Hoiv the Battle of the Aisne Began 201 feated at the Battle of the Marne after desperate attempts to break the French line between Vitry-le- Francois and Camp de Mailly. Since then they had been slowly but steadily driven back. Their latest retreat had been from Souain, which is mid- way between Rheims and the Argonne. In general they occupied entrenched positions along the Plain of Chalons, to which they had been driven slowly. Here, too, the fighting did not seem at this time to be of first importance. North and west of Rheims to the Oise the situa- tion was wholly different. Here the armies of von Buelow and von Kluck were now engaged in a des- perate attempt to break the French centre and left centre. From east to west the French position here, starting from the city of Rheims, went north across the Aisne near Berr}'-au-Bac, then west to the Oise along the edge of the Craonne Plateau. This nar- row ridge between the Aisne and the Lette was for ten days the scene of fighting of the most desperate character. At Rheims and along the Craonne Plateau, the whole strength of the German Army was now being exerted to break through, drive the Allies south of the Aisne at Soissons, seize Rheims, with its vitally important network of highways and railroads. The Allies on their part were endeavoring to force this point and push slowly north toward Laon, the key of the communications of the Germans, and in gen- eral push the Germans off the rim of the Cham-