Part 14

In the photograph at the top of p. 179 we see the group leaving the castle by the principal entrance. The walls, under their temporary roof, still show traces of shot and shell. M. Poincaré may be seen between M. Ribot, President of the Council, and M. Painlevé, War Minister. Field-Marshal Joffre is behind.

The photograph at the foot of p. 179 was also taken during the official visit of September 6, 1917. The tower on the left is the one seen on p. 174 from the exterior. On comparing the two photographs, we realise that the signs of war are fast disappearing at this point. In the middle, near the wall, the group formed by M. Poincaré, M. Ribot, M. Bourgeois, Field-Marshal Joffre and Generals Foch and Pétain, may be distinguished.

Those who took part in this pilgrimage had the good fortune to hear an account of the events of September, 1914, from the lips of General Foch. The above photograph was taken whilst, in quiet but moving terms, he described the different phases of the desperate battle fought by the Ninth Army from September 6 to 10. This extempore military lecture took place at the foot of a walnut-tree which stands in the meadow before the castle. On pp. 182-183 may be seen the view of the marshes which appeared to the eyes of the audience.

_Opposite the turret seen in the photograph at the foot of p. 175 take a path leading to the church_, which suffered much from the bombardments, but whose breaches have now been repaired.

In the little graveyard (photograph p. 180) which surrounds it are buried the officers who fell at Mondement; among them Major de Beaufort, who commanded the attack, and Dr. Baur, killed by a shell which at the same time split the tree against which he was leaning.

General Humbert followed the march of events from the foot of the church, on the side facing the marshes (view above), when the castle became untenable. It is from this point that the panorama on pp. 182-183 was taken, and which will now be described.

In the foreground of panorama I (pp. 182-183) may be seen the houses of Mondement, which village was carried by the Germans at the same time as the castle and church, at daybreak on September 9. The French on their victorious return the same evening, drove out the remaining occupants, firing on them as they hastened down the slopes to the Marshes.

On the right may be seen Reuves and the road connecting it with Mondement. Oyes is visible on panorama II. We can easily follow the course of the German attack. After having crossed the marshes, the Germans drove Blondlat's Brigade of the Moroccan Division from these villages on the 8th. The following day the handful of Zouaves and sharp-shooters remaining in the castle, church and village, were forced to retire into the woods near Broyes.

On panorama II, the hill-top from which the panorama on pp. 170-171 was taken may be distinguished, as also the "Crête du Poirier" which carries it to the left towards Botrait Woods. This advanced line was, as we have seen, fiercely disputed, the bombardment being terrible. In his fine work on the Marshes of Saint-Gond, in which he relates the memoirs of M. Roland, schoolmaster at Villevenard, M. Le Goffie tells us that the percentage of German shells as compared with the French, was five to one, and he cites a detail which illustrates the German character. "The great '150' shells made a noise like a siren, and drew shrieks of joy from those assembled. 'Oh, Germany,' bleated an old doctor, lifting his eyes to heaven each time that one of these steel monsters went bellowing forth."

When the Germans had taken "Le Poirier," they advanced on the Woods of Saint-Gond, in whose thickets violent combats took place. A final effort carried them on September 9 on to the plateau at Montgivroux (see p. 184), a little to the west of Mondement, which fell likewise in its turn, under the direct attack from the marshes. This important success, however, came two days too late. The Tenth Corps was menacing Mondement on the flank, and the intervention of the 42nd Division (see p. 14) destroyed the Germans' hope of taking the plateau on the Broyes-Allemant side. The counter-attack of the 77th (see p. 177-178) precipitated their retreat. Driven from the castle, the Germans re-crossed in haste during the night of September 9-10 the great dike of Saint-Gond. They left baggage and numerous wounded along the causeways. The Germans of 1914 were more fortunate than the conscripts of 1814, for whom the marshes formed a grave. In the darkness they escaped the fire which the French batteries at Mondement and Allemant would have poured on them in daylight. When the Tenth Corps began its march eastwards on September 10, starting from the Champaubert-Saint-Prix front, it was able to sweep the north of the marshes and pick up the laggards and heavy beer-drinkers, to whom the champagne had rendered bad service.

_After having examined the panorama of the marshes, return to the road which leads to the church and continue it in the direction of the farm_, seen in the photograph above. It suffered much from successive French and German bombardments. As may be observed, the work of reparation has begun.

The French, when driven from the farm, took shelter in the wood a few hundred yards away on the other side of the road. It was from the wood that they began the counter-attack which gave them back the farm, as well as the castle and the church.

_We retrace our steps to the castle, leaving the road which continues to follow the edge of the plateau in the direction of Montgivroux, and rejoins No. 51, below Soizy._ This part of the plateau was carried by the German attacks coming from the Poirier and the Woods of Saint-Gond (see p. 170). The "tirailleurs" fought heavy engagements at this point.

_On returning to the castle take the Broyes road_ (G. C. 45) _which passes before the gates, then pass through the woods_ in which the 77th and the troops of the Moroccan Division which took Mondement found shelter, and _so on to =Broyes= and the Castle des Pucelles which we saw at the beginning of our excursion_.

_Turn to the right into_ G. C. 39 _and cross the village. At the cross-roads beyond Broyes, turn to the left and return to =Sézanne=, down a long slope which offer a fine view of the plain and of the heights surrounding it. At the crossing beyond the cemetery take the Rue de Broyes. In the middle, turn to the right and regain the hotel (65 km.) for lunch, by way of the Rue de la Halle and the Place de la République._

FROM

SÉZANNE TO CHÂLONS-SUR-MARNE

(106 km.)

via +Connantre+, +Fère-Champenoise+, +Connantray+, +Sommesous+, +Haussimont+, +Vassimont+, +Lenharrée+, +Normée+.

_Return to the Place de la République and descend towards the lower part of the town by the Rue des Lombards; without crossing the railway turn to the left along a road planted with trees. This is N. 34, which traverses the plain in a perfectly straight line, and which is to be seen in the panorama on pp. 160-163._ On the left, on the horizon the heights of Sézanne, Broyes, Allemant, and Mont-Chalmont are once more visible.

_After a run of 10 km. we reach the villages of =Linthes= and =Linthelles=_, from which the counter-attack of the 42nd Division started on September 9.

At that time, in the plain stretching to the left of the road, the French troops, which had been driven from the edge of the marshes and even from Mont-Août, were falling back southwards. With them, too, were those who had been pushed back from the line of the Somme on to Fère-Champenoise, Connantre, and still further beyond. These troops, although worn out by four days' fighting, and exposed to violent artillery fire from the north, east, and south, would not give in, and took every opportunity for rearguard actions.

The coming into the line of the 42nd Division braced up their forces for the supreme effort asked by Foch.

We are following the axis of the French march during this counter offensive, the first result of which was the relief of =Connantre=. _This village may be seen from the road, on the right, before traversing the level crossing. 100 yards further on is the entrance to Connantre Castle_, in which the Light Infantrymen took prisoner several hundred Guards.

_The road goes straight towards Fère-Champenoise across the plain, which is dotted here and there with clumps of trees. At =Fère-Champenoise= (21 km.) turn to the left into the "Grand-Place" in order to reach the station, which is about 900 yards away_. This was much damaged by bombardment. _About 300 yards on the right, by following the railway lines, may be seen_ the grave in the photograph below.

The fighting around the station was very violent.

_We retrace our steps to the Grand-Place Square, turn to the left before the town-hall, and, passing it, take the first street on the right in the direction of Sommesous and Vitry-le-François._ In this street, on the left, are the ruins of the electric power station (view above), and on the right a few burnt houses.

Fère-Champenoise fell into the hands of the Germans on September 8 when the heroic defence of the Eleventh Corps had been broken on the line of the Somme, over which we are about to travel. The reserve of the guards pillaged as a matter of course, and celebrated noisily the German victory. Near the town-hall a piano was brought into the street to accompany the dance of the soldiers, attired in all sorts of headgear, taken from the window of a neighbouring hatter. Wine flowed, and the streets were strewn with empty bottles. It was in the midst of these rejoicings that the order to retreat arrived like a thunderbolt on September 9. On the 10th, General Foch made Fère his headquarters.

_On leaving the town we come across fan-shaped cross-roads and take the road farthest to the left. 200 yards along this, take the lane on the right, following the edge of the hill which dominates the Vaure._

_After climbing 2½ km. the summit of the hill is reached._ On the right of the road stretches the plateau of Rochelle, dotted with clumps of pine and covered with graves. _Leave the car at the spot indicated in the photograph at foot of p. 186 and set out on foot towards the centre of the plateau._

The third anniversary of the victory of the Marne was celebrated on the plateau on September 7, 1917. In the photograph above may be seen (from right to left) the President of the Republic, General Pétain (half hidden by M. Poincaré); M. Ribot, President of the Council; M. Painlevé, War Minister; M. Chaumet, Marine; M. Bourgeois, Public Works. Field-Marshal Joffre is in the background.

The tourist who, during the tour of the Ourcq, visited the plateau of Barcy-Chambry, will experience with even greater intensity the impression of sadness which is evoked by the calm landscape and the numerous graves, signs of the fierceness and obstinacy of the battle.

A remnant of the Eleventh Corps, which had been driven on the 8th from the woods to the west of Normée (_see p. 194_), made a gallant stand on the summit and sides of the plateau in the pine thickets and in improvised trenches which still exist here and there.

One of the most moving incidents was the defence of the standard of the 32nd. Two hundred men belonging to the 66th and the 32nd Regiments were hemmed in a little wood near the Vaure, having with them the standard of the 32nd, whose bearer had been killed. All the officers were dead or missing, only a few adjutants and sergeants remained. These asked Sergeant-major Guerre of the 66th, a man of energy and resource, to take command. The handful of heroes then formed a square and succeeded in repulsing the attacks of the enemy, until the arrival of a field-piece rendered the position in the wood untenable. Guerre divided his remaining troops into small companies, then charged with the bayonet where the enemy was strongest. A machine-gun soon laid the brave fellow low. The other companies took advantage of this diversion to rejoin the French lines. Thirty men in all were able to do so. Private Malvau and his comrade Bourgoin brought back the standard. They lost themselves in the German lines, but were put on the right path by an officer of the guards, suffering from a bad wound which they dressed for him.

_After visiting the Rochelle plateau we retrace our steps towards Fère and at the entrance to the village take, on the left_, N. 34 _in the direction of Sommesous_.

_Pass straight through =Connantray= (33½ km.)_ to arrive, after traversing _a level-crossing, at =Sommesous= (44½ km.)_.

The station is on the left of the level-crossing. It changed hands several times during the desperate encounters which took place here. Graves were dug in the little station garden on the left to receive the bodies of the soldiers of the 60th (reserve) Division who fell on this spot.

_Follow_ N. 34 _for about 200 yards in Sommesous, then turn to the left into_ N. 77. The combats were particularly violent at the junction of these two roads. _Next, take the second street on the left, seen in the photograph below, in order to reach the centre of the village._ Sommesous was entirely destroyed by bombardment and by fire, but is slowly rising again from its ashes.

The church, of which the photographs on this page show the state after the bombardment, is on the right of the street, towards the end of the village. It is now being restored.

In going from Sommesous to Écury-le-Repos we traverse the line of the Somme which the Eleventh Corps and the 60th (reserve) Division defended so energetically. This line was formed by the river, and by the railway which follows it at a little distance, along the plateau of the left bank. On September 6 and 7 this position was held by the French against furious attacks by Saxons and Guards supported by artillery. On the 8th the French troops, heavily outnumbered, were obliged to withdraw to Connantray and Fère-Champenoise.

September 9 witnessed Foch's counter-attack, which reached the Somme on the 10th and crossed it, on the 11th, in pursuit of the enemy.

Naturally at the bridge-heads of Sommesous, Haussimont, Vassimont, Lenharrée, Normée, and Ecury some of the most obstinate fighting took place; thus the ruins there are numerous.

_On leaving Sommesous, the road crosses the railway on the level and goes towards Haussimont, skirting the Somme, the valley of which lies to the left. At =Haussimont=, cross the Somme and turn to the right into G. C. 18 in order to enter and pass through the village._ A few houses are still in ruins, but many have been rebuilt.

G. C. 18 _continues between the Somme and the railway towards =Vassimont= (where we cross the river again). Turn to the left in order to traverse this locality_, which was much damaged, as may be seen in the view on p. 190.

_Leaving the village, take the first road on the left and cross the Somme. 500 yards further on is the hamlet of =Chapelaine=, with its castle of the same name (photograph p. 190)._ The fighting was intense at this point.

_Return to_ G. C. 18 _and turn to the left towards =Lenharrée= (54 km.)._ Arriving there, we have on the left (_on the right in the view above_) the road, which descends to the river. The many graves around indicate the fierce struggle for the possession of the ford.

Lenharrée formed a bridgehead on the right bank. The French held it on September 6 and 7 under a heavy fire, but on the morning of the 8th the two companies of the 225th, who, by good shooting and frequent bayonet charges, had held at a respectable distance a much superior German force, were obliged to withdraw towards Connantray. The Saxons and the Guards, holding Normée, had managed to advance down the left bank and thus threatened to take the defenders of Lenharrée in the rear. Of this small force all the officers and non-commissioned officers were lying dead or wounded around Captain de Saint-Bon, who himself fell as he gave the order to retire. "Never mind me," he said to his soldiers, who wanted to carry him away with them, "Don't be killed trying to save me."

After their withdrawal on September 8 and 9 the French returned to the neighbourhood of Lenharrée. This they reached on the 10th and entered the next day. They found in a barn 450 wounded Germans and 150 French. The terrible struggle had drenched the village with blood and reddened the waters of the river. "_There are heaps of German dead everywhere_," wrote a witness, "_in the streets, in the cellars, in the church, and in the cemetery. One walked on them without being aware of it. Behind a hedge ten yards in length I counted twenty-two; a hole in a rock five to six metres deep was a regular charnel-house._"

Graves in the courtyards of the houses recall the hand-to-hand fighting. There is one in the large ruined farm seen in the photograph on p. 191. This farm is on the right after the first group of houses at the entrance to the village, fifty yards beyond the cross-roads seen in the view at the top of p. 191.

During the German occupation an old inhabitant, M. Félix, was killed by blows from the butt-end of the rifles of the German soldiers whom he tried to prevent from pillaging his house.

_Going through the village, leave the church on the right. We come to the bridge_ around which are the graves of the men who fell during the combats on this bitterly disputed spot (photograph p. 192).

_Cross the bridge and turn to the right; 50 yards further on, take, on the left, the road leading through a cutting to +Lenharrée+ railway station (800 yards)._ Numerous graves border the railway and the road, for the struggle, which began at the Somme, continued on the railway before spreading under German pressure to Fère-Champenoise, Connantray, and beyond.

_Return to_ G. C. 18, _in which turn to the left_. The road commands the Somme, and here the troops of the eleventh Corps established trenches along the river bank in order to obstruct the passage. The _view on p. 192_, taken _about 1 km. beyond Lenharrée_, shows one of these trenches in which is a German grave.

On the left, the plateau of which G. C. 18 follows the edge, is dotted throughout with graves, the fighting being particularly desperate here on the 6th and 7th. Engagements also took place on the plateau on the opposite bank. The 91st line Regiment, coming up from Lenharrée, particularly distinguished itself during a night attack on the guards.

_We arrive at =Normée= (59 km.)_, which suffered much from bombardment (_see p. 193_). Shells fell so thickly that the village was evacuated on the 6th, the troops retiring to the railway line and to the woods around.

_In order to visit this portion of the battlefield, turn to the left immediately after leaving Normée, into_ G. C. 5, _which goes towards Fère-Champenoise. 2 km. further on is the level-crossing (view p. 193)_ which became famous after the events of September 6-8.

_Leaving the car at the gate, cross the line on foot._ In a clearing on the left (view below) may be seen the old French trenches and the graves which were afterwards made near by. Other trenches are to be seen in the pine woods which line the road.

The Colonel commanding the 42nd Brigade was killed whilst defending this level-crossing.

The German attacks, violent enough on the 7th, redoubled in fury on the 8th; the line of defence was pierced and the 35th Brigade, stationed in the woods adjoining the plateau of Rochelle, previously visited (_see p. 187_), had to fight under difficult conditions. Certain sections were surrounded, and only fought their way out with heavy loss, all the officers being killed. It was under these circumstances that the fine defence of the standard of the 32nd line Regiment, related on p. 188, took place.

_Return to_ G. C. 18 _and turn to the left in it towards =Écury-le-Repos=. 200 yards before arriving at the village_, in a field on the right of the road overlooking the Somme, is an old trench which has been used as a grave (view above).

_In Écury (67 km.) turn to the left beyond the church, then take the first street on the right towards Morains-le-Petit._ A few trenches are to be seen here and there, and graves are still numerous.

=Morains-le-Petit= (70 km.) is rising from its ruins, as the photograph above shows. _Turn to the right in the village, then to the left on leaving it, into_ G. C. 9 _in the direction of Bergères-lès-Vertus._ We are now in the theatre of operations of the 17th Division and of the 52nd (reserve) Division. The task of the troops forming the right wing of the Ninth Corps was to prevent the marshes from being outflanked on the east. They held on bravely, but were obliged to retire to Mont-Août on September 8, their right having been left exposed by the withdrawal of the Eleventh Corps.

_At 100 yards from Morains_ is the source of the Morin, which at this point is a tiny rivulet, often dry in the summer. The ditch in which it flows was used as a trench in the battles of 1914.

The view below, taken on the left of the wood, shows this ditch bordered by a few shrubs and surrounded by graves.

_The road continues towards Mont-Aimé, which we reach about 5 km. beyond Morains._ This hill, 750 feet high, appears a veritable mountain as it rises solitary in the midst of the great Plain of Champagne.

_Leave the car on the road and set out to climb the hill, an easy task. It is possible to climb direct, or to follow the zig-zag path which begins at the road._ From the top there is a very fine view of the marshes and of the whole Plain of Champagne. _The entire journey, up and down, takes about twenty-five minutes._

_Return to_ G. C. 9 _and continue to =Borgères-lès-Vertus= (78 km.), where we meet with_ N. 53, _where turn to the right towards Châlons-sur-Marne._

The Germans traversed this road in both directions within six days. They advanced in all the excitement of a victorious pursuit: they returned in the gloomy disappointment of defeat.