compiègne are cut by a valley running
up from the other great forest of Villers-Cotterets to the river at
Ambleny. This valley, with the villages of Laversine, Coeuvre, Cutry,
Dommiers, and St. Pierre-Aigle, has constituted the front for the last
fortnight, with French outposts on the east side, but the real line of
resistance on the west.
Von Hutier having met with trouble beyond his expectations on the west
of the Oise, his colleague, von Boehm, was sent yesterday morning to
create a diversion on this flank of the battlefield. Five divisions,
two of them fresh ones, were thrown forward on both sides of Laversine,
a front of four miles.
Though outnumbered, the French have given a fine account of themselves,
breaking repeated assaults of the enemy, who is reported to have
got into the villages of Coeuvre and St. Pierre, a feat more than
counterbalanced by the French advance at Damard, further south on the
border of Villers-Cotterets Forest, and the admirable action of the
Americans on the ground recently taken by them in Clignon Valley.
This, however, is not the best sign for the fifth day of the offensive.
Von Hutier's thrust from the north toward Compiègne was by far the most
threatening of the numerous lines of attack the German command has now
opened. It has been brought to a stop by reactions of the French left
and centre, and was this morning contained, as we may hope definitely,
from the Mery Plateau and along the course of the Matz.