Part 8

_In Varennes, after crossing the railway, and before reaching the church, turn left for 200 metres, then turn left again along G. C. 38 which goes down to Vauquois. Cross the railway and about 4 kilometres from Varennes, take the road leading right to the new village of Vauquois at the foot of the famous mound._

=VAUQUOIS=

=Vauquois= is one of the famous points of the Argonne battlefield. The Germans took it in September, 1914, during a strong attack on the French 3rd Army, in their efforts to encircle Verdun. The ridge concealed their operations to the north of Varennes, covered the re-victualling of the Argonne front by the Four-de-Paris road, and in addition furnished their artillery with an excellent observation post. The importance of the position caused the Germans to convert it into a veritable fortress. Caves were made in the rock and connected by underground passages. The streets of the village were excavated, so that the vent-holes of the cellars formed loop-holes on a level with a man's head. The walls of the houses and gardens were battlemented, and trenches were dug in the slopes in front of the village. The position was supported and flanked by the guns in the Woods of Cheppy, Montfaucon and Argonne. Approach was the more difficult, in that the position was surrounded on all sides by ravines and glacis, which provided admirable firing positions for the machine-guns.

This formidable position, which, earlier in the war, before the improvement in the French artillery, would have been considered impregnable, was taken by the French 10th Infantry Division (Valdant) after heroic sacrifices. The first assaults especially, made without artillery preparation or support, cost the splendid French Infantry heavy losses.

The first attack was made on October 28, 1914, by two battalions of the 46th Regiment of the line. The French front lines were then on the Mamelon Blanc, facing Vauquois. Two companies debouching from Noir Wood attacked the western slopes of Vauquois, the sections deployed in skirmishing order, without artillery preparation, and without a single big French gun being fired on the village. As the men dashed forward up the slopes, they were shot down by the carefully concealed German riflemen, but continued nevertheless to advance, in spite of the rain of bullets, till an avalanche of big German shells overwhelmed and scattered them. At the end of half an hour almost all of them were out of action.

The second assault was made on the following day (the 29th), after a very short artillery preparation, during which only a few shells were fired, most of which failed to burst. Fresh companies attacked further to the right, near the Cigalerie. The men charged with the bayonet, but as on the previous day, were mown down by the German machine-guns and rifles, and failed, after heavy losses. At night, an attempt to rescue the wounded left on the field was unsuccessful, the enemy firing pitilessly on the stretcher-bearers, in spite of the Red Cross lantern.

The third assault was carried out on February 17th, 1915. The operation went near to success. The artillery preparation with 75's, 155's and 270's lasted more than twelve hours. Before the attack, three mines should have gone up and destroyed the enemy lines. Only one exploded, but not being dug deep enough into the hill, the effect was merely that of a small mine and the stones thrown up fell back for the most part on the starting off trench, killing or wounding 30 men. In spite of the confusion created by the mine, the men climbed the ladders and proceeded to the attack. The band of the 31st Line Regiment, grouped on the Mamelon Blanc, in full view of the enemy, played the _Marseillaise_. In a few minutes several bandsmen fell killed or wounded, but the attacking waves had gone forward and the surviving bandsmen sounded the charge. The colonel of the 31st, who was leading the attack, fell mortally wounded but the companies leading the attack scaled the slopes of Vauquois. The 31st charged into Vauquois and reached the ruins of the church, but caught by the fire of the Argonne and Montfaucon batteries and the machine guns of Cheppy, they were forced after heavy losses to fall back. Abandoning the plateau they held on half-way down the hill.

A fourth attack was carried out on February 28th with no more success. At last, on March 1st, the decisive attack was executed by the 31st, supported by the 46th and the 89th. The preparation was further improved. A plan of the village, of which only the ruins were left, was issued to the troops. Each company had its precise objectives and the men were armed, for the first time, with the new hand-grenades, charged with melanite.

The bombardment began at dawn. Big guns shattered the dug-outs, and 75's hoisted to the top of Mamelon Blanc, and fed by infantry who carried up shells on their backs, fired directly on the village.

The start off was magnificent. Suddenly, a flashing line of bayonets stood erect on the flank of the hill.

The slope was hard to climb. Standing on the parapet a bugler madly sounded the charge until he was laid low by a bullet. At his observation post, General Valdant, who was following the attack, turning with great emotion to his officers, raised his kepi, and said: "Gentlemen, salute!" The fight was stubborn: twice the troops, dashing from one shell-hole to another, reached the plateau, the second time standing firm. The houses were taken one by one, and the church reached. The village had been wiped out--only shell-holes, heaps of stones, bits of walls and shattered cellars remained. Throughout the next day the Germans shelled the defenders, who were armed only with rifles. Outflanked, the French were slowly forced back from shell-hole to shell-hole, fighting all the time, but their line of defence, organised under fire on the edge of the plateau, brought the enemy to a standstill.

At 2 p.m. the French infantry again attacked the village, carried the German trenches, entered the ruins at 2.35 p.m. and drove back the enemy at the point of the bayonet. At 3, 4, 5 and 5.30 p.m., the Germans counter-attacked, but although troops of fourteen different units were successively launched, they could not dislodge the French from the main street. Twice during the night they tried, in vain, to take the church. For four days and nights, under an incessant pounding by high-explosive shells and a rain of bullets, the French troops held on, without supplies, dependent for their food on the rations taken from the dead. The Colonial Infantry, who for a short time relieved the attacking troops, were decimated in a few days. The Germans were already making use of a powerful minenwerfer, to which the French could only reply with hastily-devised mortars roughly made out of 77 mm. shell-cases, and which carried only 100-150 yards. It was an unequal contest. The Germans attacked almost every night, but were repulsed with hand-grenades and rifle fire, sometimes with the bayonet. The position became untenable, and the French had either to retreat or advance. Once more they attacked.

On the afternoon of March 4th, the 76th Line Regiment took the German trenches west of the church, and reached the wall of the cemetery in spite of small mines being blown up under their feet, and the enemy's bombs. On the 5th a German counter-attack was repulsed.

The capture of Vauquois by the French was definite. During the night of the 15th-16th, a fresh German attack was easily repulsed. On the 16th, at the Cigalerie, which during the attacks of February and March had served as a dressing station, Standard-bearer Collignon, of the 46th Regiment of the line, Councillor of State, and former Secretary-General to the Presidency of the Republic, who had voluntarily enlisted at the age of fifty-eight, was killed by the explosion of a shell while trying to rescue a wounded man belonging to the 76th Regiment of the line. Ever since, at Regimental roll-calls, his name follows that of La Tour d'Auvergne, and the reply is made: "Died on the field of honour".

Cazeneuve, of the Opéra Comique, Adjutant of the 46th Regiment of the line, who had volunteered at the age of fifty-four, was also killed at Vauquois by a bomb which shattered his dug-out.

Vauquois for long remained a particularly dangerous sector, the scene of frequent surprise attacks, of mining and counter-mining, and of continuous bombardment. The Germans were not reconciled to the loss of this position, which gave the French an outlook over Varennes and the road which formed a continuation of the light railway which they had built between Montfaucon and Spincourt. On March 22, 1915, near the ruins of the church, they attacked a trench with liquid fire. Mines were exploded almost every month, followed by fighting for possession of the craters.

The battle of Verdun was followed by comparative calm in this sector, both sides practically abandoning mine warfare. In 1917, there was hardly anything except surprise raids or reconnoitring parties. On September 26th 1918, the first day of the Franco-American offensive, the outskirts north of Vauquois were completely cleared and Boureuilles was captured by the Americans.

_After visiting Vauquois, return to and follow_ G. C. 38 _to_ =Varennes= (214 _miles_).

=VARENNES=

_Coming from Vauquois, the lower town is entered, opposite the church. Cross the bridge over the Aire. The Rue de la Basse-Cour brings you to the Place du Marché where you will see, on the right, the ruins of the house in which Louis XVI spent the night before his arrest._

Drouet who had recognised the king at Sainte-Menehould, reached Varennes before him by a short cut. The whole town, aroused by the tocsin, assembled and compelled the king's carriage to stop.

_Ascend to the upper town which is situated on the slope of a hill. On leaving the village turn right along G. C. 38, the road to Vienne-le-Château, which climbs towards the forest of Argonne. At the edge of the plateau look behind for a view of the Aire valley and Vauquois Hill. About 3 kilometres past Varennes, a road leads right to some German dug-outs said to be those of the Crown Prince._

_Return to the Vienne-le-Château road._

One kilometre further and 200 metres beyond the highest point of the road, the Haute-Chevauchée road branches off right and left, an old Roman road running along the central ridge of the Argonne plateau.

_Turn left and drive carefully for the first two kilometres which are in pretty bad repair._

The road passes through Bas-Jardinet Woods, which are full of gun emplacements. On leaving the woods, the road climbs towards Hill 285. On the right and behind this hill are the sectors of Fille-Morte and Courte-Chausse, the scene of struggles as stubborn as those in Grurie Wood.

The Haute-Chevauchée road is the central pivot where the Germans endeavoured, on July 13th 1915, to dent in the French front so as to reach Clermont-en-Argonne and the Sainte-Menehould-Verdun railway.

On July 13th, the 113th Regiment held the sector of Haute-Chevauchée, on their right the 4th held Hill 263, while on the left the 91st were on the plateau of Bolante. After an annihilating fire which completely destroyed these sectors, five regiments of the 16th German Corps broke through the French lines. The Germans, who no longer had any troops to face, believed that they could march unhindered to the south. Already the enemy patrols had reached the cross road of Maison Forestière, 2 kilometres south of Hill 285.

The 82nd and 66th Battalions of chasseurs and the 131st who had just been relieved received warning at their billets and went up into the line under a barrage of enemy fire, by paths marked out with corpses, through ravines full of poison gas. The men, who were exhausted by a whole night's march, hurried forward, gasping and almost suffocated. The order was given to the infantry and chasseurs to counter-attack. The 3rd Battalion of the 131st, led by their commander, swarmed up the steep slope of Bolante plateau. The Germans crouching among the tall ferns endeavoured to withstand them, but they were sharply hustled and did not waste time in turning tail. Bolante plateau and the crest of Fille-Morte were cleared at the point of the bayonet, without artillery support. Further to the right, the 66th Battalion of chasseurs captured Hill 285, while the 82nd, with three battalions in the field, recaptured the crest joining Hills 285 and 263.

The 1st Battalion of the 82nd relieved the battalion of the 4th which was defending the redoubt of Hill 263.

The line was established along Hill 285.

_By going on as far as the cross road at the Maison Forestière, the large cemetery is reached._

_Return to the Varennes-Four-de-Paris road, downhill road skirting the Meurissons ravine._

It was in this wild ravine of the Meurissons spring that the Garibaldian regiment, placed at the disposal of General Gérard, commanding the 2nd Corps, received their baptism of fire. On December 26, 1914, the 2nd Garibaldian Battalion was detailed to take a German trench. The attacking front was limited, about 150 yards, but the position was strongly held and protected by a deep entanglement of barbed wire. After an artillery preparation lasting from midnight until dawn, the Garibaldian companies rushed forward, one behind the other, to make a breach at all costs, but were held up by the uncut wire. At one point an opening was made and a few men got through to the edge of the German trench, only to be killed there. It was during this engagement, which cost the 2nd Battalion 30 dead, 17 missing, and 111 wounded, that Second-Lieutenant Bruno Garibaldi--a grandson of Giuseppe Garibaldi, "the old red bird" whom, in 1870, the Prussian General Werder confidently expected to "catch in his nest" in the Vosges, but failed in the attempt--was killed. Bruno Garibaldi, though in reserve, advanced to the assault with the 2nd Battalion, his sword drawn, his green tunic unfastened, showing the traditional and symbolic red shirt. Wounded in the hand, he went back to the trench to have it dressed, then returned immediately to the fight. Struck by a bullet, he continued to urge his men forward, until another laid him low. Before dying, he embraced a wounded comrade near by, saying "Kiss my brothers for me".

On January 7th, after a half-hearted German attack, which was easily beaten off, rough trenches were dug on the plateau--in view of a possible retreat--by men belonging to the 46th French Regiment of the Line, who worked under heavy fire. General Gouraud, commanding the 10th Infantry Division, who came to examine the position, was wounded in the shoulder by a machine-gun bullet. On the following day a violent German artillery preparation began at dawn. At 7.30 a.m. three regiments of Bavarian chasseurs advanced to the attack. A trench held by men of the 89th Line Regiment was blown up and the Bavarians took the first and second lines held by troops of the 89th and 46th Regiments of the Line, who put up a fierce resistance. On the plateau the 11th Company of the 46th, which held the unfinished supporting trench, stopped the rush of the enemy. The Germans, unwilling to risk a frontal attack, turned the position on the right flank, and finally took the trench, but only after the gallant defenders had fired their last cartridges. The Germans penetrated into the ravine, capturing the regimental headquarters, and wounding the colonel and his staff. The 11th Company, however, still held on. On the crest, the cooks and the sick seized rifles and joined in the fight. At about 9.30 a.m. a blast of trumpets on the right announced the arrival of reinforcements. Units of the French 89th Regiment of the Line and 2nd Garibaldian Battalion charged through the undergrowth. A furious hand-to-hand struggle ensued in the copse-wood, no quarter being given. The French succeeded in saving their comrades of the 46th, and checked the enemy, who eventually evacuated the ravine.

_At Le Four-de-Paris, turn right along G. C. 63 towards La Harazée and Vienne-le-Château._

The road follows the valley of the Biesme, dominated on the right by a series of spurs separated by ravines where flow the streams of Fontaine au Mortier, Fontaine aux Charmes and Fontaine de Madame.

The crests and ravines covered by Grurie Wood were in 1914-1915 the scene of fierce struggles.

Bagatelle--Fontaine-aux-Charmes--Fontaine-Madame--Saint-Hubert-- Marie-Thérèse, all these sectors were made famous by communiqués as the scenes of terrific fights.

_From La Harazée a path leads to Fontaine-aux-Charmes, following the stream which falls into the Biesme at La Harazée and to which it gives its name; another path follows the stream of Fontaine-Madame._

These two streams enclose a plateau broken by ravines along which the French advanced in September and October 1914, seeking to threaten the German lines of communication through the Argonne.

The German troops of Von Mudra decided to reach the valley of the Biesme by penetrating the ravines of Fontaine-aux-Charmes and Fontaine-Mortier towards La Harazée.

In Grurie Wood, the French line was held by regiments and battalions of chasseurs of the 32nd Corps. For over a year a desperate struggle was destined to take place without quarter day and night.

Attacks followed attacks and counter-attacks counter-attacks: every inch of a devastated area was disputed without truce or rest.

Every day saw the same fearful struggle in the depths of the forest: the rival trenches were hardly 30 metres apart, sometimes only 10, protected merely by line of barbed wire which could not be carried far out nor fixed down. Barricades of sandbags were built up in the communicating trenches, which often ran through the enemy lines, to mark the boundary, and, behind these, men kept watch. On each side the temptation was too strong to pay a surprise visit to this "no man's land" and to spring into the opposite trench.

The front trenches were blotted out by aerial torpedoes and mine explosions which completely demolished the frail barricades often made up of human corpses. Then followed hand-to-hand fighting with bayonets and knives.

Among the numerous encounters which all resembled each other, here is the account of one taken from the annals of the 150th Regiment, one of the gallant regiments of the 32nd Corps.

On April 18th, the 2nd Battalion attacked Bagatelle trench which was held by the Germans. Our attack, which started at 2 p.m., was successful and we advanced 80 metres. A German counter-attack straightway robbed us of the fruits of our effort. At 7 p.m. the 2nd Battalion again started the attack but were mown down by machine gun fire. A third attack was launched by the same battalion, only to be thwarted by a counter-attack. Their fourth effort ended at 11 p.m., with a gain of a yard and a half! Commander Grosset of the 1st Battalion was mortally wounded.

From April 25th to 27th the Germans unsuccessfully attacked, the 150th not yielding a single inch of ground.

On the evening of May 1st, at 5 p.m., the 3rd Battalion of the 150th relieved the 2nd Battalion of the 161st. At 5.30 p.m., before the relief was complete, the Germans blew up one of our block-houses by means of a mine and hurled themselves upon our trenches. On the whole front of the 3rd Battalion, the German attack broke out with ferocity, the enemy artillery firing behind our lines and reaching an extreme intensity, so that our companies in the front line were completely cut off. Liaison with the front line became impossible and no reinforcements could be sent up to the units in the first line trenches.