On January 12, 1915, and on the 13th the French were driven down the slopes in a great rush. This predicament was a terrible one--the onrushing Germans 500 feet in front of them and the swollen river making successful retreat impossible, with the ground between almost impassable with mud and slush. French reserves had improvised a pontoon bridge across the Aisne at Missy, in the rear of their now precarious position. This bridge was just strong enough to carry the men and ammunition; but not the heavy guns. The retreat turned into a rout--a general stampede for the bridge and river. The slaughter was terrible, the river swollen as it was seemed choked with floating soldiers. The few who safely got across the bridge and those who were successful in reaching the farther bank of the Aisne alive, reached Soissons eventually. The German gain in prisoners and booty was enormous and their gain in ground advanced their line a full mile, on a front extending five miles to Missy and a little beyond. The Germans strongly intrenched their new position without loss of time. Farther along this front, in the neighborhood of Perthes, a less important engagement took place. The Germans, under General von Einem, opposed General Langle de Cary and his French forces. The results of this engagement were negligible. On January 18, 1915, a savage attack by the Germans was successfully repulsed at Tracy-le-Val and on the 19th the French made an assault upon the German position at St. Mihiel, in the Verdun section without gaining any ground. Farther north on this section the French pressed on and gained a little ground near the German fortress Metz; but the very vicinity of this fortress counterbalanced this gain. [Illustration: NOTRE DAME OF RHEIMS RUINED BY GERMAN SHELLS. SOLDIERS AND PRISONERS OF GERMANY. BELGIUM AND FRANCE. FIRST AID TO THE WOUNDED German lookouts, wearing the distinctive spiked German helmet, are stationed in a treetop overlooking the battle front. The branches aid in screening them] [Illustration: A body of German prisoners on their way to Paris under escort of French cuirassiers. The country people line the roadway to see them pass] [Illustration: Belgian soldiers--the famous Louvain Lancers, accompanied by an aviation corps--coming up to take positions near the coast in northern France] [Illustration: Two cuirassiers--French cavalrymen who wear a cuirass or breastplate--have dismounted to give aid to a wounded comrade] [Illustration: An injured British aviator cared for by a Red Cross doctor. Airmen who have been wounded often bring their machines to a safe landing] [Illustration: The choir and nave of Notre Dame, Rheims, before the bombardment which destroyed its matchless carvings and stained-glass windows] [Illustration: The ruins of Notre Dame, the wonderful cathedral at Rheims, which was shelled by the Germans. The statuary and carvings remaining about the entrances are protected by timbers]