PASSAGE OF THE AISNE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16876, 14 June 1918, Page 6

PASSAGE OF THE AISNE.

DEFENDERS FORCED BACK.

HEROIC RESISTANCE

LONDON. May 30. L'lntransigent says that 1200 shells fell on tSoisbons on Monday. The hospital, ambulance* mid civilians '''ore evaluated.

The front line defend-'!".* were bktted out by the bombardment of gas-shells, ■which lasted only two hour*, 'out was of unprecedented violence. The destruction of the wires made communication impossible. The defenders emerged from dugouts as the Germans left their trenches* The latter crossed the canal slowly, and the 75's and the machine-guns made the most of the target, but the enemy was too numerous, and the defenders had to retire before the ceaseless pressure. Aeroplanes on both sides participated in the battle, machine-gunning the infantry. The passage of the Aisne by the enemy when the British on the right and the French on the left were still engaged on. the opposite bank might have entailed the gravest consequences. The High Command, calmly viewing the situation, entrusted the desperate task of holding the enemy till these troops, with material, had crossed the river to a picked division, whose regiments are all. decorated for valour.

The most furious fighting developed at one o'clock in the afternoon. The Germans threw in division after division. The struggle was extraordinarily desperate towards Pontarcy, hand-to-hand fighting lasting till nightfall. The artillery at St. Maid Heights mowed down the enemy masses. The Germans three times crossed the Aisne between one o'clock in the afternoon and six o'clock in the evening without succeeding in ejecting the French heroes from their positions.

The village of St. Mard changed hands six times. One regiment withstood the repeated assaults of a six times more numerous enemy, and frequently counterattacked, holding back the enemy until midnight, the hour fixed for the retreat, thus British and French troops in the direction of Sailly and Pontavert were saved from envelopment. Almost all the material was saved. The remainder was destroyed. After midnight the enemy crossed the Aisne in masses.