CHATEAUBRIAND, FRANCOIS RENE AUGUSTE, VICOMTE DE' (sha t5-bre-on'), a French statesman, trav eler, novelist, and historical writer, born in St. Malo, Sept. 14, 1768. He made a voyage in search of the Northwest Pas sage in 1791; but on touching the Ameri can continent abandoned that quest, and proposed to himself a study of the life of the American Indians. He lived for some time among the aborigines, and the fruits of his observations were the three novels "Atala," "Rene," and "The Natchez," which by the charms of the lit erary style and the interesting poetical descriptions of life remote from civiliza tion, won instant and great popularity. Perhaps his greatest and certainly his most ambitious work is "The Genius of Christianity" (5 vols., 1856-1857). Of works connected with literature and its history he wrote "An Essay on English Literature" and translated Milton's "Paradise Lost." He died in Paris, July 4, 1848.
a French town on the right bank of the Marne in the department of the Aisne, 59 miles N. E. of Paris. It is notable as being the birthplace of La Fontaine and the scene of a battle in which Napoleon de feated the Prussians and Russians, Feb. 12, 1814. During the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the German Emperor made the town for a time his headquarters. It is a center of the wine trade and its chief manufactures are woolen yarn, mu sical and scientific instruments. Stone is extensively quarried. Its population preceding the World War was 7,771.
The name of Chateau-Thierry will ever be associated in American min with the memorable deeds done there by United States troops in the World War. On May 31, 1918, American machine gun units were hurried in motor lorries to the town, the outskirts of which had already been reached by the advancing Germans. The little city lay on both sides of the Marne, which was spanned by a long bridge. To the north, there was a canal, running parallel with the river and crossed by a smaller bridge. On June 1 the Germans drove a gap through the Allied lines to the left of the town and poured through the streets toward the main bridge, intending to cross the river and establish themselves on the opposite bank. The French colo nials an: the Americans were sent for ward to repel the attack. The Ameri cans defended the bridge, and working with coolness and precision, though most of them were under fire for the first time, they raked the enemy line so ef fectively that the Germans wavered and retreated. The next night under cover
of darkness they made another attempt, but were again met with a devastating fire from the American machine guns. Some of them persisted, however, and were on the bridge when it was blown up, throwing many into the river, while those who remained on the south side of the shattered structure were immedi ately taken prisoner. All subsequent at tempts to cross the river were nullified by a storm of machine gun fire, and the enemy finally abandoned the attempt after suffering heavy casualties.
Again in the Château-Thierry region, at Jaulgonne and Dormans, the Ameri cans were the principal factor in check ing the thrust of the German Crown Prince at Paris. It was the last great effort of the German offensive. On July 15 the enemy launched a terrific at tack against the American position at Jaulgonne and Dormans. Twenty-five thousand of the choicest of the German troops were hurled across the Marne. The American front was held by the 1st, 2d, 3d and 26th Divisions, with the 4th and 28th Divisions in support. Under the first fury of the assault, the Ameri can line was pushed back, but it promptly rallied and threw the Germans back across the Marne with tremendous losses.
front of the 3d Division sector except the dead." "On this occasion," writes General Pershing in his official report, "a single regiment of the 3d Division wrote one of the most brilliant pages in our mili tary annals. It prevented the crossing at certain points on its front, while on either flank the Germans, who had gained a footing pressed forward. Our men, firing in three directions, met the Ger A paragraph from the report of the commanding General of the 3d Division thus summarized the result of the fight ing on his front: "Although the rush of the German troops overwhelmed some of the front line positions, causing the infantry and machine gun companies to suffer in some cases a 50 per cent. loss, no German soldier crossed the line from Fossoy to Crezancy except as a prisoner of war, and by noon of the following day (July 16) there were no Germans in the fore man attacks with counter-attacks at crit ical points, and succeeded in throwing two German divisions into complete con fusion, capturing 600 prisoners."