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 Bois
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 Beausejour 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 Muenster, the two summits of the Little and the Great
Reichaelerkopf. The Germans made two counterattacks starting from
Muehlbach 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
Ecurie-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-Pretre,
northeast of Pont-a-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-Pretre and
Pont-a-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.