I have the honor to be your
Lordship's most obedient servant,
(Signed.) J.D.P. FRENCH,
Field Marshal,
Commanding in Chief, the British forces in the field.
III.
*The Battle of the Aisne.*
8th October, 1914.
My Lord: I have the honor to report the operations in which the British
forces in France have been engaged since the evening of Sept. 10:
1. In the early morning of the 11th the further pursuit of the enemy was
commenced, and the three corps crossed the Ourcq practically unopposed,
the cavalry reaching the line of the Aisne River, the Third and Fifth
Brigades south of Soissons, the First, Second and the Fourth on the high
ground at Couvrelles and Cerseuil.
On the afternoon of the 12th, from the opposition encountered by the
Sixth French Army to the west of Soissons, by the Third Corps southeast
of that place, by the Second Corps south of Missy and Vailly, and
certain indications all along the line, I formed the opinion that the
enemy had, for the moment at any rate, arrested his retreat and was
preparing to dispute the passage of the Aisne with some vigor.
South of Soissons the Germans were holding Mont de Paris against the
attack of the right of the French Sixth Army when the Third Corps
reached the neighborhood of Buzancy, southeast of that place.
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