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 Muenster 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.