FRANCO-GERMAN OPERATIONS ALONG THE FRONT
We have thus far dealt chiefly with the British operations in the
western front, but it must not be assumed that the French, in the
meantime, were idle. On the contrary, their operations, covering
the far greater territory, were proportionally more important than
those of their allies.
During the winter months artillery duels along the entire Franco-German
front were kept up without intercession. These were varied by assaults
on exposed points which were in many cases repeatedly taken and
lost by the opposing forces.
The French staff applied itself with the utmost vigor to the
accumulation of large stacks of munitions and supplies for the
production of active movements when weather conditions should permit.
For the most part, however, the Franco-German operations were desultory
movements occurring in various portions of the long line. Actions
of the first importance began with the attacks in the St. Mihiel
salient in April, 1915.
On the night of February 6, 1915, Germans exploded three mines
at La Boisselle in front of the houses in the village which the
French occupied, but the attempt of the Germans to advance was
checked after a small amount of ground had been gained. The next
day a counterattack carried out by a French company retook this
ground, and inflicted a loss of 200 men. The French seized a wood
north of Mesnil-les-Hurles on the night of February 7. Here the
Germans had strongly established themselves.
During the first part of February, 1915, the Germans made a series
of assaults on the Marie Therese works in the Argonne. Their force
comprised about a brigade; but the French repulsed all attacks.
Both sides suffered severe losses. On the night of February 9,
there was an infantry engagement at La Fontenelle in the Ban de
Sapt. Two battalions of Germans took part in the action and gained
some ground which the French regained by counterattacks on the
following day.
Actions in the Vosges continued in spite of heavy snow. The French
carried Hill 937, eight hundred meters northwest of the farm of
Sudelle, in the region north of Hartmannsweilerkopf.
About February 9, 1915, there was considerable activity on the part
of the German artillery in Champagne, especially before Rheims.
The city being again bombarded. There was also a lively cannonade
in the region of Lens, around Albert, between the Avre and Oise, in
the neighborhood of Soissons, and at Verneuil, northeast of Vailly.
In Lorraine the Germans, after having pushed back the French main
guard, succeeded in occupying the height of the Xon beacon and
the hamlet of Norroy. The Germans were repulsed by a counterattack
as far as the slopes north of the beacon.
The French on February 18 made some progress in the region of
Boureuilles on Hill No. 263. They also gained a wood south of the
Vois de Cheppy. At the same time French troops took four hundred
meters of trenches north of Malancourt and about as much south
of the Bois de Forges. The Germans made five unsuccessful
counterattacks, near Bolincourt, to retake the trenches which the
French had captured. On the same day, the French recaptured the
village of Norroy. In the Vosges, the French repulsed two infantry
attacks north of Wisembach, in the region of the Col de Bonhomme,
and consolidated their positions, progressing methodically north
and south of the farm of Sudelle. The bombardment of Rheims was
continued during these days. On the heights of the Meuse, at Les
Eparges, three German counterattacks on the trenches which the
French had won on February 17 were stopped by the French artillery
fire.
In the Vosges, between Lusse and Wisembach, in the Bonhomme region,
the Germans, after succeeding in getting a footing on Hill 607,
were dislodged on the morning of February 19, 1915. The French held
their position on the height notwithstanding the violent efforts
to dislodge them. An attack by the Germans on Le Sattel north of
the Sudelle farm was also repulsed.
In the evening of February 19, 1915, the Germans delivered their
fourth counterattack against the trenches which the French took
at Les Eparges, but the French artillery again beat them back.
The Germans were also unsuccessful in a counterattack on Hill 607,
at Sattel, south of the Fecht. They succeeded in gaining a footing
on the eastern spur of Reichsackerkopf.
After having repulsed a sixth counterattack by the Germans at Les
Eparges, the French on February 10, 1915, delivered a fresh attack
which enabled them to enlarge and complete the progress they made
on the day before. They took three machine guns, two trench mortars,
and made two hundred prisoners, among whom were several officers.
They also repulsed a counterattack of the Germans and then took all
of their trenches to the north and east of the wood which had been
captured by the French on the day before. Two other counterattacks
were repulsed, and the French made fresh progress, particularly
to the north of Mesnil, where they captured two machine guns and
one hundred prisoners. The Germans made their seventh unsuccessful
counterattack on Les Eparges on February 21. The French advanced
posts fell back on the main line in Alsace on both banks of the
Fecht; but the main line was strongly held, and the Germans, attacking
in serried and deep formations, suffered heavy losses.
On the Belgian front the French batteries demolished one of the
German heavy guns near Lombaertzyde on February 22, 1915. On the
same day the French artillery dispersed German troops and convoys
between the Lys and the Aisne. The French made progress on the
Souain-Beausejour front, taking a line of trenches and two woods,
and repulsed two particularly violent counterattacks. Many prisoners
were taken by the French in this action. In the Argonne the French
artillery and infantry had the better of the almost continuous
fighting. This was especially true near Fontaine-aux-Charmes and
Marie Therese, as well as at the Bois Bolante.
The bombardment of Rheims continued on February 22, lasting for
a first period of six hours, and a second period of five hours.
One thousand five hundred shells were fired into all quarters of
the town. The cathedral was made a special target and suffered
severely. The interior of the vaulted roof, which had resisted
up to this time, fell. Twenty houses were set on fire and twenty
of the civilian population were killed.
The French captured more trenches in the region of Beause-jour
and held their gains of previous fighting, on February 23, 1915.
Their batteries blew up a German ammunition store to the northwest
of Verdun at Drillancourt, in the region of the Bois de Forges, on
the same day, February 23, 1915, and stopped an attempted German
attack in Alsace from the village of Stossweiler.
There was an action of some importance in the Wood of Malancourt,
on February 26, 1915, when the Germans sprayed the French advanced
trenches with burning liquid. The French troops evacuated them,
the soldiers being severely burned before they could escape. A
counterattack was immediately made. This checked the German advance.
On the same day, in the region of Verdun and on the heights of the
Meuse, the French heavy artillery enveloped with its fire the German
artillery, wrecked some guns, exploded about twenty wagons or depots,
annihilated a detachment, and destroyed an entire encampment.
In Champagne the French on the night of February 26, 1915, captured five
hundred meters of German trenches to the north of Mesnil-les-Hurles.
On February 28, 1915, Rheims was again bombarded and still again on
March 2, 1915. About fifty shells fell on the town. In the Argonne,
on March 2, 1915, in the Bagatelle-Marie Therese sector, there
was mine and infantry fighting in an advanced trench which the
French reoccupied after they had been forced to abandon it. At the
same time in the region of Vauquois, the French made some progress
and held the ground captured in spite of the counterattacks of the
Germans. The French also took some prisoners. In the Vosges, at
La Chapelotte, they captured trenches and gained three hundred
meters of ground.
The bombardment of Rheims was continued on March 4, 1915, and lasted
all day, a shell falling about every three minutes. While the
bombardment was in progress the Germans captured an advanced trench
from the French to the north of Arras, near Notre Dame de Lorette;
but in the Argonne the French made fresh progress in the region of
Vauquois. On the following day, March 5, however, the French made
successful counterattacks in the region of Notre Dame de Lorette.
The Germans lost the advanced positions which they had taken from
the French and held them for two days. At Hartmannsweilerkopf,
in Alsace, the French captured a trench, a small fort, and two
machine guns. They also repulsed a counterattack opposite Uffholz,
and blew up an ammunition store at Cernay. On the same night, the
French drove back the German advanced posts which were trying to
establish themselves on the Sillakerkopf, a spur east of Hohneck.
The French continued to gain ground, on March 7, to the north of
Arras in the region of Notre Dame de Lorette, where their attacks
carried some German trenches. The German losses were considerable.
During this first week in March, 1915, the French carried successively,
to the west of Münster, the two summits of the Little and the Great
Reichaelerkopf. The Germans made two counterattacks starting from
Mühlbach and Stossweiler; but they were unsuccessful. On the right
bank of the Fecht the French captured Imburg, one kilometer southeast
of Sultzern. This success was completed farther to the north by the
capture of Hill 856 to the south of the Hutes Hutles. Finally, at
Hartmannsweilerkopf the French repelled a counterattack delivered
by a German battalion which suffered heavy losses and left numerous
prisoners in the hands of the French.
On March 8, 1915, the French gained two hundred meters on the ridge
northeast of Mesnil which they added to the gains of the previous
day. Here the French carried a German redoubt, took a revolver
gun and three machine guns, and made some prisoners. The Germans
had armored shelters supplied with revolver guns and very deep
subterranean chambers. In the Argonne, between Four-de-Paris and
Bolante, the French delivered an attack which made them masters of
the first line of German trenches of more than two hundred meters
in length.
To the north of Rheims in front of the Bois de Luxembourg, the
Germans attempted, on March 14, to carry one of the French advanced
trenches, but were repulsed. On the same day, between Four-de-Paris
and Bolante in the Argonne, the French gained three hundred meters
of trenches, and took some prisoners. Two counterattacks which
the Germans made were unsuccessful.
In the region of Lombaertzyde on March 15, the French artillery very
effectively bombarded the German works. When the Germans attempted
to recapture the small fort which was taken from them on the night
of March 1 they were repulsed and left fifty dead. The French losses
were small. To the north of Arras, a brilliant attack by the French
infantry enabled them to capture, by a single effort, three lines
of trenches on the spur of Notre Dame de Lorette, and to reach the
edge of the plateau. The French captured one hundred prisoners
including several officers. They also destroyed two machine guns and
blew up an ammunition store. Farther to the south, in the region of
Eeurie-Roclincourt, near the road from Lille, they blew up several
German trenches and prevented their reconstruction. In Champagne
the French made fresh progress. They gained ground in the woods
to the northeast of Souain and to the northwest of Perthes. They
also repulsed two German counterattacks in front of Ridge 196,
northeast of Mesnil, and extended their position in that sector. In
the region of Bagatelle in the Argonne two German counterattacks were
repulsed. The French demolished a blockhouse there, and established
themselves on the site of it. Between Four-de-Paris and Bolante the
Germans attempted two counterattacks which failed. At Vauquois
the French infantry delivered an attack which gave it possession
of the western part of the village. Here they made prisoners. At
the Bois-le-Prêtre, northeast of Pont-à-Mousson, the Germans blew
up with a mine four of the French advanced trenches which were
completely destroyed. The Germans gained a footing there, but the
French retook the first two trenches and a half of the third. Between
the Bois-le-Prêtre and Pont-à-Mousson, in the Haut de Rupt, the
Germans made an attack which was repulsed.
In Champagne, before Hill 196, northeast of Mesnil, on March 19,
1915, the Germans, after violently bombarding the French position,
made an infantry attack which was repulsed with heavy losses.
In the Woevre, in the Bois Mortmore, on March 20, 1915, the French
artillery destroyed a blockhouse and blew up several ammunition
wagons and stores. At La Boisselle, northeast of Albert, the Germans,
after a violent bombardment, attempted a night attack which was
repulsed with large losses.
The Germans bombarded the Cathedral of Soissons again on March
21, 1915, firing twenty-seven shells and causing severe damage to
the structure. On the same day Rheims was bombarded, fifty shells
falling there.
Near Bagatelle the French, on March 22, blew up three mines; and
two companies of their troops stormed a German trench in which
they maintained their position in spite of a strong counterattack.
Five hundred yards, from there, the Germans, after exploding two
mines, and bombarding the French trenches, rushed to an attack on
a front of about two hundred and fifty yards. After some very hot
hand-to-hand fighting the assailants were hurled back in spite of
the arrival of their reenforcements. The French artillery caught
them under its fire as they were falling back, and inflicted very
heavy losses.
The French then retreated some fifteen meters at Vauquois on March
23, 1915, when the Germans sprayed one of their trenches with
inflammable liquid.
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