United States or Faroe Islands ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
It will be recalled that on April 9, 1916, the crown prince had launched a general attack on the whole front between Avocourt and the Meuse, the capture of Hill 304 being one of his chief objectives. The onslaught, carried out on a huge scale, was a failure, and another attempt made on the 28th also collapsed.
The woods of Montfaucon and Malancourt, where the Germans were strongly established, crown a great island of sand and clay. The southeastern portion of Malancourt Wood forms a sort of promontory known as Avocourt Wood, and was the objective of the next German attack. The main purpose in this operation was to extend their offensive front.
During the night, though strongly opposed by the French, who contested every foot of ground, and despite heavy losses, the Germans penetrated and occupied Avocourt Wood, from which they could not be dislodged. The French were, however, in a position to prevent them from leaving the wood, and every attempt made by the Germans to debouch met with failure.
A glance at the map will perhaps make the position even clearer, for there it will be seen that the French line, running from the west from the River Aisne, passed close to Varennes which was in the hands of the enemy struck north at Avocourt, skirting the foot of hilly ground, and so continuing to Malancourt.
Emboldened by this success, the French on the 29th counterattacked to recover Avocourt Wood, and occupied the southeast corner, which included an important stronghold, the Avocourt Redoubt. The Germans attacked and bombarded throughout the day. Their attempts to regain the captured position in the wood failed, but they secured a foothold on the northern edge of the village of Malancourt.
Never in the history of the world have such enormous masses of military been engaged in battle at one point. "On the forty-mile semicircular firing-line around the French fortress, from the River Meuse above St. Mihiel to Avocourt, the Germans probably have several thousand guns, at least 2,500, in action or reserve. Were each gun fired only once an hour, there would be a shot every second.
Lieutenant V.F., of the Dragon Escadrille, colliding with a comrade's airplane at a height of 3000 meters, had a similar fall onto the Avocourt wood, and was similarly astounded to find himself whole. He had continued maneuvering during the five or six minutes of the descent. "Soon," he wrote, "the trees of the Hesse forest came in sight; in fact, they seemed to approach at a dizzy rate of speed.
For two months the French line had remained fixed on Hill 304 and on Mort Homme. Only the covering line, which extended from the wood of Avocourt to the Meuse along the slopes of Haucourt, the bed of Forges Brook, and the crests north of Cumières, had been broken by the terrific attacks of the enemy.
They succeeded in capturing Avocourt Wood, but in the advance on Hill 304 they were caught between two converging fires and suffered the most appalling losses. According to the figures given by a neutral military critic, Colonel Feyler, between March 20 and 22, 1916, the three regiments of this division lost between 50 and 60 per cent of their number.
On the left bank of the Meuse, on the Verdun front, violent artillery fighting continued the greater part of the night on the same date between Hill 304 and Avocourt Wood. Early in the morning following the Germans attacked on a front of 500 yards at the southeast corner of the wood. The assaults broke down under the devastating French fire and no attempt was made to renew the effort.
Word Of The Day