Part 6

On May 3rd, eighty German batteries concentrated their fire on Hill 304 and its approaches. Clouds of black, green and yellow smoke rose from the hill-top as from a volcano, obscuring the sky to a height of 2,500 feet, according to the reports of aviators. As a British war correspondent put it: “The sky was like a dome of invisible rails on which fast trains ran madly.” On May 4th and 5th a fresh German division attempted to occupy the position, believing it and its defenders to have been annihilated. They gained a footing on the N. slopes of the hill, but were driven back during the night by the French 68th R.I., which then withdrew. On the 5th the same German division attacked on the left the Camard Wood and Hill 287. In this wood, entirely levelled by an eleven-hour bombardment, the 66th Line R.I. first held up, then charged the assailants at the point of the bayonet. At Hill 287 a battalion of the 32nd Line R.I. likewise brilliantly repulsed two attacks. On May 7th, after a tremendous shelling, the enemy attacked Hill 304 simultaneously from three sides with troops from five different divisions. It was their greatest effort against this position. However, two French regiments of picked troops (125th and 114th), one company of which charged, to the strains of _La Marseillaise_, the Germans were thrown into disorder and driven back to the N. slopes. During the rest of the month the enemy counter-attacked continually, at times in force, as on May 18th, 20th and 22nd, but without success.

On June 29th and 30th they sought to turn the Hill from the E. and W. with the help of liquid fire. On the E. desperate fighting took place around a work which was lost by the French on the 29th, then retaken, lost again, and reconquered on the 30th.

The Germans made a powerful attack on December 6th, in which they took several trenches on the E. slopes.

On the 28th of the same month another German attack, preceded by an intense bombardment, failed.

In 1917 the enemy continued their efforts against Hill 304. They succeeded on January 25th in occupying several of the French advance-positions, which were partly recaptured the next day.

Further enemy attacks on March 18th, 20th and 29th were repulsed after hand-to-hand fighting.

On June 28th and 29th another powerful enemy attack succeeded, with heavy loss, in capturing Hill 304 and advancing between the Hill and the S.E. corner of Avocourt Wood, to a slight hollow known as the =Col-de-Pommerieux=. This hollow was, however, reconquered on July 17th by the French 51st and 87th R.I., supported by two battalions of the 97th D.I. (335th and 346th Regiments), and one battalion of the 73rd D.I. After a remarkable artillery preparation, the French infantrymen, in half-an-hour, reached the fortified crest, and regained a kilometer of ground, including the famous “Demi-Lune” Redoubt. The 87th R.I., composed of men from the north, Valenciennes, St. Quentin and Lens, went 300 yards beyond the assigned objective and captured an observation-post in front of the crest, which they christened “_Le crèneau des Gretchen_.” The attack occurred at the time the enemy troops were being relieved, 520 prisoners, belonging to at least three different divisions, being taken. From a single sap the French Grenadiers brought out four German officers, one of whom, on descending the hill, turned back to admire the manœuvre of the French soldiers.

On August 24th Hill 304, the approaches to which had been reconquered on the 20th, was carried by the 139th and 121st R.I. (26th D.I.). This division, which attacked before Hill 304, on the Pommerieux Plateau and at Camard Wood, captured prisoners belonging to five different German divisions. After capturing Hill 304, Equerre Wood and Souvin Redoubt, the division attacked again on the evening of the same day, this time carrying the positions of Palavas, Alsace, Gateau-de-Miel and Lorraine, and advancing the first French line to the Forges stream, _i.e._ more than two kilometers from its starting-point between Haucourt and Malancourt, the latter still being occupied by the enemy.

_On leaving Hill 304, descend to_ =Haucourt= _and_ =Malancourt=.

=Haucourt= hamlet, on the Fontaine-des-Aulnes stream, was attacked by the Germans on April 4th, 1916, and taken after several sanguinary setbacks on the night of the 5th after a fine defence by three companies of the 79th R.I., which held their ground against a brigade. It was recaptured on September 26th, 1918, by the First American Army.

=Malancourt= village was reoccupied by the French on October 13th, 1914. Enemy attacks on the following 16th and 20th failed. From February, 1915, the French lines were advanced to the slopes on the N. of the village. In 1916 the Germans did not attack until the end of March. They were unable to enter it on the 28th, but the next day captured two houses. On the night of the 30th they occupied it entirely.

Malancourt and its wood were recaptured by the First American Army on September 26th, 1918. The wood was hard to take, as the Germans had installed numerous blockhouses and barbed-wire entanglements.

Montfaucon

_From Malancourt tourists may go to Montfaucon, three miles away, by a rather difficult road which has been summarily repaired._

From Montfaucon, where the Germans had established an observation-post in the ruins of the church, there is a complete view of the whole of the battlefield north-west of Verdun, from the hills on the right bank of the Meuse, to Vauquois.

_See Panorama and Map on pp. 106 and 107._

The tower of the church, which made a fine observation-post for the Germans, was destroyed by the French artillery. When, after their brilliant offensive of September 26th, 1918 (_see p. 24_), the Americans drove the enemy from Montfaucon, they found this observation-post (_photo below_) built with materials taken from the ruins of the church.

_The above view was taken from the inside of the Observation-Post seen in the photo below, the camera looking through the slit-like embrasure._

In the foreground are vestiges of shell-torn trees and the ruins of Montfaucon Village. Verdun is on the horizon between Mort-Homme and Hill 275.

VI.—From Montfaucon to Avocourt

_From Montfaucon return by the same road to Malancourt._

_The bad state of the Malancourt–Avocourt road (May, 1919) does not allow it to be taken from the former to the latter locality._ (The road passes through the woods of the same names, disputed with incredible fierceness.) _The tourist should, therefore, return to the Wayside Cross at Esnes, along the same road that he came by._

_From Esnes Cross (see p. 100), take on the right the road to Avocourt, which marks approximately the extreme limit of the battlefield W. of Verdun_.

=Avocourt and Avocourt and Malancourt Woods.=—One of the finest feats of arms in the Battle of Verdun was performed at Avocourt.

On March 20th, 1916, the Germans, who had never been able to take the village, attacked with a fresh division of picked troops (IInd Bavarians), which had taken part in the summer campaign in Galicia and Poland with Mackensen’s forces. The attack succeeded, with the help of liquid fire. A French counter-attack on the 29th by the 210th R.I., and a battalion of the 157th, recaptured the wood and the redoubt known as the “Réduit d’Avocourt,” situated on its S. edge. The attacking troops, which had not been revictualled for four days, had finished their reserve rations twelve hours previously. So fatigued were they that they slept standing despite the bombardment. To rouse them, their chiefs, at 3 a.m. next morning, ordered the buglers and drummers to play. As the day was breaking the music suddenly stopped, a shell having buried all save one drummer. Furious at this, the men, with the drummer at their head, rushed forward, and by 8 a.m. the wood had been entirely reconquered.

In 1917, hard fighting continued in this region with varying fortune. Powerful German attacks gave the enemy a little ground between Avocourt and Hill 304, and in Avocourt Wood. On August 20th, the French 25th D.I. drove the enemy from the S. part of the wood, advancing 1,200 yards and capturing 750 prisoners, thirty machine guns and ten trench mortars.

On September 26th, 1918, the wood was entirely cleared of the enemy by the First American Army.

=Malancourt Wood.=—It was against a French trench, in this wood that on February 26th, 1915, the Germans made use of =liquid fire for the first time=, special pumps, operated by pioneers of the Guard, being employed.

VII.—Avocourt to Aubréville

_From Avocourt take the road which follows the small valley running southwards (see Itinerary, pp. 88 and 89). It was on this road, hidden from the view of the enemy, that the French concentrations were carried out in the rear lines._

_Two kilometers from Avocourt, take on the left the road leading to Hesse Wood, scene of all sorts of concentrations, posts of commandment, dressing stations, batteries of artillery, depots, etc._

_This road is in good condition almost as far as Aubréville, with the exception of two or three places on leaving Hesse Wood, beyond Bertrame’s Farm._

VIII.—From Aubréville to Verdun

_On entering Aubréville, take on the left N. 46 which skirts the St. Menehould-Verdun railway._

_The tourist passes through Parois and Récicourt, where numerous cantonments and rest camps were installed for the relief of the troops._

_Dombasle, where a large munitions depot blew up, is next reached._

_From Dombasle one of two Itineraries may be chosen to return to Verdun._

_The first, by continuing to follow the National Road, via Blercourt._

_The second, which follows the crests dominating N. 3 from Paris to Metz._

_For the second Itinerary, on leaving Dombasle, take the small road on the left, which leads to Sivry-la-Perche, 4 kilometers distant._

N. of the latter village, at the N.E. extremity of Hill 357, there still exists an observation-post, from which there is a general view of the entire rear-ground of the battlefield W. of Verdun.

If it is desired to visit this observation-post before the descent leading to Sivry-la-Perche, take the Béthelainville road on the left for about 700 yards going thence on foot to the right in a N.E. direction. The observation post is about half-a mile further on.

From Sivry-la-Perche continue along the road, which passes first on the left of =Sartelles Fort= and then to the left of =Chaume Fort=. These two forts only played a minor role in the battle of Verdun, and suffered but slightly from the bombardments. In front of Chaume Fort there was an observation post for heavy artillery, whence there is a splendid view of the Meuse Valley.

_From Chaume Fort the road is rather steep and in bad condition. Going down on the left and flanking a hill is_ Glorieux Cemetery, near the evacuation hospital.

_Verdun is entered by the Porte-de-France._

CONTENTS

PAGES =Plan of Verdun= (2 colours) between 30–31

=Map of Verdun= (black) ” 56–57

=Origin and Political History= 2

=Chief Military Events= 3

=The Great War (1914–1918)—General Considerations= 4 to 7

=The Battle of Verdun= 8 to 30 =The German Offensive, Feb.–Aug., 1916= 10 to 18 = ” French Counter-Offensive, Oct.–Dec., 1916, to Aug., 1917= 19 to 23 = ” American Offensive, Sept. 26th, 1918= 24 = ” Franco-American Offensive, Oct., 1918= 25 to 27 =Conclusion= 28 to 30

=A Visit to the City of Verdun= 31 to 56 =The Cathedral= 42 to 48 = ” Citadelle= 52 to 54

=A Visit to the Battlefield= 57 to 111 =1st Itinerary: The Right Bank of the Meuse= 57 to 87 =2nd ” ” Left ” ” ” = 88 to 111

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