OTHER ACTIONS ON THE WESTERN FRONT
During the time in which the foregoing actions had been taking
place, there was activity on the part of the Allies and the Germans
in other sections of the great western front. It is true that not
much was accomplished in Alsace in either April or May; for the
fighting in the plains had been for the most part what may be termed
trench warfare. The most important engagement had been the effort
to take and hold Hartmannsweilerkopf, the spur of the Molkenrain
massif, which controls the union of the Thur and the Ill. The top
of this rise of ground, it will be remembered, had been won by
the Germans on January 21,1915; but the heights west of it and
their slopes were in the possession of the French, who desired
to add the spur to their possessions. For this purpose the French
artillery bombarded it on March 25, 1915, and continued their work
on the following day, March 26, 1915, when the Chasseurs stormed
the height, and, after fighting for six hours, gained the top and
captured 400 prisoners. But the Germans had no intention of giving
their opponents such a hold on the control of the valley of the
Ill, so there were many counterattacks.
While the Germans were attempting to retake the summit, the French
were making desperate efforts to drive the Teutons from the eastern
slopes. The Germans were temporarily successful, but their success
was short-lived, for the French retook the top on April 28, 1915.
During the next month, May, both sides made claims of success;
but what each actually possessed was as follows: The French had
the top and all of the western portion; the Germans possessed the
summit ridge, and the east and northeast portions. But, until the
French held the entire mountain, they could make little use of
it in controlling the Ill Valley.
The fighting in the other part of the Vosges had to do principally
with the valley of the Fecht. The stream runs from Schlucht and
Bramont east, and proceeds past Münster and Metzeral. On its right
bank is the railroad from Colmar to Metzeral. The heights in the
upper part of the valley were held by the Chasseurs Alpins; and
they desired to take both towns. Throughout the month of April
the French were fairly successful on both banks of the river. The
spur above Metzeral to the northwest was taken by them. The ridge
between the two valleys was captured by the French on April 17,
1915. The fighting here was continued throughout May, 1915.
The next scene of activity was north, where there was a wooded
plateau between the Moselle and the Meuse. Here the Germans had a
salient which was long and quite narrow. The point of this salient
was at St. Mihiel, the other side of the Meuse. This point was well
protected by the artillery at Camp des Romains, which controlled
the section for ten miles in any direction. To the north of the
salient there was a railroad from Etain to Metz. There was another
line twenty miles to the south. This ran from Metz to Thiaucourt
by the Rupt de Mad. The village of Vigneulles was about in the
center of the narrow part of the salient, and on the road to St.
Mihiel. There was a better road to the south through Apremont. A
strategic railroad had been built from Thiaucourt by Vigneulles
to St. Mihiel, down the Gap of Spada, which is an opening between
the hills of the Meuse Valley. The plateau of Les Eparges is north
of Vigneulles. The plateau is approximately 1,000 feet above the
sea level, and forms the eastern border of the heights of the Meuse.
There was high land on the southern side of the salient, along
which ran the main road from Commercy to Pont-a-Mousson. Within the
salient the land was rough and, to a considerable extent, covered
with wood.
The French did not plan to make an attack on the salient at its
apex. The artillery at Camp des Romains would be too effective. The
French plan was to press in the sides of the salient and finally
control the St. Mihiel communications. The southeastern side of
the salient, at the beginning of April, 1915, extended from St.
Mihiel to Camp des Romains, thence to Bois d'Ailly, Apremont,
Boudonville, Regnieville, and finally to the Moselle, three miles
north of Pont-a-Mousson. The northwestern side was marked by an
imaginary line drawn from Etain in the north past Fresnes, over
the Les Eparges Heights, and thence by Lamorville and Spada to
St. Mihiel. The place of most importance, from a military point
of view, was the Les Eparges plateau, which controlled the greater
part of the northern section of the salient. The taking of this
plateau would naturally be the first step in capturing Vigneulles.
But the Germans had converted Les Eparges into what had the appearance
of being an impregnable fort, when they took it on September 21,
1914. Their trenches lined the slopes, and everything had been
made secure for a possible siege. The French in February and March,
1915, however, had taken the village of Les Eparges and a portion
of the steep side on the northwest. But of necessity they made
progress slowly, because they were in such an exposed position
whenever they sought the top. They had planned an assault for April
5, 1915, and, in a heavy rain, with the slope a great mass of deep
mud, the French gained some territory. This they were unable to hold
when the Germans made a counterattack on the following morning,
April 6, 1915. That night the soldiers of the republic forced their
way up with the bayonet, taking 1,500 yards of trenches, by the
morning of April 7, 1915. Thereupon the Germans brought up
reenforcements, which were rendered useless by the French artillery,
which prevented them from going forward to the battle line. The
German artillery used the same tactics, with the result that the
French reenforcements were kept out of the fight. After the cannons
had completed their work, both sides were apparently willing to
rest for the remainder of the day. But on the morning of April
8, 1915, two regiments of infantry and a battalion of Chasseurs
forced their way to the top, which they took after an hour's hard
fighting. That pushed the Germans back to the eastern slope. Then
the battle was fought on during the remainder of the day, which
found the French, at its close, in possession of all except a little
triangle in the eastern section.
[Illustration: THE FIGHTING IN ALSACE--HARTMANNSWEILERKOPF]
Some idea of the conditions confronting those who attempted the
ascent may be gained when it is learned that fourteen hours were
required by the hardy French troops to go up to relieve their comrades
who gained the top. This relief was not sent until the following
day, April 9, 1915. On that day the Germans in the little triangle
were driven off or slain. One of the sudden and dense fogs of the
region appeared later and made a cover for a German counterattack.
The French were at a disadvantage, but they quickly rallied, and,
the fog suddenly lifting, they employed a bayonet charge with such
good effect that the Germans were driven off with large losses.
The importance of this achievement to the Allies is not likely to
be overestimated. The height of Les Eparges dominated the Woevre
district, and its capture by the French was one of the most heroic
feats of the war. The Germans placed as high a value on the height
for military purposes as the French. They had spent the winter in
adding to what nature had made nearly perfect--the impregnability
of the entire sector. They intrusted its defense, when an attack
seemed likely, only to first-line troops, the Tenth Division of
the Fifth Corps from Posen holding it when the French made their
successful attack. To gain the height it was necessary for the
French to climb the slimy sides, which were swept by machine-gun
fire. The Germans knew the exact range of every square foot of
the slopes. There was no place that offered even a slight shelter
for the attacking force. The weather was at its worst. Yet, in
spite of the many difficulties which seemed insurmountable, the
French soldiers had won the most decisive engagement in this part
of the campaign.
It is true the Teutons occupied the lesser spur of Combres; but
that gave them little or no advantage, for no attack could be made
from it without subjecting the attacking party to a leaden hail from
St. Remy and Les Eparges. But the German salient still remained,
and the French continued their pressure on it. They pushed forward
in the north to Etain, and took the hills on the right bank of the
Orne, which hampered their enemy in his use of the Etain-Conflans
railroad. They closed in on the reentrant of the salient to the
north--Gussainville; and they used the same tactics in regard to
Lamorville, because it dominated the Gap of Spada; and to the north of
it they exerted a pressure on the Bois de la Selouse. The engagements
on the south of the salient were fought desperately. The part of the
top which falls away to the Rupt de Mad was held by the French. That
section is covered with a low wood, which develops into presentable
forests in the region toward the Moselle Valley to the east. The
Teutons had taken every advantage of the ground in constructing
their fortifications, and the French found a hard task before them.
They proceeded against their opponents in the Bois d'Ailly, the Forest
of Apremont, the Bois de Mont-Mare, the village of Regnieville,
and the Bois le Pretre. Though each success was not large, the
entire effort was effective in pushing in the southern side of
the salient. This brought the soldiers of the republic to within
about four miles of Thiaucourt, which, with the control of Les
Eparges, threatened St. Mihiel.
The French heavy artillery shelled the southern front of the trenches
at Metz on May 1, 1915. The great desire to take Alsace and Lorraine,
however, was set aside early in the month. The plight of Russia
at this time made it imperative for the Allies to make a great
movement on the western front to prevent as much as possible the
pressure on the czar's line. Hence the campaign which seemed to
be planned by the French was abandoned for a larger opportunity.
This was the advance of the Tenth Army in the Artois over the plain
of the Scheldt in the direction of Douai and Valenciennes, thereby
threatening the communications of the entire Teuton line from Soissons
to Lille. Hence the French started a vigorous movement against
Lens, while the British sought to take Lille.
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