Vauquois is one of the famous spots 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 above all 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 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.
[Illustration: NEAR VAUQUOIS. CAPTURE OF GERMAN TRAIN LOADED WITH RAILS]
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 17, 1915, by the 76th,
31st and 46th Infantry Regiments. This time the operation, which almost
succeeded, was better prepared. The French artillery had improved its
equipment and methods, being now better adapted to stationary warfare.
The artillery preparation with guns of 75, 95, 150, 155 and 270 m.m.
lasted more than twelve hours. The 31st Regiment of the line charged
into Vauquois, and reached the ruins of the church, but, caught by the
fire of the Argonne and Montfaucon batteries, and that of the
machine-guns of Cheppy, it was forced, after heavy losses, to fall back.
Abandoning the plateau, this regiment held on half-way down the hill.
The fourth assault was made on February 28, under further improved
conditions. A plan of the village, of which only the ruins were left,
was issued to the troops. Each company had its precise objectives
assigned to it, and the men were armed, for the first time, with the new
hand-grenades, charged with melinite. The bombardment began at dawn. Big
guns shattered the shelters, and 75’s, hoisted to the top of the
_Mamelon Blanc_, fed by infantry, who carried up the shells on their
backs, fired directly on the village. When the attack began, the band of
the 46th Regiment of the line, stationed at the bottom of the ravine,
played the “Marseillaise.” Within a few minutes a number of the bandsmen
fell killed or wounded, but the survivors sounded the charge, and the
storming waves of the 89th, 76th and 46th Regiments
[Illustration: NEAR VAUQUOIS. GERMAN DEPÔT. CAMOUFLAGED BARBED WIRE
DEFENCES]
dashed forward. Bullets and shells soon silenced the music; of fifteen
bandsmen only five escaped unwounded, but the companies leading the
charge were by this time climbing the slopes of Vauquois. At the
divisional observation-post, General Valdant, who was following the
attack, turning with great emotion to his officers, raised his _képi_,
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, for the fifth time, stormed
the village, carried the German trenches, entered the ruins, and within
half an hour 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
m.m. 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 4, the 76th
regiment of the line took the German trenches west of the church,
reaching the wall of the cemetery, in spite of enemy grenades and mines.
On the 5th a German counter-attack was repulsed and the capture of
Vauquois by the French was definitive. 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.”
[Illustration: VIEW OF THE MINE CRATERS, WHERE VAUQUOIS VILLAGE USED TO
STAND
(_Seen from the crest of Vauquois Ridge.) In the background: Argonne
Forest._] Cazeneuve of the _Opera 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 hand-to-hand struggles, 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
[Illustration: SHELTER ON CREST OF VAUQUOIS RIDGE]
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.
Engagements of this nature took place on April 5, July 26, August 3,
September 4, November 18 and 21, and December 16, 1915, and on January
13 and 16, February 3, and March 24, 1916.
The Battle of Verdun was followed by a period of comparative calm in
this sector, both sides practically abandoning mine warfare. In 1917
there was hardly anything but hand-to-hand fighting, and a few more or
less important raids. Three times during the first three months of 1918,
the French carried out important raids in this region. On March 17
especially, along a front of 1,400 yards, they advanced to a depth of
800 yards into the enemy lines, and brought back about a hundred
prisoners. On September 26, 1918, the first day of the Franco-American
offensive, the outskirts to the north of Vauquois were completely
cleared, while Boureuilles was taken by the Americans.
[Illustration: AUBREVILLE. RUINED BRIDGE AND HOUSES]
The ridge, which rose 390 feet above the Valley of the Aire, and more
than 250 feet above that of the Buanthe, is no longer recognisable, the
bombardments and mine-explosions have shattered, and, so to speak,
decapitated it. The sight is impressive; mine craters have swallowed up
the village; trenches, shelters, barbed-wire are all that remain
(_photos, p._ 58).
The view extends as far as Clermont-en-Argonne.
_After visiting Vauquois, return to and follow G.C. 38._ The original
front lines are soon crossed. Cheppy Wood on the left and Hesse Forest
on the right were cut to pieces by the shells. The ground is covered
with defence-works. _6 km. 500 beyond Varennes the road divides on the
edge of Hesse Forest, G.C. 38 running to the left, towards Avocourt.
Take the right-hand road (I.C. 60), which enters the forest._ Numerous
French military works, and some gun emplacements, may be seen along the
road. _The road to Récicourt, on the left, is soon passed._
_Coming out of the forest I.C. 60 crosses a plateau, then reaches_
=Aubréville= (_14 km. from Varennes_).
[Illustration: CLERMONT-EN-ARGONNE. PANORAMIC VIEW OF COUNTRY LOOKING
TOWARDS VAUQUOIS]
_Cross the railway (l.c.) near the station, then the Couzance River, and
enter the_ ruins of Aubréville (_photo, p. 59_). _At the end of the
village the road forks; keep straight along I.C. 60, which crosses first
the Aire, then the railway (l.c.)._ The =Ridge of Clermont-en-Argonne=
_soon comes into view_.
_The road joins that leading to Neuvilly; cross the bridge over the
railway and enter_ =Clermont=, _coming out at the Place de la Mairie_.