The following Itinerary is divided into two parts:

1. The right bank of the Meuse, including the forts (Tavannes, Souville, Vaux and Douaumont). See pp.57–87.

2. The left bank of the Meuse, including CumiÈres, Mort-Homme, Hill 304 and Avocourt. See pp.88–111.

1st ITINERARY: THE RIGHT BANK OF THE MEUSE AND THE FORTS

I.—From Verdun to Tavannes Fort

Leave Verdun by the ChaussÉe Gate, cross the Meuse and the fortified enclosure, and take the Rue d’Etain (R.N.18) on the left. Go up the Faubourg PavÉ. This road, used by the relief troops in the Vaux-Douaumont sector, was heavily and continually shelled until Verdun was finally cleared in December, 1916.

At the side of the Municipal Cemetery (on the left) is a Military Cemetery containing more than 5,000 graves (photo, p.58).

Follow N.18 for about six kilometers, then turn to the left into the road leading to Tavannes Fort, situated about a kilometer from the main road.

Tavannes Fort dominates the ground behind the Vaux-Souville line and the Etain-Verdun road. The Germans, in their effort to reach Souville, sought by frequent bombardments to destroy the fort which resisted stubbornly, but on May7th a 17-inch shell destroyed one of the arches and caused serious damage.

Near the fort, on the Verdun-Etain railway, is the long Tavannes Tunnel.

Although the entrances were constantly shelled by enemy artillery, it was used as a shelter for the reserves of the Vaux-Souville sector and as a munitions depot. Bunks were fitted up in three superimposed rows, 300 to 450 feet in length, and separated by spaces, where numerous other troops slept as they could on the ground. Despite the ventilating shafts, the air remained foul, owing to the perspiration of the men and the rudimentary sanitary arrangements. To complete the misery of the men, a grenade depot blew up on the night of September4th, causing many victims.

II.—From Tavannes Fort to Vaux Fort

Return to the road by which the fort was reached (I.C.2) and turn into it on the right. About 300yards further on, at the fork (see photo above), take the right-hand road (the other leads to Souville Fort). On the left is the ravine which precedes the entrance to Tavannes Tunnel. At first the road rises, then dips down to Bourvaux Ravine. (On the right the road to Bourvaux Battery is visible.) The road zig-zags, then scales Hill349, leading to Vaux Fort, after crossing through the woods of La LaufÉe and Chenois, of which only a few broken, branchless trunks remain.

Chenois and LaufÉe Woods and the Damloup Battery.—Before and after the fall of Vaux Fort, these positions were often attacked by the Germans, especially in June, July and September, 1916.

From June2nd to 4th the Damloup battery and its approaches, defended by units of the 142nd and 52nd Line Regiments, repulsed sharp German attacks and prevented the enemy from debouching from Damloup. The defence of the battery lasted till July2nd, the defenders, in constantly diminishing numbers, being attacked and bombarded without intermission. On July3rd a German attack, preceded by an intense bombardment, resulted in the capture at about 1p.m. of the greater part of the battery, but the remnant of a French company held its ground in the southern part of the work. At 3p.m. only fifty men of the company were left; at 8p.m. twenty, but still they hung on until an hour later they were reinforced by another company, which succeeded in crossing the barrage. At twoo’clock next morning the French repulsed the enemy at the point of the bayonet and recaptured the entire battery.

After losing it on July12th, the French retook the battery in a bayonet charge on October24th, while General Lardemelle’s division recaptured Chenois Wood (see p.19).

Vaux Fort.—Built of masonry about the year 1880, afterwards of concrete, and finally of reinforced concrete, the fort was only completed in 1911. Smaller and less powerful than Douaumont Fort, it dominates the plateau to the south of Vaux Ravine and the reverse side of Douaumont Plateau. Therein lies its importance. On March9th Germany announced triumphantly to the world that the VIth and XIXth reserve regiments of Posen had “taken by assault the armoured Fort of Vaux, as well as numerous neighbouring fortifications.”

This communiquÉ was untrue. Two battalions of the XIXth regiment of Posen had in reality gained a footing on Vaux Hill on March 9th, but they were mown down at close range by French fire. As a matter of fact, three months of uninterrupted costly effort were necessary before the Germans were able to enter Vaux Fort.

On March10th and 11th, in four column formation, they attacked the slopes leading to the fort. Literally mowed down, regiment after regiment left heaps of dead and wounded in front of the French wire entanglements; 60percent. of the enemy effectives engaged melted away in these two sanguinary days. After a terrific artillery preparation—five times on March 16th and six times on March18th—they again swarmed up the slopes of the fort only to be thrown back with heavy loss. On April2nd the enemy sustained another check, but during the night of June2nd they reached the northern moat. While, on June4th and 5th, six of their divisions attempted unsuccessfully to outflank the fort on the north by Fumin and on the south by Chenois Wood, the battle continued to rage on the fort itself and in front of the southern side.

From March to June2nd, the fort and its surroundings received no less than 8,000 large calibre shells daily. Only one entrance was left, i.e. the north-west postern, which enemy artillery fire rendered unserviceable. The commander of the fort (Raynal) and his men were imprisoned in the underground chambers of the fort, being no longer able to hold their ground outside. To economise food and water, the surplus contingents were ordered to leave the fort. On the night of the 4th a first detachment made its escape under the direction of Aspirant Buffet, who returned to the fort the next evening with orders. The same night 100 more men managed to get away. Carrier pigeons and optical signals now furnished the only means of communication with the French lines. On the 4th, the last pigeon was released. On the morning of the 5th, thanks to two signalmen who volunteered to change a signal post which the Commandant had difficulty in observing, communications were maintained. The same night the Commandant sent his last message that could be read in its entirety, and which ended: “We have reached the limit, officers and soldiers have done their duty. Long live France!” Nevertheless, the fort continued to hold out and refused to surrender. On the night of the 6th reinforcements tried to relieve it and reached the moat of the counter-scarp, but after losing nearly all their officers they were compelled to fall back. The Germans gained a footing in the ruins of the superstructure, and eventually succeeded in driving the French out of the casemates by lowering baskets of grenades with retarded fuses and by using liquid fire and poison gas. Driven back into the underground passages, the French continued the fight with grenades and bayonets. The 2ndregiment of Zouaves and the Colonial regiment of Morocco made a last effort on the morning of the 8th to relieve the garrison. They reached the approaches of the fort, from which clouds of thick black smoke, caused by a violent explosion in one of the casemates, were pouring. Exposed to the fire of the enemy machine-guns installed in the superstructure of the fort and attacked by constantly increasing reinforcements, they were unable to hold their ground.

When, on the night of June8th, after seven days and nights of continual fighting, the heroic defenders of the fort were at last overpowered, the unwounded among them had not tasted a drop of water for two days.

Five months later (November2nd) the Germans were driven out of the fort, which they hurriedly evacuated (see pp.63–64).

III.—From Vaux Fort to Souville Fort

On leaving Vaux Fort return along the same road to the fork (photo, p.60) and turn to the right. About one kilometer from the fork, on the left, the escarpments of Souville Fort border the road. Go to the fort on foot (about 200 yards from the road).

Souville Fort, which stands as high as that of Douaumont, commands the background of the Douaumont—Vaux line. After taking this line, the enemy, from June15th to 22nd, undertook the destruction of the fort. On the 23rd the entire CIIIrd German Division attacked, but was repulsed with very heavy losses in front of the French second line trenches. The attack was renewed by two divisions on July11th and 12th, but failed to reach the moats of the fort.

After visiting the village return to the cross-roads and take the road on the right to Douaumont, seen on the left half of the above panorama (p.66). The bombardments have left no trace of St. Fine Chapel.

IV.—From Souville Fort to Vaux Village and Pond

After visiting Souville Fort return to the cross-ways at St. Fine Chapel, seen in the above photo.

It was the ruins of this chapel that the enemy reached on July12th, 1916, and that the 2ndregiment of Zouaves, at the order of General Mangin, recaptured in order to relieve Souville Fort.

At the cross-roads, take the I.C.12 on the right to Vaux village. The road dips down into a gorge between the woods of Le Chapitre and Fumin.

Chapitre and Fumin Woods.—To the west and east of the road leading to Vaux village, these two woods cover the flanks of the plateau which dominates Vaux Ravine and supports Vaux Fort. It was there that the Germans sought to outflank the fort on the west to reach Souville, but they were held in check during May. From June, 1916, these woods were subjected to bombardments of incredible intensity. A powerful German attack on June23rd failed, but another on July12th enabled the Germans to get a footing in Fumin Wood. In August and September frequent enemy attacks gave them temporary local gains. On October24th and 25th, and again at the end of the month, French counter-attacks captured the enemy strongholds and cleared the woods completely.

The defence of the “R” outworks by the 101stline regiment was intimately connected with the attacks on Fumin Wood and Vaux Fort. These outworks were at the foot of the slopes of Fumin Wood, about half-way between the village and fort of Vaux. Bombarded by heavy guns on June1st and 2nd, it was unsuccessfully attacked by the enemy at 8p.m. on the evening of the 2nd. Twice on the 3rd and once on the 4th the French, reinforced by a few units, although deprived of water and subjected to machine-gun fire on the flank, repulsed new German attacks. A company of the 298th which, on the night of the 5th, relieved that of the 101st (reduced to 39 men), held out three days more under increasingly difficult conditions, and was only overpowered on the night of the 8th after the capture of the fort of Vaux. These positions were recaptured during the French offensive of October2nd. 1916. The works known as the “Petit DÉpÔt,” “Fulda Boyau,” and “SabliÈre,” bristling with machine-guns and scarcely touched by the French artillery preparation, offered a stubborn resistance, and were only captured by the 74thDivision in the evening after a whole day of exceedingly hard fighting.

Vaux-les-Damloup.—From March8th the Germans sought to enter this village from the Woevre. The 1st battalion of their XIXthregiment of Reserves, believing it to be empty, was well-nigh exterminated. On the 10th, after a nine-hour night bombardment with torpedoes, units of the XVth and XVIIIthC.A. attacked the village. Although numbering more than six to one, it was only after four successive attacks that they gained a footing in the ruins of a block of houses behind the church. Soon after they advanced as far as the ruins of the church. Five times they sought to debouch, but were each time literally mowed down by the fire of the French machine-guns and mountain batteries. After two costly checks on March16th and 18th the Germans again attacked on the evening of the 30th, but it was only three days later and at the cost of very heavy casualties that they were able to take and keep the village.

The road comes to an end at Vaux Pond. The village extended beyond the wooden foot-bridge seen in the photo. No trace of it is left, and the tourist will look in vain for any indication in the desolate waste around him of this erstwhile picturesque and flourishing village. It has literally been wiped out.

Turn the car round 100yards from the pond, at the place where a narrow-gauge rail-track formerly ran (see photo below).

V.—From Vaux Village to Douaumont Fort

After turning the car round at Vaux Pond, return by the same road to the cross-ways at St.Fine Chapel (see pp.66 and 67), continue another fifty yards, then take on the right the road to Douaumont.

About 500 yards farther on is the site of what was the village of Fleury-devant-Douaumont.

From June21st to September30th, 1916, the village was often disputed. After violently bombarding it from June21st to 23rd, four German Alpine regiments carried it, pushing forward to the south of the Fleury-Vaux railway where the French 75’s checked them with very heavy loss. On the 24th–25th the French reoccupied the eastern part of the village. On the 27th two battalions of the French 241stline regiment entered Fleury, but were soon driven out, after which they clung to the southern and western parts. The enemy bombardment of July 9th–10th levelled the village. On the 11th, picked German troops attacked and outflanked it on the south. French counter-attacks succeeded on the following days in driving the Germans back somewhat, 800 prisoners being taken in ten days. On August2nd–3rd the village was reoccupied and 1,350 more prisoners taken. It was lost, then partly retaken on August5th at the point of the bayonet. Two weeks of constant grenade fighting, from hole to hole, by battalions of Alpine Chasseurs from Alsace, carried all that remained of the trenches adjoining the positions “Trois Arbres” and “Montbrison.” On August17th the Moroccan Colonial Regiment finished the conquest of the village with their usual dash.

In the ruins of Fleury, on the right, there is a road which, after passing through Caillette Wood, comes to an end about 400 yards from Douaumont Fort. The latter can be reached from here on foot.

One kilometer after the ruins of Fleury the road divides. Take the right-hand one, the other leads to Bras by the northern slopes of Froide-Terre Hill.

The uphill road follows the ridge, at the end of which is Douaumont Fort, then passes south of Thiaumont Redoubt.

Thiaumont Redoubt, S.W. of Douaumont Fort, dominating Froide-Terre Hill and the Bras road to the W., and the Fleury road to the S., formed the left extremity of the last but one line of resistance which passed in front of Verdun, via the village of Fleury and the forts of Souville and Tavannes. For five months (May–September, 1916), which saw some of the hardest fighting in the battle of Verdun, the Germans wore themselves down against this line. Neither the repeated furious attacks, nor poison gas, nor the incredibly intense bombardments could break the resistance of the French, who clung desperately to their positions.

A little further on the road passes the site of Thiaumont Farm, all traces of which were swept away by the battle.

Thiaumont Farm, captured on June1st, was reconquered on the 2nd. The enemy occupied the ruins on the 9th, after their big attack of the previous day. On the 12th, 13th, 15th and 17th they sustained four serious checks in front of the defences. Exasperated at the French resistance, they deluged the positions and those of Froide-Terre, on the 21st, with poison gas and more than 100,000 shells. At 6 o’clock on the morning of the 23rd five Bavarian regiments attacked, but although they reached the defences of Froide-Terre, they were unable to hold them. However, those of Thiaumont remained in their hands. In a magnificent attack on June30th, and despite enemy cross-fire, the French248th line regiment reoccupied Thiaumont at noon, lost it at fouro’clock, but recaptured it again the next day and kept it until relieved, in spite of furious German counter-attacks. From July4th to 9th Thiaumont was retaken and lost four times by the Germans, but a fifth attack enabled them to hold it. Fighting around the defences was continual during the rest of the month. From August1st to 4th the French 96thline regiment, supported by the 122nd, reconquered Thiaumont and its approaches. From the 4th to the 8th it was defended by the 81st, but on the evening of the 8th, after losing and retaking it, they were driven out by a powerful German attack. Since June23rd Thiaumont had changed hands sixteen times.

From the middle of August the French command changed their tactics. Abandoning the costly direct attacks, the redoubt was gradually encircled. On October 24th Moroccan Colonial troops, Zouaves and Tirailleurs, in a dashing grenade and bayonet attack, recaptured Douaumont, the Farm and Redoubt of Thiaumont and the Dame and neighbouring ravines.

Leave the car at Thiaumont Farm and go on foot to Douaumont Fort, following the temporary narrow-gauge line for about 1,300 yards. These rails follow the old road which was entirely destroyed.

DOUAUMONT FORT

(See photo, p.29.)

This modern stronghold, which the Crown Prince called “the N.E. angular pillar of the permanent fortifications of Verdun,” occupies at Hill388 the culminating point of the hard limestone plateau which forms the region of Verdun. Lying between Bras Ravine (which descends towards the W. and the Meuse) and Vaux or Bazil Ravine (extending towards the E. and the Woevre), the fort dominates the entire region. As the key of the battlefield it was fiercely disputed.

Before the battle of 1916 it was only bombarded twice by the German artillery. Of the 250 shells fired at it early in November, 1914, 170 reached the mark without, however, causing serious damage. The few 8-inch shells received on March29th, 1915, did no damage whatever.

On February25th, 1916, almost at the beginning of the battle, units of the German XXIVth Infantry Regiment (IIIrd Brandenburgers), wearing French Zouave uniforms, surprised and occupied the fort. On the morning of the 26th the French 153rdD.I. (20thC.) counter-attacked fiercely five times, advancing their line beyond the fort and surrounding the enemy on three sides. Thanks, however, to a communicating trench connecting up with their lines, the enemy were able to keep their ground. From the 26th to the 29th they furiously attacked the approaches of the fort without being able to surround it. A redoubt, 200 yards E. of the fort, was alternately lost and recaptured three times on the 26th. From March8th to May19th the fighting continued with varying fortune.

From the 19th to the 22nd French heavy guns bombarded the fort, the explosion of a shell on the 20th causing hundreds of victims. To hamper the enemy Intelligence Service six of their observation balloons were destroyed by a French flying squadron on the morning of the 22nd. At 11.50 the 10thBrigade (5thD.I.) attacked the fort and its approaches. At noon the 129thline regiment occupied the N. and N.W. corners of the fort. The 74thregiment was unable to take the N.E. corner, but the 36th succeeded in capturing all the trenches west of the Fort. During the night and all the next day the enemy intensified their bombardment and increased the number of their counter-attacks, without breaking through the defences of the 10thBrigade, which maintained all its gains until relieved on the night of the 23rd. Exasperated at this check, the Germans, on the 24th, engaged no less than an army corps of reinforcements and retook the fort.

Five months later (October24th) they lost it again after a heavy bombardment and attack, during which a French 16-inch shell pierced the superstructure of the fort and started a fire. A dense fog overhung the fort when, at 11.40a.m., the signal for the attack, directed by General Mangin, was given. When, at about 2.30p.m. the fog lifted, French observers perceived the Moroccan Colonials of the NicolaÏ battalion scaling the ruins of the fort. On arriving there, the latter found units of the 321stline regiment which, operating in liaison on their right, had preceded them and already hoisted the French flag on the ruins of the fort. Two sappers of the 19-2Co. of Engineers slipped into the basement of the fort, and with the aid of four Colonials captured twenty-four German soldiers, four officers, two guns and three machine-guns in one of the counter-scarp shelters. Other enemy soldiers in one of the casemates surrendered, with the German commander of the fort, on the night of the 24th. The next morning the entire fort, together with a great quantity of arms, munitions and foodstuffs, was in the hands of the French. Four enemy counter-attacks on the 26th failed to retake it.

On the night of the 24th a sergeant of the 4thZouaves captured, unaided, a German company and six officers. Returning from revictualling duty, he was taken prisoner by some Germans occupying a shelter near the fort Coolly informing them that Douaumont and Damloup Battery had fallen, he called on them to surrender. The attitude of the sergeant was so convincing that after some hesitation they laid down their arms and were brought into the French lines.

Douaumont was entirely cleared on December15th by the 37thD.I., which fought a hard battle in the woods before the village. Having learned the time of the attack, the Germans were on their guard, but after a furious combat the 2ndTirailleurs drove back the VIth Prussian Grenadiers and crossed Helly Ravine ((photo, p.80).

Hardaumont and Caillette Woods and Douaumont Village may be visited, on foot from the fort of Douaumont.

The plateau E. and S.E. of Douaumont Fort ends in wooded slopes, which overhang Vaux (Basil) Ravine. That furthest to the E. contains Hardaumont Wood, while on the most western slope is Caillette Wood. The Germans who, on March8th and 9th, had taken Hardaumont Redoubt, only entered Caillette Wood on April2nd, after four days’ attacks with asphyxiating gas and liquid fire. Despite a night march of eleven miles, the 74thline regiment (5thD.I.) attacked the enemy vigorously on the morning of April3rd. On April3rd, 4th and 5th the French retook the wood, bit by bit. On the 15th three battalions of the 36thline regiment and units of the 120th threw back the enemy between Caillette and Fausse-CÔte ravines, while on the 19th the 81stBrigade enlarged these gains. From the 24th to the 26th the Germans tried in vain to advance. On June 1st they engaged two and a half divisions before they were able to occupy the greater part of Caillette Wood. Moreover, their success was only temporary, for on October24th the French Division of General Passaga (“La Gauloise”) drove them definitely out of Caillette Wood and partly from that of Hardaumont. Nearly two enemy divisions were put out of action and seventeen field guns, twenty-five heavy guns, including two of long range, and numerous trench mortars were captured. The reconquest of Hardaumont Wood was completed on December15th by the same division which captured “Lorient” and Hardaumont Redoubts.

Douaumont Village, situated below and 500 yards to the W. of the fort, was almost encircled on the evening of February25th, but Zouaves and Tirailleurs extricated it. From the 25th to the 28th the VthGerman D.I. made five furious attacks, but were unable to break down the resistance of the 95thline regiment and units of the 153rdD.I. which were defending the village. On March2nd, after a preliminary bombardment which destroyed the village and isolated the battalion holding it, the CXIIIthGerman D.I., wearing French helmets, attacked at 1.15p.m. on the N. and E. The French machine-gunners soon discovered the trick, however, and mowed them down. After a second bombardment the enemy again attacked, overwhelming the defenders, one company of whom resisted to the last man.

The remains of the French battalion took their stand fifty yards S.W. of the village and prevented the enemy from debouching. On the 3rd two battalions of the 172nd and 174thline regiments retook the village at the point of the bayonet. During the night the Germans counter-attacked twice unsuccessfully with heavy loss, 800 dead being counted in front of one of the French trenches. On the 4th a third and more powerful counter-attack succeeded in driving the French from the village, but broke down against new positions 200 yards to the south. The French were compelled to fall back in May and June, but returned victorious to the ruined village on October24th.

VI.—From Douaumont Fort to Bras and Samogneux

A down-hill road leads direct from Douaumont Village to Thiaumont Farm, where the tourist will take his car again.

Follow the road, which turns to the left and passes through Dame Ravine. On all sides the chaotic waste testifies to the terrible hammering which this region received from the guns (see photo, p.78, and map, p.73).

The tourist leaves Chauffour Wood on his right (photos, p.78).

This wood extends to the north of the road and approaches to within a few hundred yards of Douaumont on the west. The CVth German Infantry was cut to pieces here on the morning of February26th, 1916, and on March2nd the XXIstGerman Division suffered a similar fate there. During a powerful attack around Douaumont on April16th the Germans occupied a small salient S. of the wood, but were soon after partially driven out, while on December17th the wood was entirely cleared of them by the Zouaves and Tirailleurs of the 38thD.I. The enemy’s efforts to retake it and Albain Wood to the S.W. were unsuccessful.

Continue to descend; Haudromont Quarries will be reached shortly afterwards.

Around these positions, which dominate the ravine debouching at the stream near Bras, furious indecisive fighting took place, more especially on March18th, April22nd and May8th, 9th, 10th, 22nd, 26th and 27th, 1916. They were finally taken on October24th by the French11th line regiment.

Fighting was very bitter around the quarries, which form a rough oblong 200 to 300 yards long, fifty to sixty yards wide, visible from afar on account of their white colour. The enemy had cut galleries, casemates and shelters in the chalky soil, the whole forming a redoubtable position. After encircling the quarries, the French captured them with grenades.

At the bottom of the hill, opposite and below Haudromont Quarries, tourists desirous of visiting Helly Ravine (see photo below, and map, map, p.73), which was the scene of terrible fighting during the offensive of December, 1916 (pp.20–21), should turn to the right for about 300yards.

Return to the starting-point and continue straight along the Bras Road.

On the right the tourist comes to the uphill road to Louvemont, which crosses the southern slopes of Poivre Hill. This road is impracticable for carriages beyond Louvemont.

Louvemont and Poivre Hill

At 2.20p.m. on February24th, strong enemy forces debouched between Louvemont and Hill347. During the night the first French reinforcements, belonging to the 20thC.A., repulsed them. On the 25th, the enemy, in dense formation, outflanked the village on the W. and E. They were checked several times by units of the 37thD.I. and artillery fire, but succeeded in entering the village at 3p.m., after having practically levelled it by shell fire.

Zouaves, who were still clinging to the outskirts, ran short of ammunition, but on being reinforced by a battalion of Tirailleurs with 50,000 cartridges, continued with the latter to defend the S.E. approaches of the village until the morrow.

Owing to their heavy losses, the French 37thD.I. was compelled to fall back, but the fire from a hundred 75mm. guns concentrated at Froide-Terre held the Germans in check and prevented their debouching from the village. The French 39thD.I. promptly took up positions in front of the 37th, between Poivre Hill and the Meuse, and barred the road to Bras. Louvemont and its approaches were brilliantly retaken during the French offensive of December15th, 1916. While a brigade of the 126thD.I. captured Hill342 in several rushes, the 4thMoroccan Brigade of the 38thD.I., in a running attack, carried the first and second enemy lines, Louvemont and Hill347, as well as a fortified cavern known as the camp du Henrias, before which one of the victors of Douaumont, Major NicolaÏ, was killed.

On August20th, 1917, four successive lines of trenches were taken by the French 165thD.I., in an attack to the north of Louvemont.

On leaving Louvemont, return by the same way to the Bras Road and take it on the right. Bras village is reached shortly afterwards, where the Itinerary follows the Meuse Valley and N. 64.

Bras.—The Prussians camped here in 1792, during the occupation of Verdun.

In 1916 the Germans could not capture it, although they took Poivre Hill which dominates the village to theN.

After several checks (e.g. February25th and March9th) they occupied Poivre Hill and Vacherauville, but were unable to dislodge the French from the woods to the S.E.

From March, they organised a network of barbed-wire entanglements, concrete galleries, redoubts, shelters, etc., on the hill, converting it into a kind of fortress, but on December15th the village and hill were rushed by the 112thline regiment in three-column formation, covered on the left by a fourth column and supported by auto-cannon. Veritable bastion, overlooking the Beaumont road and flanking the entire German line, the village could only be captured by surprise, and the latter was complete. German officers were taken in their shelters while dressing. The attack had not been expected before noon or later than 2p.m. The village was conquered in ten minutes, and Poivre Hill in seven minutes, in a single rush.

From Bras continue northwards to Vacherauville and Samogneux, where the first German attacks at the beginning of the battle of Verdun took place, (see Itinerary p.57.)

Vacherauville, entirely destroyed, is reached soon afterwards. Leave on the right the road to Beaumont and take, a little further on, that leading to Champneuville, which brings the tourist to the top of Talou Hill, from where the panoramic view on pp.86 and 87 was taken.

Situated in a long bend of the Meuse, Talou Hill gradually slopes down to the water’s edge. On February25th the enemy reached this hill which, caught between the fire from both banks, became equally untenable for the French and Germans, and from February 27th was considered as a neutral zone. It was retaken by the French in their offensive of August20th, 1917, at the same time as the villages of Neuville, Champneuville and Champ.

Samogneux may be reached from Talou Hill, either by continuing, via Champneuville (see outline map, p.87), or by returning to the R.N.64.

Subjected to an infernal shell-fire on February22nd and 23rd Samogneux had to be abandoned by the French on the evening of the latter date. It was retaken by the 126thD.I. on August21st, during the French offensive of August, 1917, i.e. two days in advance of the scheduled date (see p.23).

E. of Samogneux and dominating the road from Vacherauville to Beaumont rises Hill344, which, together with Samogneux and Beaumont, fell into the hands of the enemy in 1916. It was retaken during the French offensive of August20th, 1917, by regiments belonging to the 123rd and 126thD.I. These were almost immediately relieved by the 14thD.I., which for three weeks withstood violent enemy counter-attacks without flinching. On September9th, in particular, it repulsed an attack by several German divisions which had orders to retake Hill344 at all costs.

Return to Bras by the same road.

VII.—From Bras to Verdun

From Bras take N64 towards Verdun. The road winds across the western slopes of Belleville Fort. At the top of the hill, take the road on the left (leaving the down-hill road to Verdun).

The road (IC2) passes by Belleville Fort and along the top of the hill, which formed the last permanent line of resistance, from, N.E. of Verdun to St.Michel Fort.

From St.Michel Fort there is a fine run down St.Michel Hill to Verdun which enter by the Rue d’Elain and ChaussÉe Gate.

including CumiÈres, Oie Hill, Mort-Homme, Montfaucon, Hill 304, and Avocourt (see description, pp.90–111)

I.—From Verdun to Charny

Leave Verdun by the Porte de France; after the railway bridge go straight along G.C.38 (see plan between pp.30–31). Cross the Faubourg de Jardin-Fontaine, then Thierville village. Facing it is MARRE FORT. At the foot of the hill on which the fort stands, turn to the right. Leaving on the left the ruined farm of Willers-les-Moines, the road climbs up the small Hill243, below which is the strongly fortified Charny Redoubt.

On the other side of the level-crossing is Charny. It was at Charny that the Germans crossed the Meuse in 1870. Incidentally, they shot the former notary, M.Violard, under the pretext that he had aided an attack by the francs-tireurs of Verdun. In 1916, the village was frequently bombarded by the enemy, particularly on March31st.

II.—From Charny to CumiÈres

Return to the level crossing, then turn to the right on leaving Charny. The road skirts the northern slopes of the hills on which stands the modern forts of Vacherauville, Marre and Bourrus Woods.

Cross through Marre village, in ruins. Beyond the ruined church follow the right-hand road (photo above) to CumiÈres. Half-way between Marre and CumiÈres are (on the right) the station of Chattancourt, (on the left) the road leading to that village.

Attacked on March14th and destroyed by shell-fire on April25th, CumiÈres was only captured by the Germans on the night of May23rd. Three days later the French retook the eastern portion after a desperate combat. On May29th and 30th, after two days of continual bombardment, they were momentarily driven back towards Chattancourt, but a vigorous counter-attack brought them back to the southern outskirts of the village. Caurettes Wood, to the S.W. of CumiÈres, remained, however, in the enemy’s hands.

On August20th, 1917, CumiÈres village and wood were retaken by a regiment of the LÉgion ÉtrangÈre, who attacked singing the famous popular song “La Madelon.”