With the wounds of four years of war upon it, the northern quarter completely destroyed and the cathedral grievously damaged, Soissons still possessed something of its old-time grace and air of substantial well being. It would be an exaggeration to compare it with Richmond, for the Aisne is not the Thames and the French woods are not English parks; but after the victory of Malmaison had put the boche back beyond the Ailette we hoped to see the great mansions repaired and the happy life of the shopping quarters gradually revived. Today the Germans are camped in the smoking ruins of Soissons. INCENDIARY SHELLS On May 27 at least 1,200 explosive and incendiary shells were fired into the place. The hospitals, including a special hospital for poison gas cases, were hurriedly evacuated, American ambulance cars doing good service in carrying away the wounded. On Tuesday, the 28th, the bombardment continued, its purpose being, no doubt, to put out of service the most important bridgehead of the Aisne Valley and one of the most important lines of communication between the regions to the south and north, the town being a railway centre of some local consequence. That afternoon a good many houses were in flames, and during the night a large part of the town was involved in fire. The enemy had now shouldered his way on the north of the Aisne westward from Pinon, Laffaux, and Vregny, and had reached the highroad running from Coucy-le-Château to Soissons. Yesterday he pressed still further west, and the road being thus covered, as well as the roads from Laffaux and Vailly, made a powerful direct attack upon the town. It looked at first like being an easy success. The French, wearied with thirty hours of unceasing combat and impossibly outnumbered, fell back, and the Germans reached the centre of the town. In the narrow streets, however, the effect of superior numbers largely disappeared. The French fought fiercely from corner to corner, and at last, gathering themselves together, swept the enemy back to the northern and eastern suburbs. In the afternoon new German contingents were brought up and in a few hours gained complete possession of the place. Soissons was, of course, in no sense fortified, and, the northern and eastern roads having been lost, it had no military value. The highway down the valley to Compiègne is bordered by the old French trench and wire systems and dominated by hills on either side of the river. The range on the south bank is covered for miles by the great forests of Villers-Cotterets and Compiègne.