It is, however, the duty of the good soldier to derive some advantage
from even the most unpromising conditions, and we were able to turn
the frightful condition of the roads to good account in the following
way. The roads which the French commanded were less numerous and in
even worse condition than our own. As they expended a tremendous amount
of ammunition every day in "drum-fire," as continuous systematic
artillery fire is called in the army, they were forced to bring up
large supplies every night, which was not the case with us. As has been
said before, only the main roads could be traversed by the ammunition
wagons, because the other roads had turned into a sort of morass, and
we therefore trained our long-range guns upon their main roads at
night, knowing that we must be doing damage to them. This circumstance
probably accounted for the unusually long pauses which they allowed to
occur in their "drum-fire" on the ensuing days.
In this way we gained brief periods of respite for our infantry, which
was thus enabled to patch up the badly damaged intrenchments, so that
the French, when they had been supplied with new ammunition, had to
begin all over again.
The continuous rainfall created cruel conditions for the housing of our
troops. As has been said, the few sparse settlements had been literally
shot to pieces, and our troops were therefore forced to construct
their own huts and cave shelters. That such poor quarters, during an
incessant downpour of rain, were bound to have an injurious effect upon
the strength of the troops, is abundantly plain. Nevertheless, our
men never complained. With admirable patience, even good humour, they
endured the greatest privations and hardships which were the result
of the inclement weather and the inadequate quarters, and how great
these privations and hardships were can only be understood by some one
who himself has lived through a rainy Winter in the "louse Champagne"
country. Nevertheless, miraculously, the health of the troops remained
remarkably good.
Originally only the First and the Seventeenth French Army Corps had
been intrenched opposite to our Eighth Army Corps and our Eighth
Reserve Corps. Both of the French army corps had suffered severely
during their continuous attacks around Christmas, in January and the
beginning of February. But they had been reinforced continually.
Before beginning their great drive against our lines the French had
gathered together materially larger forces. To cope with our two army
corps gradually, in addition to the First and the Seventeenth Corps,
two colonial divisions and half a territorial division--all in all
almost seven and a half army corps were massed in a comparatively small
territory.
Furthermore, they had greatly strengthened their artillery. On the
other hand, our two army corps had been strengthened solely by the
addition of individual battalions of the Fifth and Seventh Armies, as
well as by the Sixth Army Corps and the Twelfth Reserve Corps (which at
this time belonged to the Third Army). The Eighth Army Corps comprised
the Bavarian "Landwehr" Brigade and the Hessian "Landwehr" as well.
Then, finally, there was the First Guard Infantry Division, destined to
play a prominent part in this battle.
In this terrific battle sons from every principality and kingdom of the
Fatherland fought shoulder to shoulder, and vied with each other in the
display of courage and endurance. Prussians and Bavarians, Saxons and
Hessians, men from the North and the South, from East and West, stood
side by side, cheek by jowl, forming an impregnable wall against which
the furious, despairing, fanatic attacks of the French were doomed to
futilely spend themselves.
The French fought with marvellous valour, with reckless courage and
nerve, climbing up and on over the bodies of their fallen comrades.
They were excellent fighters, were these Frenchmen. But our men were
better fighters, as the outcome of the battle taught us.
It was, however, not the attacks of their infantry which made this
battle so hideous for us, nor was it the hand-to-hand struggle in
the trenches, man against man, where the German, possessing greater
physical strength, was easily the match of the individual Frenchman.
What made the battle a living hell was the work of the French
artillery, enormous in strength, with huge supplies of ammunition which
was spent lavishly. Life in the trenches became a perpetual nightmare
and stamped as unforgettable heroes the men who went through with it
without flinching.