Part 3

=On June 23rd=, 70,000 men attacked on the front Thiaumont-Fleury-Vaux. Thiaumont redoubt was captured, waves of attackers being hurled upon the Froideterre redoubt. A counter-attack, however, cleared the plain as far as Thiaumont. In the centre, the enemy by outflanking Fleury on both sides gained a footing there, but in front of Souville they failed utterly (_See page 77_).

=On July 11th=, the enemy narrowed their attacking front, from Fleury to Damloup. Putting 40,000 men into the attack, they went through Fleury and crept round by the ravine to the west of the village. They gained a temporary footing in Souville fort from which they were almost immediately ejected (_See page 80_).

In spite of partial successes, the enemy had failed in their main objectives. Their losses had been enormous and the Franco-British offensive, launched on the Somme on July 1st, took up their reinforcements.

After nearly five month's siege, Verdun was safe. Still bitter fighting raged right on until the middle of August, centreing chiefly round Thiaumont redoubt which changed hands 16 times, Fleury village, recaptured on August 18th after many attempts, and in the woods south of Vaux where the enemy endeavoured to outflank Souville.

FRENCH COUNTER-OFFENSIVES AND THE CLEARING OF VERDUN

=The French offensive of October 24th 1916.=

In August 1916, the battle of Verdun was a severe check to Germany. It was about to turn into a French victory.

The object was to link up once again the unbroken line of fortresses round Verdun. The time for small attacks aiming at the recapture of a few hundred yards was past. After having first straightened out the salients which the enemy had driven into the French line during June and July, it was only by a complete and simultaneous forward movement that they could make a really useful gain of ground.

To carry the operations to success, Generals Nivelle and Mangin had a powerful artillery force at their command, consisting of 290 field-guns and over 300 heavy guns. Three picked divisions were to form the front attacking line, the 38th (Guyot de Salins) reinforced on the left by the 11th Line Regiment, the 133rd (Passaga), known as "La Gauloise" and the 74th (de Lardemelle). The front line of the enemy consisted of seven divisions.

The French commander intended to win the day not only by the superiority of the troops under his command, but by giving them training and carrying out with precision a new tactical method of attack. The liaison which is so difficult between artillery and infantry was perfectly arranged, following a carefully pre-arranged time-table.

The attacking waves kept just behind a running barrage which slowly lifted forward according to programme.

The attack was made with a double line, and a halt was arranged to allow the units engaged to reorganise.

On October 21st, the artillery preparation started, and was carefully controlled and regulated day by day. On the 23rd a fire broke out in Douaumont fort. On the same day a feint attack gave away the position of new enemy batteries which were at once silenced. This feint deceived the Germans, the Crown Prince being actually deluded into announcing that he had broken up a strong French attack.

The enemy were on their guard; on the 23rd, a German officer taken prisoner said positively: "We shall not capture Verdun any more than you will retake Douaumont".

At 11 a.m. =on the 24th=, in a thick fog, the attack succeeded brilliantly, giving the French the Haudromont quarries, Thiaumont redoubts and farm, Douaumont fort and village (_see page 92_), the northern edge of Caillette wood, right up to Vaux pond, the edge of Fumin wood and Damloup battery. On the 24th and 25th more than 6,000 prisoners were taken and 15 guns. On November 2nd, when they re-entered Vaux fort which the enemy had abandoned, the French were practically on their line of February 25th.

On December 12th, General Nivelle took over supreme command. General Guillaumat took his place in command of the Verdun army.

=The French offensive of December 15th, 1916.=

To completely clear Verdun to the east of the Meuse and give greater freedom to the reconquered forts of Vaux and Douaumont, General Mangin organised a new attack. A great amount of preparatory work was done by the army of Verdun, who constructed about eighteen miles of road including one of logs laid transversely for the artillery, besides more than 6 miles of narrow-gauge railway, together with out-going and incoming trenches, and depots for munitions, bombs and material generally. As soon as these very considerable preparations, often carried out under heavy enemy shell-fire, were finished, the attacking troops took up their positions; the 126th Infantry Division (Muteau), 38th Infantry Division (Guyot de Salins), 37th Infantry Division (Garnier-Duplessis) and 133rd Infantry Division (Passaga), with the 123rd, 128th, 21st and 6th Infantry Divisions as reserves. Two lines of artillery prepared and supported the attack. The six-mile German front from Vacherauville to Bezonvaux was held by 5 divisions in the first line with 4 divisions in reserve.

At 10 a.m., =on December 15th=, when Germany was proposing that France should sue for peace, the attacking waves were launched, protected by a moving curtain of artillery fire. Several of the objectives, including Vacherauville, the first and second lines before Louvemont, were reached in a few minutes at a single bound. The woods and ravines before Douaumont took longer to capture, while Vauche wood was carried at the point of the bayonet. Les Chambrettes and Bezonvaux were taken on the following days. The success was considerable, more than 11,000 prisoners, including 300 officers, 115 guns, several hundred machine-guns and important depots of munitions and material, being captured. The enemy who, in July, had been within a few hundred yards of Souville Fort, was now more than three miles away. In June, the _Frankfort Gazette_, celebrating the German successes at Verdun, declared: "We have clinched our victory and none can take it from us", but on December 18th they had lost all the ground it had taken five months and enormous sacrifices to conquer.

In congratulating the troops General Mangin reminded them that Germany had just invited France to sue for peace, adding that they had been "the true ambassadors of the Republic".

=The French offensive of August 20th 1917.=

For several months Verdun again became almost quiet, the battle area shifting to the Chemin des Dames, Flanders and the Isonzo. General Pétain decided to shatter the enemy on the Verdun front.

The victory of Louvemont-Bezonvaux, while completely clearing Douaumont, had left the observation posts on Talou Hill in the hands of the enemy, who still held, on the left bank, the excellent positions of Hill 304 and Mort-Homme.

These they had had plenty of time to fortify, and the troops were housed in deep tunnels and properly connected up positions. The enemy had noticed the French preparations for this new offensive and had accordingly considerably strengthened their artillery (to nearly 400 batteries) and their fighting effectives (to nine divisions on the Avocourt-Woëvre line, with five in reserve).

On the French side, the ground had been for several months prepared for the battle. Across the battlefield which had been shockingly cut up by fire, roads had been prepared, liaison strengthened and the question of supplies studied for a long while. Artillery preparations included 2,500 guns of all kinds.

In this battle, artillery was to play the most important part. An army corps of 20,000 infantrymen was to be supported by 40,000 artillerymen. Four corps, 13th (Linder), 16th (Corvisart), 15th (de Fontclare), 32nd (Passaga) comprising 8 divisions in the line and 2 in reserve, took part in this offensive.

The artillery bombardment started on August 13th and systematically flattened out the German positions. On August 20th, at dawn, under the eyes of the officers of the new American Army who from various observation posts followed the course of the battle, 8 divisions attacked. Mort-Homme, Oie Hill and Talou Hill were captured, Hill 304 alone remaining in enemy hands. There was a stream of prisoners and munitions, in the tunnels of Mort-Homme over 1,000 men being unable to escape. On the following day Samogneux and Regnéville fell, and a systematic attack led to the capture of Hill 304 on August 24th.

The booty from August 20th to 26th comprised 9,500 prisoners, 39 guns, 100 trench mortars and 242 machine guns.

On the left bank, the French line was advanced as far as the Forges stream.

On the right bank, the enemy unsuccessfully endeavoured, by strong counter-attacks, over a period of nearly two months, to recapture the lost ground.

Verdun was completely cleared and the first French lines were advanced to approximately 7 miles to the north.

Thus in 3 battles, October 24th, December 15th, August 20-21st, the Germans were driven out of all the positions which they had held since the third day of the battle. There was left in their hands only what had formed, in February 1916, the advance line of the French defence, where, during the first two days of the battle, the covering divisions had been sacrificed.

CONCLUSION

The Battle of Verdun was not merely one of the hardest of the War's many battles, it was also one of the most serious checks received by the Germans. The enemy High Command had foreseen neither its amplitude nor its long duration. Whereas, "according to plan", Verdun--"Heart of France"--was speedily to be overpowered by a carefully prepared mass attack, the Germans found themselves involved in a formidable struggle, without being able either to obtain a decisive advantage or keep the relatively small advantages obtained at the beginning of the battle.

The battle did not develop "according to plan", its successive phases being determined by circumstances. The huge reinforcements which the Germans were compelled to call upon bring out very clearly the immensity of the enemy effort.

From February 21st 1916 to February 1st 1917 the Germans made use of fifty-six and a half divisions, i.e. 567 battalions, in front of Verdun. Of these fifty-six and a half divisions, six divisions appeared successively on both banks of the Meuse, eight others being also engaged twice and six three times. In reality, in the course of eleven months, eighty-two and a half German divisions (nearly 1,800,000 men), took part in the attacks on Verdun, which they had expected to crush in a few days with ten to twelve divisions. The contrast between this formidable effort and the meagre results obtained is striking, and is a splendid testimony to the courage and tenacity of the defenders.

This battle, by using up the best troops the Germans could put into the field, had serious strategic results for the enemy.

Hindenburg in his Memoirs states "This battle exhausted our forces like a wound that never heals."

"At Verdun France learnt to know herself", writes L. Gillet in his wonderful book _The Battle of Verdun_.

"The Marne was not enough to show France what she really was. A day of inspiration, a few hours of frenzy, a burst of enthusiasm, a sudden glow of rage and passion with _Marseillaises_ sounding on all sides, the world knew us to be capable of flashes like these. But the world did not know--nor did we ourselves--our own sterling virtue.

"We were the country of improvisation, the country of laughing nonchalance, varied with attacks of fever: we had forgotten our strength of continuity. Thanks to the length of the battle, France was able to measure her reserves of endurance. In this continuous struggle which brought, one after another, men of every village to the same tragic scene, each was inspired with the determination to do at least as well as those who had preceded him. Then, when their turn had come to be relieved, after unheard of ordeals, they read again and again, in the communiqué's, the names of the same hills and awful woods where they had held the line, and learnt that others in their turn kept holding on....

"Instead of a succession of isolated deeds of valour, Verdun was for the whole French Army an heroic exploit in which all shared alike. France bled soldiers from all her wounds. At Verdun she was inspired with something solemn, sacred and unanimous, like the spirit of a religious crusade."

As President Poincaré declared on September 13th 1916, when he handed to the Mayor of Verdun the decorations conferred upon the town by the Allied Nations, it was before the walls of Verdun that "the highest hopes of Imperial Germany were crushed". At Verdun, Germany had sought to achieve an overwhelming spectacular success, and it was there that France had replied quietly but firmly "They shall never pass".

"For centuries to come, in all parts of the world the name of Verdun would continue to ring like a cry of victory and a sound of joy uttered by a people delivered from tyranny."

VERDUN AND THE ARGONNE IN 1918

During the winter 1917-1918 the Verdun-Argonne front remained quiet, but the year 1918 opened with ill omens.

Russia gave in and Rumania, left to struggle alone, was forced to terms.

The Germans reckoned in 1918 to make an end of the Allies. They attacked successively in Picardy, on the Chemin des Dames, in front of Compiègne in Champagne. But whenever these attacks succeeded in driving small salients in the line, the front was at once reunited and the enemy fell short of victory. =On July 18th=, a decisive move was reached when the Allies in their turn took the initiative.

After the counter-attack of July, which drove the Germans from the Marne to the Vesle, the battle shifted to the flanks. Offensive followed offensive with unfailing regularity, first on the left (the Franco-British offensive of August 8th), then in Artois (the offensive of August 20th) and lastly against the whole of the Hindenburg line which the Allies attacked on September 1st.

The Germans were already greatly shaken but Marshal Foch gave them no respite, and to prevent their recovery he redoubled his attacks.

Three simultaneous offensives were envisaged, on the left wing, in Flanders, the combined Belgian, French and British Armies under King Albert; in the centre the 3rd and 4th British Armies and the 1st French Army; on the right wing, in Champagne and in Argonne, the 4th French Army (Gouraud) and the 1st American Army (Pershing).

=The Franco-American offensive of September 26th, 1918.=

As a prelude to taking its place in the line for the great offensive, the American Army had already fought the brilliant action of September 12th-14th which reduced the Saint-Mihiel salient.

=On September 26th=, at the same time as the 4th French Army (General Gouraud) attacked the enemy in Champagne, the American Army under the command of General Pershing, took the offensive between the Argonne and the Meuse.

The artillery preparation was terrific but of short duration, lasting only three hours.

At 5.30 a.m. the Americans furiously assaulted the strong German positions on the left bank of the Meuse and captured the whole line from Avocourt to Forges right away. The artillery, keeping in close support, cleared the stream of Forges during the morning.

The woods which were strongly held were also cleared and by midday the Americans reached the south of Montfaucon.

During the afternoon a stubborn encounter took place on the positions covering Montfaucon, a formidable peak and the most valuable enemy observation post in the neighbourhood of Verdun.

The Americans wisely outflanked the peak on the right and advanced to Septsarges, so that by nightfall Montfaucon was encircled.

=On the 27th and 28th=, the advance was slower and continued westerly in spite of enemy counter-attacks; Montfaucon was captured.

The American spoils included 8,000 prisoners and 100 guns.

=On October 4th=, Pershing launched an attack on his whole army front. But the enemy stiffened their resistance by bringing up numerous reinforcements. On the right bank of the Meuse, the 17th French Army Corps (Claudel) and two American Divisions were then brought into the fray, reaching and quickly passing the famous line from which the Crown Prince, in February 1916, had launched his attack upon Verdun.

=On October 14th= a general attack was launched.

The Germans resisted desperately but could not regain any advantage. Their resources were diminishing and battalions were withdrawn to be hastily reorganised in rear and then put in the line again at once.

Round Grandpré a furious fight raged.

By the end of October the Germans had lost, on the two banks of the Meuse, since September 26th, 20,000 prisoners, 150 guns, 1,000 trench mortars, and 6,000 machine guns.

=November 1st-11th 1918.=

In the North, the Belgians had just cleared their coast-line, and were menacing the enemy by an advance into the very heart of Belgium. The British had occupied Lille and broken down the defences of the Hindenburg Line. Meanwhile, the French, relentlessly driving back the retreating enemy, had entered Laon, after forcing the formidable bastion of the Saint-Gobain Forest.

=On November 1st=, a new offensive was opened up by Gouraud's Army and the 1st American Army, resulting in a gain of several kilometres. The enemy fell back on the great Sedan-Metz highway, the approaches to which they wanted to defend at all cost.

=On November 4th=, the 3rd American Corps reached the Meuse between Mouzon and Stenay.

The Germans withdrew on the right bank.

=On the 8th=, the French entered Sedan and, on the 9th, Mézières.

On the 10th, the enemy was driven back on the extreme right, to the foot of the Meuse Heights and South of Stenay by the 17th French Army Corps.

=On November 11th=, with the threat of a fresh offensive in Lorraine, the Germans surrendered in open country to save themselves from complete destruction.

THE FINAL ALLIED OFFENSIVE FROM JULY 15TH 1918 TO NOVEMBER 2ND, 1918

Nine days before the German capitulation in open country on November 11th 1918.

A VISIT TO THE CITY OF VERDUN

_The motorist coming either from Sainte-Menehould or Bar-le-Duc, via the "Sacred Way" enters Verdun by the Porte de France, and reaches the cathedral by the Rues: Saint-Maur, Chevert, and la Belle-Vierge._

_The tourist coming from the station by the Porte Saint-Paul, reaches the Cathedral by the Rues: Saint-Paul, Saint-Pierre and la Belle-Vierge._

=The Cathedral.=

The tourist, arriving at the Place de la Cathédrale, via the Rue de la Belle-Vierge, finds himself in front of the North Façade (_photo opposite_).

In the middle is the entrance porch; on the right, the Western transept and the towers enclosing the remarkable, square-shaped old Choir, on the left, the Eastern transept and the polygonal apse of the Great Choir with the Roman basement and Gothic buttresses (_photo p. 52_).

In front of the towers and on the right, _in the photograph opposite_, is the entrance to Margueritte College leading to the Bishop's Palace and the Cloister.

On entering the Cathedral by the central porch of the north façade, the old choir is on the right and on the left the great choir.

The old square choir is intersected by the great organ.

In the great choir, notice the elegant panelling of Rococo-style and the ciborium with canopy supported by twisted columns of grey marble.

The numerous side-chapels are 14th, 15th and 16th century.

The most interesting is in the South Aisle, that of the Blessed Sacrament, Radial-Gothic in style (_photo above_).

The door of Margueritte College (_see photo page 51_) leads to the courtyard of the BISHOP'S PALACE (18th century) and thence to the CLOISTER (historical monument of the 13th and 14th centuries, _photos p. 54._)

_From the Bishop's palace, go along the Rue Chatel to the Place Chatel, then down the Rue des Hauts-Fins, and cross the Esplanade_ =to the Citadelle.=