range. As the shrapnel burst, the front squadrons seemed to
stumble and fall. The ranks were so near that the change from living
human beings into mangled pieces of flesh and rags could clearly be
seen. More than one veteran gunner felt squeamish at the sight. But the
rear squadrons, though their horses' hoofs were squelching in the blood
of their comrades of a moment before, never blenched or faltered but
swept on at a thundering gallop. Again the guns spoke, and again. That
was all. Amid the vines, here and there a writhing figure could be seen,
or a wounded horse endeavoring to rise, and here and there a straggler
striving to escape. It was level open country; twice again the guns
roared, five rounds in all, and all movement ceased. The engagement had
lasted less than five minutes and of those two thousand splendid
horsemen not one escaped. The French artillerists picked up the wounded
and sent them back to Rheims to receive nursing and care, and then
hurried on to the action whither they were bound when surprised by the
Hussars.

The infantry of the Germans and of the French were now coming to hand
grips. A battalion of Zouaves was creeping round to attack the advancing
column in the rear. The German commander at Nogent l'Abbesse learned
from his air scouts what was happening. He saw the peril of the
advancing column, that it was almost surrounded, and he threw further
columns into the fray, to cover the retreat. The sortie on the railway
had now become impossible. General Foch had moved too quickly. But, even
so, the peril was great, for the German force was almost cut off. It
meant the loss of 15,000 men and artillery, or it meant the sacrifice of
some one corps to cover the retreat. The latter course was chosen.

Three thousand of the Guards Corps, the flower of the Prussian Army,
were sent like a catapult at the gap in the French line, immediately in
front of Rheims. Five times they charged, and with such heroic daring
and such penetrative energy that General Foch did not dare break from
his position. As they came up for the fifth assault, a wild cheer of
admiration broke out along the French line. But the rifles spoke
steadily, none the less for that. After the fifth assault, barely a
hundred men were left, nearly all wounded. They reversed rifles, a sign
of surrender, and in all honor they were received by General Foch, who
conducted them to the hospital in the rear. They lived up to the full
the most heroic