CHAPTER CCXLI. MALMAISON OCTOBER

THE CHEMIN-DES-DAMES RIDGE- A "P~TAIN BATTLE "-THE FRENCH PLAN-THE CAVES AND QUARRIES-MALMAISC)N FORT-THE GERMAN LINES- OCTOBER 22-26, 1917-ANALYSIS OF THE ATTACK- GENERAL MAISTRE'S VICTORy-THE GERMA-.~ 'VITHDRAWAL-OTHER OPERATIONS ON FRENCH FRONT AUGUST-NOVEMBER, 1917.

HILE, as described in the last Ypres ended, and also the other events on the ch~~ter, General Guillamnat .w~s French front during the same period, excluding, W drIvmg General von Gallwltz's of course, the operations of General Anthoine's anny northwards up both banks of 1st Army which were fully dealt with in the the Meuse towards the original positions held account of the last-named battle. by the Germans on the eve of the First Battle Because the enemy in May, 1918, rapidly of Verdun, General Petain was preparing to recovered the Chemin-des-Dames ridge gained evict the enemy from the western half of the by the French in the preceding year and, as in Chemin - des - Dames ridge. His operations August, 1914, crossed the illsne, it must not culminate<;l in the great victory of Malmaison, be supposed that General Maistre's victory was won by General Maistre in the last week of won to no purpose. It prevented Hindenburg October, 1917, a couple of months or so after and Ludendorff from further reinforcing the General Guillaumat terminated his · offensive Austrians, and thus considerably helped the by the capture of Hill 304. Italian Army; it certainly assisted the com­ The Battle of Malmaison, which synchronised plete surprise effected by Sir Jlllian Byng with the German successes in the Gulf of Riga at the First Battle of Cambrai in Noven.1.ber, and the growth of the Bolshevik conspiracy in 1917. Nor was that all. The heavy German Russia, began on October 23, a day before the losses in killed, wounded and prisoners which opening of the Austro·German offensive, so were inflicted on one of the Crown Prince's disastrous to the Italians, and t,hree days before Armies diminished appreciably the force at Sir Douglas Haig and General Anthoine his disposal till reinforcements arrived from delivered their last considerable a"ttack' in the Russia. Third Battle of Ypres. It finished off success­ ,],he ground, too, secured by General Maistre fully the Battle of Craonne-Reim.s, which had materially increased the difficulties of the commenced on April 16, and proved to be the Germans in their gigantic offensives of 1918. penultimate offensive of the Allies in 1917 Had the Crown Prince retained the western end against the German fortified zone between the of the Chemin-des-Dames ridge, it is more than Jura and the North Sea. probable that his offensive in 1918 would have The present Chapter will relate the events, started not after but simultaneously with the including this Battle of Mahuaison, which advances on Amiens, Albert, Arras, B6thune, happened in the Aisne regio.n from August 19 Hazebrouck, and the Mt. des Cats ridge. It to November 10, when the Third Battle of was the extension of the northern face of the Vo!. XVI.-Part 202 217 218 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. salient Vauxaillon-Craonne-Berry-au-Bac be­ commanders of the Second French Empire. yond the Chemin-des-Dames hog s back up to Like Foch too, but unlike J offre, Nivelle, Mar­ the left bank of the Ailette, the result of the chand, Baratier and so many other distin­ Battle of Malmaison, that seems to have caused guished leaders in the struggle, he had not seen Ludendorff to hold back the Crown Prince's anything of uncivilized warfare outside Europe. group of armi.es until the bulk of the Allied He had haq constantly before him the problem reserves had been shift.ed ,;vest and north of of how Republican France, perhaps without Soissons. Allies, could be enabled to emerge victoriously Finally, it should be noted that, if on the from a struggle with the German Empire. At first sight that problem must have seemed to Petain, as to Foch, difficult to solve. In numbers, prestige, wealth, the Germans were markedly superior. The Kaiser had behind him a population nearly a third greater than that of France. In the last Franco-German War the French had been hopelessly defeated. Since the Pe,ace of Frankfurt the Germans had out­ stripped the French as wealth-producers, and nowhere was science more skilfully applied to the production of material wealth than in Germany. To use the words of Lord Kit­ chener, one who was no alarnust and one who did not err on the side of exaggeration, " never before had any nation been so elaborately organized [as the German] for imposing her will upon the other nations of the world; and her vast resources of military strength were wielded by an autocracy which was .peculiarly adapted for the conduct of war."* But the conditions in France, unlike those in the German Empire, had been spec~al1y framed to [Manuel. GENERAL MAISTRE. subordinate policy to "politics," with the usual Commanded the French army at the unfortlmate consequences from, a military Battle of Malmaison. standpoint. While the German frontiers on first day of his offenf;ive on May 27, 1918, the the west were close to Paris, they were divided Crown Prince had still possessed the we:::;tern from Berlin by a great space, by the Rhine and end of the hog's back, the Allied troops on its by mountainous country. If, n'loreover, as eastern end, and between the ridge and the was only too likely, the enemy violated the Aisne, would have been in the 'utmost danger. neutrality of Luxemburg and Belgium, the That a disaster did not then occur north of the fortifications defending the approach to Paris Aisne may be justly attributed to General from the east would be turned. There would Maistre's victory in October, 1917. be few natural, still fewer artificial, obstacles For the above reasons the Battle of Mal­ in the path of the invader. For the French maison, though it did not result in the perma­ parliamentarians had refused to grant n ent acquisition by the French of the battle­ the money needed to bring up to date the field, should be attentively considered by the permanent fortifications west and north of general reader. To the student of the tactics Verdun, and, with the exception of Maubeuge, evolved during the Great War it is of peculiar there was not at the outbreak of war a single interest, because, like the Fourth Battle of French fortress between Belgium and Paris Verdun, it is one of the finest examples of what capable of resisting the enemy's artillery. may be called a Petain battle. Petain, a brief bio­ Even the forts of Maubeuge itself were far too graphy of whom was given in Vol. XIV. weak and Maubeuge was unable to make a (pp. 65-8), was, like Foch, a Professor of stand of more than three weeks. Strategy and Tactic~ before the war. He was As a typical i!lustration of the neglect of an exact antithesis of the happy-go-lucky * Speech at the Guildhall, July ~ , 1915. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 219 reasonable precautions against an invasion and on the Chemin-des-Dames ridge from from Belgium we may . take Fort de la Mal­ April 16 to August 20, 1917, had been of the maison, after which the battle about to be most d~spera,te and bloody character. In the described was named. comparatively quiet period between May 5, On the Chemin-des-Dames ridge this power­ when the first phase of the Battle of Craonne­ ful fort, one of those of the huge entrenched Reims ended, and August 20 far more German camp designed by General de la Riviere north divisions had been worn away than had been of the Aisne, had been built in 1875 in the the case before Verd"Lffi during the same period northern angle. between the Chemin-des-Dames of the preceding year. The front in both and the Soissons-Laon road. The masonry cases was about 19 miles in length. On May 5, of its casemates had been tested with high 1916, the line in the Verdun region was held explosives in 1887, and foun.d to be an insuffi­ by 12, on May 5, 1917, that 11,orth of the Aisne cient protection. Later reinforced concrete by 14 German divisions. But during the 107 had been applied to them, but in 1913 the fort, clays following May 5 the enemy engaged 25 with its masonry and concrete, had been sold divisions round Verd"Lffi in 1916 and no less to a L aon contractor, who was to use the than 49 divisions on the Chemin-des-Dames materials to hl:tild new barracks in Laon. ridge in 1917. Of the German divisions engaged I t was under such disheartening circum­ on the hog's back none remained there more stances that Petain, Foch, Langlois, Colin and than 12 days, and only one, the 46th R eserve so many other gifted thinkers had approached Division, returned a second time to that sector. the terrible problem, on the finding of a correct From these divisions the French in the period solution of which turned the fate of France and, in question captured 8,552 prisoners, as against as was shortly to be seen, the fate of the civilized the 5,863 prisoners secured ,round Verdtin in human race. the 107 days of the year before. Germans and French alike employed enormous nmnbers of As will have been gathered from Chapters guns, and, as the summit of the ridge was in CCIX., CCXXVII., CCXXXII., the fighting for places less than 200 yards across, the struggle

fFrench offidal phO'ograph. FRENCH IN FORT DE LA MALMAISON AFTER ITS CAPTURE. 202-2 t-!) ot..!)

THE COUNTRY ROUND THE FORT DE LA MALMAISON. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 221

for it by the infantry was mostly conducted in la Malmaison and west of the Pantheon. whirlw:inds of bursting shells. It speaks Two days later, in the night of August 26-7, volumes for the tenacity of the opposing the German artillery again showed great soldieries that it was not till November 2 that activity. This was the prelude to a series of a decision was at last reached and the hog's attacks. One was delivered on the morning back in its entirety was sec1..ITed by the French. of the 27th west of the Soissons-Laon road From August 20 to the opening of the Battle between Moisy Farm (south-east of Vauxaillon) of Malmaison on October 23, although there and Laffaux. East of the road the French was no great battle, there were nUlnerous trenches on both sides of Cerny, as well as on fiercely contested actions on the ~idge. Guil­ both sides of the Hurtebise Monument, were laumat's victory at Verdun on the 20th at assaulted. ROlmd Laffaux region the Germans .once stimulated the Germans to fresh exertions. recovered some ground.

FRENCH ' GUNS ON THE WAY TO THE FRONT. \ In the night of August 20-21 they attacked It was now the turn of the French to take the west of H1..ITtebise Monument and at three offensive. The reader will remember (see different points on the Cerny Plateau, but Chapter CCXXVII.; pp. 199-200) that the were severely repulsed in every case. The next highest point on the ridge (about 650 ft.) was night they violently bombarded the French the spur called the" Hurtebise Finger," where front, and on the morning of the 22nd repeatedly once stood the monument erected to com­ launched strong attacks on the California memorate Napoleon's last victory in 1814. On Plateau above Craonne, between the Hurtebise June 25 the division of General Gaucher had Monument and Ailles, to the south of La stormed the Dragon's Cave beneath it and tem­ Bovelle, to the east of Braye and in the region porarily secured the whole of the surface of the ,of Mennejean Farm. Everywhere they were SplIT. During the severe fighting at the end of beaten off. Needless to say no record of this July and the beginning of August the Germans failure appeared in the German communiques. had failed to recover the Dragon's Cave, but :Severe cannonading of the French positions, had succeeded in working their way back along especially in the Braye-Hurtebise sector, went the summit of the spur almost to the ruins of 'on during the 23rd, and several German raids the Monument. It was decided to throw were unsuccessfully attempted near the cele­ them again over the northern edge of the spur, brated Laffaux Mill, on the road from Soissons an operation which involved an advance of to Laon, and in the Cerny and Aill~s regions. some 380 yards on a front of 1,650 yards. On Sattu'day, August 25, a party of the French The area to be attacked was so plastered with entered the German lines south of Fort de shells that by the evening of Thursday, • 222 . THE Tl111.E8 HISiTORY OF THE WAR.

[French official pho .' ograt h. THE SITE OF THE MILL OF LAFFAUX.

August 30, the strength of each company of renewed his assaults on the Hm'tebise Spm'. the battalion garrisoning it had been reduced Four times on September 3 three waves of to 40 or 50 men. A fresh battalion relieved it Germans vainly endeavom'ed to penetrate the after slUlSet, and it in turn was mauled by the French covering barrage and storm it. Simul­ French artillery throughout the night of the taneously attempts were made to advance 0 ,1 30th-31st and the morning and afternoon of the Ailles P lateau to its west, while to its east, Friday. At 7 p.m. on that day (August 31) on the evening of the next day (September 4) two battalions of French infantry, with a and on the morning of September 5, violent battalion of chasseurs in support, were sent assaults were delivered on the Casemates and forward. A barrage of high explosive and a on the California Plateaux above Craonne. barrage of shrapnel preceded them; similar All were repulsed by gun and machine-gun double barrages guarded both flanks from barrages. From now to September 26 artillery counter-attacks. Over the heads of the infantry duels, varied by occasional German and French flew a squadron of aeroplanes firing with raids, constantly took place between Vauxaillon machine-guns at the enemy, and at the gunners and Craonne. The guns on either side sought of trench-mortars and 'batteries beyond the out the opposing batteries and concentrated crest. In a quarter of an hour the affair was upon them and their mlllition depots. Owing over, except on the extrmue right, where a to the long range of the pieces, villages and nest of machine-gLlls held out till the next chateaux far behind the battle-front were morning. Thrice the enemy counter-attacked frequent.ly struck by shells. Observers in in the night, but was bloodily repulsed. lines of sausage balloons directed the fire of Nearly 200 prisoners were captured, with seven the glllS. These balloons formed targets for machine-guns, and the new positions were shells and quarry for aeroplanes. Against consolidated. In the night of September 1-2 aeroplane attack the observers in the cars the Germans on two occasions again counter­ were protected by other aeroplanes and by attacked ineffectually. On August 31 a anti-aircraft ordnance. On September 26 and French party, north-east of Craonne in the the succeeding day the enemy, after violent plain, wrecked 200 yards of German trench preliminary bombardments, attacked south of south-east of Corbeny. They retm'ned with the Arbre de Cerny and also at the neck joining 12 prisoners. On the same day an enemy the Casemates to the California P lateau. raid south-east of Vauxaillon was repulsed, as N either effort was successful. During the was one in the Cerny region during the night night of October 12-13 Thuringian storming of September 1-2. troops violently attacked between the western Undeterred by his heavy losses, the enemy edge of the "Hurtebise Finger" and the THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE TIV AR. 223

French positions in the plain east of Craonne. It is unnecessary to remind the reader that, North of the Vauclerc Mill they penetrated the owing to the fact that the Chemin-des-Dames first line trenches, but were promptly expelled. ridge was honeycombed with large limestone German detachments trymg to probe between caves and quarrIes, the need for an elaborate the Hurtebise Spur and the south of La artillery preparat ion was p erhaps greater here Royere were also driven back. than anywhere else on the Western front. For centuries stone-cutters had been ' hewing On October 17 the artillery preparation by their way into the bowels of the hog's the French for the Battle of Malmaison began, back, and the sides and the summits of and the next day the German communique ran the plateaux were studded with workin~s as follows: and artificial or natural tunnels in the rock. These receptacles were often 30 or 40 feet FRONT OF THE GERMAN CROWN PRINCJ;;.-North­ east of Soissons the lively fighting activity, which h as below the s1.1l'face of the ground, and many, lasted for d ays past, developed to an artillery battle, like the Dragon's Cave beneath the Hurtebise which, since early yesterday, h as continued with only short intervals from the Ailette region as far as Braye. Finger, were connected with the surface by The batteries of the n eighbouring sectors al80 took p art hidden galleries. Some of them were, however, in the duel. already in the hands of the French, which was The same day (October 18) reconnoitring a distinct advantage to the latter, as the assault­ thrust s were made by French detachments at ing troops could be kept under cover . till the different points between Vauxaillon and Braye­ last moment, just as Allenby's men had ,been en-Laonnais. They destroyed several strong in the caves of Arras before the Battle of points, and r eturned with 100 prisoners taken Arras-Vin1.Y· from four divisions. Thenceforward to the Nevertheless, the majority of.the underground morning of the Battle of Malmaison the chambers and tunnels from the Ailette, north guns o~ b~th sides thundered almost uninter­ of Vauxaillon, to the Chevregny Sp1.1l' on the ruptecUy. Trench-mortars appear to have Chemin-des-Dames ridge, between which points b een largely used by General Maistre. "The the battle was to be fought, were still occupied continuous massed fire of minenwerfer," said the by the enemy. The longest, the Montparnasse German report of October 20, "has transformed Q1.l.arry, near the Soisson-Laon road on the the foremost fighting zone between V auxaillon northern slopes below Fort de la Malmaison, and Braye into a crater field." blocked the way to the village of Ch::\. vignon

ON THE ROAD TO THE FRONT. 224 THE TI111ES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

BRINGING IN THE WOUNDED. at its feet. This quarry had an area of several round Anizy on the north bank of the Ailette. acres; it was two-storeyed and could afford In front, Laon, eight miles away, perched ork shelter to a whole brigade. its strange isolated hill, was seen at the end Above the Montparnasse Quarry, and to its of the valley of the Ardon, which joins the­ north-west on the summit of the wide plateau Ailette north of Chavignon. To the right at the western end of the ridge crossed by the beyond the reservoir, which fed the canalized Soissons-Laon highway, was the rectangular Ailette, was a group of hills crowned by the Fort de la Malmaison, whose history from 1875 village of Monampteuil. East of the reservoir­ to 1913 has been already related. This dis­ the valley of the Upper Ailette up to the spot mantled work lay east of the road. It was where it was crossed by the road from Troyon surrounded by a muddy moat-the water from to Laon was visible. which had been drained off-and its subter­ Fort de la Malmaison rose in the centre of ranean galleries were strongly garrisoned by the plateau. Before it and nearer the French, the enemy, who since September, 1914, had where the ground b egan to slope rapidly towards­ reconstructed it and furnished the environs the Aisne valley, was another huge excavation, and interior with several ferroconcrete machine­ the Bohery Quarry. The German engineers­ gun e~placements. From the · ramparts at the date of the battle we~e still engaged in the G~rmans could watch any French connecting this, the Montparnasse and other­ movements between the Ailette and the subterranean works with the galleries under­ Aisne, or .on the spurs running down to the the Fort. Fortunately, they had not corn­ Aisne from the_hog's back. On the other hand, pleted their scheme when the French attacked. if the French took it, they in their turn would The Montparnasse, Fort de la Malmaison,. have acquired a splendid observation post. and Bohery excavations, like the Fruty Quarry Away on the left to the north-west there was on the edge of the Soissons-Laon road a lTlile­ a clear view over the Ailette along the lower or so east of the Mill of Laffaux, were specimens edge of the west side of the Forest of Coucy, of the nun1.erous subterranean obstacles in the past the village of Brancourt, immediately to way of the troops of General Maisthj. The the right of which rose two groups of hills heaviest siege artillery was required to pierce- THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 225

~he solid roofs of these; and for this purpose, witness of the bombardment on October 21 Petain had provided several batteries of 15-in. reports that one of the 15-in. guns, as recorded ~nd 16-in. guns. These huge weapons fired by the observation aeroplane attached to the very heavy shells with armour-piercing battery, put five shots running into the same points which often enabled them to pene­ hole. The galleries of Fort de la Malmaison trate through the roofs of the tunnels. were completely wrecked, as were the interiors "Where the thickness of the roof was too of some of the caves. The roof of the Mont­ great for the first sh ell to do so, a salvo parnasse quarry resembled from above a slice of shells, falling about the same spot, gradually of Gruyere cheese and, in spite of its extra­ reduced the layer of rock, until it was thin ordinary thickness, at least two 16-in. shells enough to be penetrated. The accuracy of the broke right through to the double gallery beneath French artillerymen was remarkable. An eye- it, causing t errible casualties among the garrison.

l F,e~h official photo~'lIph. ENTRANCE TO THE MON fPARNASSE QUARRY. THE TIJIIIES HISTORY \ OF THE WAR.

Moreover, the ho l ~s . made into the interior of covering the Bohery quarry, the fort, the a grotto- at once b ecam e funnels down which Pantheon, L es Bovettes and La Royere Farm, poured torrents of gas and. many bullet s born it w01md along the sumrnit. of the Malmaison shrapnel shells. p lateau to the Chevregny Spur, below which When , disguised as a simple t01_ITist; ven the Oise-Ailette-Aisn e canal was carried. K luck hefore the war had inspected the caves V\Test of the Ch evregny Spur, the plateau for in the Chemin-des-Dames ridge, h e little which the French were about to contend h ad suspected that they would b e entered in this somew·hat the shape of an oak leaf. All the fashion and by such visitors. villages-Allemant excepted- lay on the lower The caves and ttmnels thus rendered gro"lmd between the spurs striking northwards. tmtenable had been utilized by the enemy as These spm's were five in nmnber. That on the secure hiding places for the reserves, who at extreme left or west ending in the Mt. des the moment of the French attack were to come Singes was not to b El attacked. If the others to. the surface and reinforce the garrisons of were secured, the en emy would have to relin­ the elaborately organized lines nmning from quish the latter. the fiat Ailette valley over the Soissons-Laon Froidmont Farm and the p lateau north of the railway, up the western slopes of the Mt. des Ch evregny Spur were still in t h e hands of the Singes east of Vauxa.illon, and along the s"lmm1.it enemy, and Lrther east, on the hog's back, h e of the p lateau above Laffaux to the m ill of tha t retain ed several posts on the northern edge of name on the Laon-Soissons road. There the the plateau, tog~he r with the villages of GenTIan trenches struck eastwards, below the Courtecon, Cerny and, on the northern slope, Fruty Quarry, crossed 'the road and ascended Ailles. North-east of CraOlme in the p lain to the southern edge of the Malmaison p lateau he had not y et been dislodged from Ch evreux. a.t Mennejean Farm. From the latter spot the The character of the German defences in enemy's front went north-eastwards to a point the sector about to b e assaulted by Gen era l a thousand yards or so south of La Malmaison Maistre's army between the Moisy and L a Farm, which was due west of the fort and a Royere Farms is sufficiently indicated by the little to the right of the Soissons-Laon chaussee. map on page 220. The ground down to the Thence b earing sligh tly to the south -east and Forest s of Pinon and R osay, which oovered

[French o{jic~at I ho.ograplt. ENTRANCE TO SUBTERRANEAN WORKS OF THE FORT DE LA MALMAISON. THE TIMES HISTORY OF 'THE TV AB. 227

I French ofjicia . photograph. THE FOH.T DE LA MALMAISON. most of the uneven plau:i south of the l'narshy had taken every advantage of the irregularities Ailette, comprised nmnerous ravines and was in the ground, which, apart from the caves on 3till in places wooded. The ravines wound round, the sides of the ravines, was peculiarly adapted with their sides facing all points of the compass. for machine-gun tactics. They could not, therefore, be swept from end It will be perceived from the map that the to end by gtmfire. Each offered several German front ]ine on the crest of the Chernin· problems to the French artillery. On the left des-Dames and Laffa;ux ridges consisted of two the Vauxaillon valley ran along most of the or more trenches, and that behind this zone western and eastern slopes of the ridge or there started from the western edge of the plateau above Laffaux. The Mt. des Singes ridge above Pinon another line of entrenclm'lents Spur was to its east, and the Vauxaillon -what the Germans called a R iegelstellung, i.e., Valley, now a ravine, went round it and, support line--stretching eastwards south of the proceeding northwards, joined, west of Pinon, farm and fort of Malmaison to the Pantheon. * the ravine which ClU'ved round the Allemant To the north of the support line the fortified plateau. This ravine on the west was called villages of Pinon and Vaudesson, the Malmaison the Allemant, on the south and east the farm and fort, and, ,below them, the Mont­ Laffaux-Pinon ravine. The Allemant plateau parnasse quarry, Chavignon, and Bruyere, with itself was bisected from south to north by the various 'intermediate organized woods, caves, narrow St. G-uillain ravine. Similar ravir,es and " pill-boxes," formed the German third existed b elow the crest of the Chemin-des­ position. The village fortress of Allemant and Dames ridge. From Vaudesson one descended numerous strong points were between the first northwards to the west of Chavignon. where it and second positions. met the western of the two gullies, at the head On the German right north of Moisy Farm of which was Malmaison Farm. Fort de la the entrenchment.s rOlmd the Mt. des Singes Malmaison was 011 the plateau above the eastern to the bank of the Ailette prevented the French gu~lly. The plateau was divided from the turning the heights in that direction. The Filain and Pargny-Filain region, vvhich the low ground north of the road Pinon-Chavignon Fren~h right was attacking, by a vailey into as far as the Ailette was wooded (Forests of which the eastern or Bois de la Garenne gully * LiteraJ]y "a barring position," intended to >: top opened just south of the eastern h alf of Chavig­ retreat. from t,h e line in front of it, to which we should non. Needless to .say the enemy's engineers give t he name support line. 202-3 228 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

Pinon and Rosay), and the t rees, which h ad forced to evacuate the enorrnously strong not been greatly thinned t here, would afford p osition b et ween the Ailett e and the some cover to the enemy if he evacuat ed the Chevregny Spur. H e probably agreed with a ridges and plateaux. The Oise-Ailet.te-Aisne writer in the Vossische Zeitung of August 20 canal had been drained, and, except so far as that the French, if they attacked, had no chance its bed might be u sed as a trench, could not of success. As it happened, he ordered an be regarded as a serious obstacle. Behind the offensive in the Chevregn_y Spur region to German left, east of the Pantheon, were the commence at 5. 30 a .m. on October 23, that is strongly fortified villages of Pargny-Filain and to say a quarter of an hour after the Fren ch Filain, the southern sides of which were pro­ advance h ad in fact b egun. tected by isolated . earthworks. Should, how - The German Crown Prince h ad placed at von Muller's disposal, on the face of it, an ample number of troops. He had four divisions deployed between the Moisy and La Royere Farms and three on the northern slopes of the heights. Of the three in reserve, the Prussian 5th Guards Division was concentrated round Filain and Pargny-Filain, and the Prussian 2nd Guards Division on its right supported the 13th and 43rd German Divisions defending the sector between Malmaison and La Royere Farms. During the fighting von MUller was reinforced by th~ 6th German Division, brought frOTn Galicia to Anizy, and by elements of some four other divisions. Yet, like a prudent comn~ander, he had taken precautions against the possibility of defeat. It was reported by French airmen that fruit trees and farms in [French official photograph. the Ailette valley were being destroyed, THE CHURCH OF VAUDESSON. and that batteries were accumulated on ever, they and Chavignon be lost, it was un­ the high ground about Monampteuil with probable that the Germans would be able to the object of enfilading the French if they maintain themselves for long anywhere on the succeeded in carrying the western end of the southern slopes of the hog's back east of the Chemin-des-Dames ridge and descended to­ Chevregny Spur. Attacked in front and flank, wards the Ailette. they would have to put the Ailette between The army of General Maistre, which was to them and the French. But, if the ·French perform for Petain the very difficult operation succeeded in throwing them across the Ailette, of dislodging von MUller's divisions from the the former would not, it must be remembered, caverned smnrnits and northern slopes of the be able to pursue the Germans up the valley four fortified spurs to be reduced, formed one of the Ardon to Laon. The German guns on of the group of armies ranged between the the Anizy hills and in the Forest of Co:ucy and British line and the group commanded by those on the Monampteuil heights enfiladed General Fayolle, which latter included the the mouth of that corridor; at its northern army of General Guilla-umat in the Verdun end were the enemy's batteries on or behind region. General Maistre's immediate superior the long L9.on hill. For General Maistre was General Franchet d'Esperey. It will be immediately to advance up the valley would recollected that the latter, after the super­ be to court a disaster of the Balaclava type on session of Lanrezac consequent on the defeat a great scale. The ground on the borders of of the French at the Battle of Charleroi the canal was marshy, and a rapid pursuit over (August, 1914), hacl been placed at the head of it was out of the question. the 5th Army, which at the Battle of the Marne From the large number of prisoners taken had been on the right of the British under Lord by General Maistre it is unlikely that his (then Sir John) French. opponent, General von MUller, in the days D'Esporey had there won a victory over the preceding the battle thought he would be enemy on the classic grolmd of Montmirail and I THE TIMES HIS TORY OF THE WAR. 229

Champaubel'{" I n. the subsequent Battle of Marjoulet . T o it were at tached some of the the Aisn e he had had ample occasion t o study Fren ch t anks, which h ad b een considerably t he Chemin-des-Dames ridge, for his tr oops lmproved lIt their structure timce Aprll 16 had crossed the river side by side with the when first they had been employed-then British an d had fought on the s outhern slop es not too su ccessfully- in the pla in b et ween of t he hog's back east of Troyon. H e had Cra onne an d B erry-au-Bac. * Considering t h e failed t o st orm Craonne and the Craonne end st eepness of the SplU'S and t h e crat ered slU'fa ce of t he ridge, but he had preserved the bridge­ of the grolmd, it was an audacious idea to u se heads over the Aisne on the north bank during on October 23, the artillen:e d'assaut as the 1914, 191 5 and 1916 and, as commander of one Fren ch called the n ew weapon. After the of t he group of arm ies which had furnished Battle of the Somme, wher e t anks had pre­ the forces for Nivelle's offensive in April, 1917, matm'ely r eceived a b aptism of fire, the enem y he had had to p ay p articular attention to the had organized special anti-tank batteries t o tactical problems connected with the n atural deal with them. Notwithstanding these barrier between the Aisne and the plain at arrangem ents, they materially contributed to Laon. the victory. General Maistre was, therefore, aided by an The French 14th Corps formed the left wing -expert in the topography of the region where of General Maistre's Army. It was deployed he was to deliver b attle. .The share of Franchet on both sides of the Soissons-Laon road, from d 'E sperey in his plans has not yet b een disclosed, in front of Moisy Farm to in fr ont of the but we m ay be sure that he did not minimize Mennejean Farm. Since May 5, when the t he difficulties to be encountered. £1'ench had stormed Laffaux Mill, the Chateau FOl.U' corps d 'armee-the 14th, 21st, and de la Motte and the Fruty and the Allemant 11 t h , with det achments of the 39th Corps, quarries, the Germans by a series of minor which was providing garrisons for the trenches operations had thrust them back, and our and stron g points on the heights east of L a Ruyere F arm, were lmder the direction of * In some accounts the tota l number of t anks em­ General Maistre. ployed is given as seventy-one ; but there is n o definite information as t o h ow t hey were distributed. Most The 14th Corps was commanded by General probably each a rmy corps h ad a prop ortion told off to it.

[French official pho'ogra: h. BETWEEN ALLEMANT AND PINON. 230 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

Allies were starting from , practically, the sam e Singes spur would be turned on the eas t, the line as they had held at dawn on the last Malmaison spur on the west. m.entioned day. General Maistre's centre was composed of On October 23 General Marjoulet was ordered the 21st Corps led by Gener al Degoutte, whose t o regain Moisy farm, the rnill of Laffaux and task wa.s no easy one. While on May 5 the Mennejean farm and to carry the first German French had penetrated to the outskirts of ]X>sition, which included the Fruty quarry. Allemant, they had utterly failed to carry This involved the taking of the ridge above the complicated zone of defences from thE' Laffaux from Moisy farm to the neck of grolmd south of Mennejean farm to the south of which attaches it to the Malmaison plateau. the Bohery quarry . On October 23 D e goutte'~ He was then, keeping on his left the ravines two divisions, the 13th and 43rd, which included between which lies the !': plU' of the Mont des several battalions of chasseurs, were, by a Singes and seizing the strong point VaUee singular coincidence, opposed by t he German

GENERAL FRANCHET D'ESPEREY EXAMINING A CAPTURED GERMAN AEROPLANE.

Guerbette below the tip of the spur, to surround 13th and 43rd Divisions and by a portion of and storm the Chateau de la Motte and descend the Prussian 2nd Guard Division. While into the ravine of Allemant, capture the quarry Marjoulet was mast ering the Allemant f' pur, and ruin of Allemant and the Allemant,plateau, it was Degoutte's business t o drive the enemy with other strong points b etween the first and from his labyrinthine defences on the south­ the second position of the enemy. western end of the Malmaison plat eau, and After the capture of Allem ant, Marjoulet's from the Bois des Go bineaux on the sides of left was to halt between Vall ee Guerbette the ravine between it and the Allemant spur. and a. point 600 yards or so north of Allemant. Having se.cured both sides of the Soissons­ Finally pivoting on Allemant, the right of Laon road from the Fruty quarry to the point MarjouJet was to assault that portion of whe}!:e the Chemin-des-Dames branches off the Riegelstellung line known as the Giraffe eastward from it, D egoutte , was to ,storm and Lizard trenches. On the extreme right the Malmaison farm and t he Lady Tren ch his troops were to stop on the high ground west (Tranchee d e la Dame) b et ween it and F ort of Vaudesson . Assuming success, the Mt . des de la Malmaison. His left and right were then THE TIMES HISTORY OF 'THE W Ali. 2;::$1

to descend on his ultimate objectives, the village had recently added to its laurels by exhibiting of Vaudesson, the Bois de la Belle Croix, the desperate courage in the struggle for the vast Montparnasse quarry, the western half "Hurtebise Finger." It was joined to the of the village of Chavignon and, to its west, the 43rd Division of Degoutte's Corps, and its Bois des Hoinets, which was practically the principal objectives were the great Bohery quarry, Fort de la Malmaison, the Orme farm on the plateau north of the fort and east of the Montparnasse quarry, the Bois de la Garenne in the ravine to its west, Many farm (east of the road from Pargny-Filain to Chavignon and due east of the northern end of the Garenne wood), finally, the eastern half of the village of Chavignon. With the 43rd Division, it was to secure the northern end of the MalmaiFlon plateau and the slopes and the ravines descend­ ing from it to Chavignon. On the right of Guyot-de-Salins the Alpine

FRENCH TANK ON THE CHEMIN­ DES-DAMES.

northern continuation of the Bois de la Belle Croix. It will be observed that, according to this plan, the centre of General Maistre's army was to advance beyond the left wing. The con­ figuration of the ground explains why that could be done without danger . . 'West of Vaudesson and the elm above it, the deep ravine which begins north of the mill of Laffaux and ends east of Pinon would safeguard Degoutte's left wing from counter-attacks. This ravine would be commanded on the west by MarjoU!let's troops when they had gained the Giraffe trench. General Maistre's right wing wa;s formed by the 11th Corps, commanded by General de .\1aud'huy. TIlls Breton soldier had greatly distinguished himself at the outset of the war, having directed the army which had fought the Battle of Arras and saved that town from the enemy. Subsequently he had served under General Dubail in Alsace. He :vas consequently an officer well acquainted with fighting in llllly counti'y. Of his two divisions one (the 38th) under Gener'11 Guyot de Salins consisted of African troops-Tirailleurs, Moroccans, and Zouaves : the other under General Brissaud-Desmaillet was corn posed of AI pine Chasseurs. Guyot de Salins's Division had won Eenown at Verdlill by recapturing Fort Douamllont and A GERMAN DUG-OUT. 2'32 THE TIMES HISTORY OF 'THE WAR.

Chasseura of Gen eral Brissaud-Desm aillet- garrisons had b efore the bombardment been 1?rolonged in the direction of the Chevregny in security; since it commenced they had spm' by troops of the 39th Corps (Gen eral lived lives of constant danger. Ceaseless D eligny)-had, p erhaps, the m ost difficult part expl ~sions above , their heads warned them to play in the battle. Opposed to them was that at any moment shells might enter and the Prussian 5th Guard Division. Their duty explode in their subterranean abodes. The was t o expel these picked troops from the concussion from projectiles exploding at the celebrated. Pantheon farm, now redueed to a mouths of the caverns brought down detached very dam ~ge d state, also from the quarry of fragm.ents of rock from sides and roof and that name and from the Orage quarry to its fillod t.hem with an atmosphere of dust difficult east. to see through or to breathe. Uneasily . the All these strong points were on the eastern garrisons from time to ti!lle shifted their end of the Malmaison plateau. Behind them, quarters, but so enormous was the volume of also on the plateau, were two lines of trenches, projectiles discharged by the French batteries the more northern of which, the Fanion Trench, that it was seldom that they could find any was the termination on the east of the second spot unhammered by their enemy's guns. At. German lines of defence. Beyond the Fanion last most of them seem to have become resigned trench, a little below the crest and in the to their fate. direction of Pargny-Filian was another, the This feeling of impotence, of acquiescence in Lutzen trench, shaped like a bent pin. the inevitable" thus engendered among the In addition the Alpine Chasseurs and the Germans was augmented by two circumstances. troops detached by General Deligny were Their own artillery on the ridge, which sholud expected to drive the enemy from part of the haVf~ helped to subdue or lessen t·he fire of the neck joining the Malmaison plateau to the French, soon ceased to reply. Thanks to the Chevregny Spur, to expel him from the ruined barraging of the roads leading from. the Laon water-tower of Les Bovettes and, working down region across the Ailette to the hog'S back, it t.he ravine on the east side of the northern end was impossible for the en~my to supply his of the Malmaison plateau, and down the batteries with fresh munitions. Many when Bovettes ravine leading to Pargny-Filain, to taken had none; others had plenty of cart­ storm the trench to its north and the village ridges but no shells, the waggons with the of that name and, also, the Bois de Veau in charges having got through the barrage, while the depression between Fort de la Malmaison those with the sheHs had been d.estroyed or and Pargny-Filain. ;In the course' of their stopped on the way. Even the 8-in. naval progress they wOlud have to negotiate the guns-near Pinon and behind the ridge-with subterranean quarries near Les Bovet.tes and which guns the Germans had shelled Soissons, t·he Tonnerre quarry to its north, lower -lown. were discovered by their captors to be without Seeing that when they crossed the crest they ammunition. would come under the fire of the German The second cause for depression among the batteries on the Montampteuil Heights, and men garrisoning the caves was that they and that the enemy garrisons were of the finest their comrades in the trenches and" pill-boxes" qdality, it is obvious that the enterprise which above them were isolated and deluged with tp.ey were undertaking was difficult in the gas shells to an extent never hitherto expe­ epdreme. Happily, if they failed in the ravines rienced. The roads and paths by which food, ~nd round Pargny-Filain, such failure would not, cartridges and grenades could be brought up rlecessarily, oblige Guyot de ~alins's Division to them, or down which the wounded and with Degoutte's Corps to its west to retire shell-shocked could reach t.he rear, had been from Chavignon and Vaudesson, should they rendered impassable by curtains of shrapnel I reach those villages. Just as Degoutte's left shell, while from October 20 to October 23 the was safeguarded by a' steep ravine, so was Ailette Valley and the sides and summits of Guyot de Sali.ns's right. the spurs projecting into it from the ridge lay As has been said, the success of General under a thick and almost unbroken cloud of i Maistre depended mainly on the French artillery. gas. During that long time it was hardly Some of the results obtained by his gunners III possible for the gunners to remove their gas­ the six days and nights preceding the battle m asks in order to drink or eat. have already been described. The German This m ethod of attack naturally lowered' THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 233 greatly the moral of von Muller's troops, and before and since the war of money, time and the stoppage of munitions to the German labour on this once heautiful but now forbidding batteries on the slopes and summit of the spot. Almost everywhere else on the seven Chemin-des-Dames ridge produced a peculiar miles or so of the German front the same result. Usually-such was the importance of scenes were to be witnessed. Save for the artillery in the present war-there were on an quarries, the caverns and the thick-walled average 19 shell wounds to one bullet wound concrete "pill-boxes," which had survived among infantry exposed to fire in the attack. * the bombardment, the enemy would seem to But in the fighting between October 23 and have been, as it were, blown back to the Ailette October 26 the proportion was found among by the guns alone. the French to be not 19 but 3 to 1. For every But not every concreted machine-gun em­ Frenchman wo~ded by a bullet, there were placement had been pulverized. In the winding but three wounded by shells. ravines and folds of ground many had escaped

[French official photograph. TROUBLE WITH THE MUD.

So far as guns could WIll a victory, the the notice of French aeroplane and sausage­ French artillery had won it by t,he evening balloon observers. Nor were the entrances and of Monday October 22. Not even the artillery exits of all the caverns accurately known by preparation for the Fourth Battle of Verdun General Maistre and his gunners. The splendid had been more catastrophic in its effects. French large-scale maps made before the Every tree, for instance, near or on the Mal­ outbreak of the war bad, of course, indicated maison plateau had been smashed to bits. their positions, but the enemy, since the end The plateau had become a huge, fiat, dreary of August, 1914, had been in possession of this expanse of monotonous brown mud, blown sector of the Chemin-des-Dames ridge and, into craters. A few twisted shreds of broken with the slave-lab01.1I' under his control, had wire, a snag here and there of concrete, and the been able to enlarge the cavern8 and create new broken, ragged ramparts of the fort were all lateral and horizontal openings into them. that could be shown for the vast expenditure The limestone was easy to work with modern m echanical appliances, and in three years * Tn t h e Franco-German War of 1870-1 it was almost much had been accomplished. It 18. not, exactly the rev erse. The guns then h ad a moral rather than a m at erial effect on the en emy. It was the rifle therefore, astonishing that many of the caverns which killed and wounded; over 90 p er cent. of t he were sti1l intact. On October 23 these were casu alties b eing due to it. Yet in the intervening p eriod to be the scene of many bloody hand-to-hand t h e m achine -gun h ad come into b eing, which fa ct r enders t h e a b ove fi gures still more r emarka ble . combats. 234 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

For the last two days of the bombardment weather remained dry, though dim and chilly. the visibility had been bad. The night of Then for three hours heavy rain fell, followed October 22-23 was mistily black wherever it by a burst of bright autumnal sunshine. was not ablaze with the flashes from the As the night gradu ally passed into the faint, French guns or rent by the vivid explosions luminous haze'! preceding daybreak, the bom­ of the shells. A few of the German batteries bardment increased to an annihilating intensity. replied intermittently to the continuous down­ Through the air thousands of express trains pour of projectiles. Those of them which still seemed to be tearing northwards on invisible possessed ammunition, as a rule, reserved it for lines. These were the giant shells, the roaring the coming assalllt. Had ti~ey not done so, their rush of which was easily distinguished from the

THE CHATEAU OF PINON AND A GERMAN SHORT 150 MM. GUN LEFT BY THE ENEMY. new emplacements- the guns were shifted throb of the aeroplanes accompanying . them from day to day-would have b een spotted, higher up. The summits of the spurs, bathed . drenched with gas or destroyed by high ex­ in a sea of fire, appeared to be h eaving heaven­ plosive. On the French s:de the line of glllS wards their muddy soil and rocks. close to the enemy's positions was also silent. It was still quite dark at 5.15 a .m. when the These guns had been secretly brought up in chatter of the 75 mm. guns announced that order that when the Germans had b een dis ­ the creeping barrage was ascending to the lodged from the heights there should be no crests, and the answering rockets of the enemy delay in pursuing them with further barrages. shot up into the upper air and discharged Between the ad vanced batteries the French cascades of coloured stars giving the inforrnation infantry moved slowly forward up the southern that the attack was beginning and that help slopes of the spurs bound for the front line was needed. Until the sun r ose, t he only light trenches. Just before dawn a wind sprang was that of the exploding shells which to some up and began to disperse the mist. As it extent illuminated the scene and showed up turned out, this was the beginning not of a the progress of the battle. clear but a showery day. Up to, howev~r, the Through a prompt but thin barrage frai'n the early forenoon of Tuesday, October 23, the enemy's guns, the French infantry pressed THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 235

onward up the slopes and into the ravines to Marjoulet's right was, therefore, securely their objectives. The 14th Co~ps, under General protected, for the MaLnaison farm was on a Marjoulet, on the left, and the 21 st Corps, level wit.h Allemant. under General Degoutte, in the centrE), went Masking the Fruty quarry, Marjoulet at against the two faces of the obtuse Laffaux 6.15 a .m. ordered his troops to descend into salient. General de Maud'huy's 11th Corps the ravines, storm the Mt. de Laffaux, encircle and the troops of General Deligny to his right Allemant and seize the southern end of the were engaged in a p arallel hattle with the plateau of that name. This _programme wa~ enemy. Until Degoutte's Inen r eached the carried out, though not without some hitches. Chemin-des-Dames, de Maud'huy could expect The Mt. de Laffaux, a few hundred yards south no help on hi.s left flank. Marj 0111et and of Allemant and commanding both ravines, Degoutte, on the other hand, were from the was desperately defended by the enemy against outset able to render one another support. details of the 7 5th Regin~ent, part of which The deep and steep Laffaux-Pinon ravine was still bombing and hayoneting the garrison which separates the Mont des Singes from the of the Fruty quarry. Round the Chateau de la Allemant plateau, moreover, increased the Motte and north of it, round the strong point difficulties of the enemy in the salient. The Vallee Guerbette-jnst below the eastern end garrisons of the southern face were fighting with of the Mt. des Singes plateau-there was, also, their backs to it; those in the trenches and severe fighting. In and about the ruins of " pill-boxes" of the west ern face, unless they Allemant itself several machine-gun emplace­ '3hould previously succeed in escaping down the ments held up the advance. Before 9 a.m., " Allemant gorge and plateau to Pinon, or in however, the French 30th Regin~ent had worked taking refuge on the Mt. des Singes spur, ran a its way on to the plateau north of Allemant. distinct danger of being swept eastwards into The 75th Regiment, which had by no~ reduced the Laffaux-Pinon ravine. the Fruty quarry and stormed the Mont de Punctually at 5.15 a ,m. Marjoulet set his Laffaux, assaulted the village from the South. troops and tanks in motion. His left q"uickly One by one the strong points in it were carried. expelled the Germans from Moisy farm, and Between Allemant and the Laffaux-Pinon from the so long disputed mill of Laffaux, ravine was another wooded gully called the which was at the tip of the salient. The Bois de St. Guillain, after the farm of that name intermediate trenches and "pill-boxes" on to its east. Here the 140th Regiment soon the Sun~Illlt of the :Laffaux ridge were also after 9.15 a.m. was stopped by nests of machine­ taken. A defensive flank was at once organized guns, but the French tanks crawled up and put at Moisy Farm across the plateau, to prevent them out of action. the enemy on the Mt. des Singes from counter­ The advance was resumed by the right wing, ~ttacking. :Meantime his right, from the mill the left halting on a line from Vallee Guerbette )f Laffaux to Mennejean farm, together with to a spot 500 yards north of Allemant. The the 21st Corps east..Qf the farm, assaulted the right, a~tride the St. Guillain and Laffaux­ ;;outhern face of the salient. Mennejean Pinon ravine, reduced the St. Guillain farm farm and the first line trenches were stormed and assaulted the second German position. The and the Fruty quarry surrounded. The French Giraffe and Lizard trenches were overrun by reached the edge of the Laffaux-Pinon ravine, noon. It was then raining heavily. With the where it joi.ns the Allemant ravine which runs exception of Bois 160, south of the Vaudessorl down to the west of Pinon. The left of Mar­ elm, where the garrison held out till the morning jOl11et had arrived almost simultaneously at of October 24, when the wood was cleared by the western edge of tho Allemant ravine. details of the 28th Division, and with the Into both hollows large numbers of the enemy exception, also, of some isolated quarries, had been hurled with heavy losses. The every centre of resistance south of the Riegel­ garrison in the Fruty quarry, attacked by slezz,ung and east of the Allemant ravine had battalions of the 75th Regiment, continued, been captured. At the end of the day the however, to resist. Meantime, Degoutte's right of Marjoulet was facing Pinon and Corps in the centre had crossed the Soissons­ covering Vaudesson, which, as will be related, Laon road, and, penetrating the second German had been secured by D egoutte. The French , position, had capt"ured Malmaison farm, which 14th Corps, like the 1st Corps at Combles in was in the possession of the French by 6 a.m. the Battle of the Somme, had, pivoting on its 236 THE TIMES HIS TORY OF THE TV AR.

(French ojJicia, photograph. THE ' FARM OF LA MOTTE AND A CAPTURED "77."

left, been swung to a line perpendicular with between the Fruty quarry and the west of the line from which it had started. The Malmaison farm. Thanks to the superb Germans on the Mt. des Singes and in Pinon, artillery preparation they m et, with little with the Ailette at their backs, were menaced opposition. Entanglements and trenches had from the south as well as from the west. been obliterated. The Bois des Gobineaux General Marjoulet had captured some 3,000 beyond the road on the southern side of the prisoners (including 60 officers), several guns, Laffaux-Pinon ravine was cleared of the enemy machine-guns, and trench mortars in the cour~e by the 21st and 20th battalions of Chasseurs ; of his bold and successful manceuvre. the Vaurains Farm, in the western angle made While Marjoulet's wheel round was proceeding, by the meeting of the Soissons-Laon chaussee General Maistre's centre, formed by the 21 st with the road to Pinon, was also captured, Corps under General Degoutte, had been en­ tanks assisting; and the eastern ends of the gaged. Degoutte had first to carry the re­ Lizard Trench and the Lady Trench were mainder of the southern face of the Laffaux pierced. About 6 a.m., just when de Maud'huy's salient, from the east of Mennejean farm to left was entering the ruins of Fort de la Mal· the south of the Bohery quarry. The 13th maison, the 31st Chasseurs, after a fierce Division was on the left, the 43rd on the right. resistance, stormed Malmaison farm. Three They were opposed by German Divisions of quarters of an hour later General Maistre was the same number s, supported by troops informed that Degoutte's troops were firmly of the Prussian 2nd Guard Division. If the established north of the Riegelstellung. Germans managed to beat off their attacks, At 9.15 a.m. when Marjoulet's right swung Marjoulet, should he gain the Allemant plat eau , westwards astride the St. Guillain and Laffaux­ would be between two fires, and Maud'huy to Pinon ravines between Allemant and Vaudesson their right would, if he secured Fort de la to captur e en route the western end of the Malmaison, be in a similar plight. It was, Lizard t rench, the 13th Division began to accordingly, essential that D egoutte should descend the northern slop es in the dir'ection of reach his objectives. Vaudesson and the Bois de la B elle Croix. To At 5.15 a.m. his divisions m ounted the its right the 43rd Division on b oth sides of the slopes and made for the Soissons-Laon road Soissons-Laon highway moved down on the- THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 237

Montparnasse quarry, just to the left of the left, formed by the division of General G uyot road on a level with Vaudesson, against the de Salins, must b e r eferred to. This also Bois des Hoinets and the western half of the descended the heights and took part in the village of Chavignon. The Bois des Hoinet s capture of Chavignon. and Chavignon touched or were traversed by At 5.15 a.m. Guyot de Salins's troo'ps-Tirail- the road from Pinon, which from Chavignon 1eurs, Moroccans and Zouaves-had swarmed ran up along the eastern slopes of the Mal­ up the slopes. The huge Bohery quarry was. maison Sp1.IT to Pargny-Filain. The wood and in the path of the Tirailleurs and Moroccans, Chavignon were considerably nearer the Ailett e Fort de la J\{almaison in that of the Zouaves. than Vaudesson. Before, however, describing At the quarry the enemy fought with stubborn­ D egoutte's progress down the spur, the con1.­ ness and fury. It was surrounded and the bats delivered previous to this by de Maud ~ huy" s garrison killed, wounded or captured. Before

[French OJJwi,a1 }ho,og FRENCH MITRAILLEUSES IN SHELL CRATERS NEAR ALLEMANT. 238" THE TIMES HISTORY OF' THE WAR.

[French official photcgraph. ST. GUILLAIN FARM AND HILL 91. this was accomplished, Inost of the Tirailleurs torn c01.mter-scarp was reached, and the Zouaves and Moroccans had gone forward and assisted leapt down into the muddy ditch. They Degoutte's right to eject the enemy from the ascended the ruined scarp and reached the Lady trench. B eyond it they halted on the broken rampart. The German garri on was summit of the plateau in front of the Bois de h1.mted about the ruins and speedily put out of Garenne, a wooded hanger north of Chavignon action. Bombers and nlen with flame pro­ and east of the Montparnasse qu'arry. On their jectors set out to explore the galleries. Some right the 4th Battalion of Zouaves, elit.e troops 15 machine-guns were taken, and at 6.5 a.m. thE led by Colonel Giraud, had been detailed to flag of the battalion was hoisted on the fort. take Fort de la Malmaison, defended by Other battalions of Zouaves to right and left Prussian Guards, came into line, and the Guyot de Salins division From about 3 a .m. the Zouaves had been halted and helped D egoutte"s men to organize shelled by the German heavy artillery, and the summit of the plateau, which was all the many of them had been killed or w01.mded. time being heavily shelled by the German At 5.15·a .m they, too, had advanced, colonel, batteries on the Monampteuil heights to the officers and chaplain at their head. The first right. two German trenches had been wiped out by the It was at 9.1 :) a .m., as stat.ed ab:)Ve, that French guns. At the third-the Carbine Degoutte's divisions descended on Vaudesson, trench-there was a sharp combat, but the the Bois de la B elle Croix, the Montparnasse enemy was totally defeated. To guide the quarry, the Bois des Hoinets and the western .zouaves to the fort the French guns deluged half ~f Chavignon. Tr13 division of Guyot de it with incendiary shells. From the Bois de Salins accompanied them. Its objec~ives were Veau on the right, machine-g1.ms rained bullets the Bois de Garenne, the Orme farm between )n it. All the time the German machine-guns Fort de la Malmaison and the eastern half of sought to stop the approaching waves of gallant Chavignon, the reduction of which portion of men, but in vain.The nnksof th'3 plucky Z ::mayes the v illage had b een also assigned to it. The were swept by gusts of bullets, many fdJ, but road from Pargny-Filain to Chavignon was still the determined r em ainder went Rt eadily on, finally to be crossed and Many farm to its east nothing cOllld st op them. At last the ragged and seized. In other words, Guyot de Salins was THE TnVlES HISTORY OF THE W AR. 239 not only to cover D egoutte's right, but also to Croix was overrun by the 109th Regiment, turn from the ~ outh the Prussian Guards in which took there 18 guns and numerous Pargny -Filain. prisoners. In the Montparnasse quarry, which Thus simultaneously the 13th, 43rd and 38th had galleries two-thirds of a mile long in places , Divisions marched down the M?lmaison heights, the 1st Battalion of Chasseurs m et with con­ with tanks on the left and right, towards the siderable opposition. It was not till 10.30 a .nl. edge of the plain, south of the Ailette. French that the survivors of the large underground aeroplanes flew overhead, firing at the heads of garrison surrendered. About the same time visible Germans and dropping b ombs on t he Onne farm and a quarry to its left were trenches, roads and bridges. B ehind the ad­ carried by Guyot de Salins's division. vancing French troops, away to the right on Still the French pressed on. The Zouaves, the summit of the Chemin-des-Dames ridge 'was Moroccans, and Tirailleurs swept everything the battlefield of Craonne, where the Emperor before them, driving the enemy from the Boi;s ~apol eo n had gained the last but one of ~'lis de la Garenne and the open ground to its right. victories. A surprise was at this moment By 1 p.m. they had reached the Chavignon spnmg on the enemy; the line of French gtm s brickfields and were engaged in the outskirts placed behind the Chemin-des-Dames ridge, of the eastern half of the village. The Zouaves which had kept silen ce in the initial stage of simultaneously crossed the road from Pm'gny­ the battle, suddenly opened and put down a FiJain to Chavignon and proceeded to reduce barrage in front of the advancing- troops. Many farm. Two hours later, at 3 p.m., In the wake of this the 13th Division assaulted Guyot de Salin s's troops had fought through Vaudesson and the Bois de la Belle Croix, t he eastern half of Chavignon and were beyond the 43rd Division made for the Mont­ it in Voyen-Chavignon. At 2 p.m. the 1st parnasse quarry, and the Tirailleurs and Battalion of Chasseurs, fresh from their :v.Ioroccans entered the Bois de la Garenne, while successes in the Montparnasse quarry, had the Zouaves swooped down on the Orme farm. secured the west ern half of Chavignon. On The village of Vaudesson, m enaced by their left the 149th and 150th Infantry Regi­ .\i(arjoulet's right engaged in the Lizard trench, ments, after capturing a German battalion in was stormed by the 21st R egiment, with which the Corbeau cavern, had dislodged the enemy were t anks. To its east the Bois de la B elle from the Bois des Hoinets. Beyond the Pinon-

,French offic ial photograph. RUINS OF VAURAINS FA1{M. 240 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. . Chavignon road at its northern border lay the Maistre's heavy artillery had not b een able to Pinon and Rosay forests, a mass of woodland destroy this part of the German fortified zone extending to the south bank of the' Oise­ with its largest shells. Many of the trenches, Ailette-Aisne canal. entanglements and machine-g'LID emplacements The part played in the battle by de were on October 23 still intact. Held by troops Maud'huy's right wing, composed of the Alpin.e of the 5th Prussian Guard R egiment, it was Chasseurs of General Brissaud-Desmaillet's certain that they would not be won without a Division and. the detachment fron1. General severe struggle. In the Pantheon and Orage Deligny's Corps, remains to be narrated. The quarries during the preceding night the garrisons Alpine Chasseurs and their comrades of the had been relieved. Those strong points were defended by men-the 5th and 8th companies of the 3rd Grenadier R egiment of the Prussian Guards-whose moral had not been seriously shaken by the preliminary bombardment. In addition, Brissaud-Desmaillet's and Deligny's battalions, when they passed over the crest and began their descent, were exposed to the fire of the German batteries on' the Monampteuil heights discharging their projectiles over the artificial lake which fed the Oise-Ailette-Aisne canal. The ranges were, of CO'Lll'se, exactly known by the enemy'~ gunners, who were familiar with every object within their view. At 5.15 a.m. the Alplne Chasseurs leapt to AEROPLANE PHOTOGRAPH OF THE their feet, and with bayonets levelled or FORT DE LA MALMAISON. grenades in hand, rushed forward. Under a 39th Corps had to storm the Pantheon farm canopy of shrapnel, passing through barriers works at the south-east end of the Malmaison of bursting high-explosive shells and barrages plateau and to clear out the enemy rOlmd the of machine-g'LID bullets, losing heavily in killed Orage quarry, a little to its north, from the and wounded, they entered the first line stump of the Bovettes water-tower and the German trenches. There m bayonet and subterranean quarry at the head of the Bovettes grenade duels they struggled for some minutes ravine, which descends to Pargny-Filain. They with the Prussian Guards. On the extreme had next to storm the Tonnerre quarry on the right near L a Royere farm the detachments of edge of the Malmaison plateau and, mastering D eligny's Corps could, it is true, rnake little the Liitzen trench, to drive the Germans from headway. But nothing could withstand the the Bois de Veau, a wood which, to the east of fierce and determined attack of the Chasseurs. Fort de la Malmaison, covered the slopes of the From the front they burst into the rear German plateau opposite Pargny-Filan;: If all went· trenches, storming the P~ntheon, Orage and well, Pargny-Filain, too, was to be occupied. Bovettes quarries, and by 9 a.m. h ad fought The duties of General Brissaud-Desmaillet's their way between the Fanion trench, the division were, in fact, to be very similar to thOi',e termination on t.he east of the second German of General Marjoulet's division on the extreme position, and the Lutzen trench. left of the battle. Brissaud-Desmaillet was to The Bois de Veau was, also, entered by them, swing, however, eastwards, not westwards, and but it was found impracticable to advance he was to form a defensive flank on the eastern down the slopes to Pargny-Filain. The Ton­ slopes of the plateau against counter-attacks, nerre and another quarry continued to resist . while Guyot de Salins with D egoutte's Corps on all their efforts and, until these were secured, his left de3cended from the plateau to the plain the operation would be too dangerous. At of the Ailette. nightfall the division of Brissaud-Desmaillet The manreuvre of wheeling round in face of was busily engagt;ld in organizing a defensive and through a determined enemy is always a flank from the Bois de Veau to the Bovettes difficult one. Here the difficulty was increased Quarry. Its contribution to the success of the by the fact that, owing to the proximity 'of the day had been very considerable. Had it been French to the Gennan trenches, Gen~ral held by the Germans between the Pantheon THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 241

.and Les Bovettes, the advance of Guyot de maison plateau with the fort at its centre and Salins on Chavignon would certainly have been its northern slopes to the edge of the plain of delayed, perhaps arrested. Guyot de Salins the Ailette was at last in his possession. To and Brissaud-Desmaillet had captured 2,500 the salient gained-the front of which facing prisoners, 15 guns and a number of trench­ the Ailette m easured over three miles-he mortars and machine-guns. D e Maud'huy had could now transfer his artillery, and in the vast every reason to be satisfied with his subordi­ Montparnasse and the other quarries he could nates. accumulat~ munitions and reserves. As the When P etain issued his communique in the salient protruded from the hog's back at right ·evening of Octob er 23 he was able to announce angles both to it and the valley of the Upper that the number of prisoners taken by General Ailette, the Germans would soon b e dislodged Maistre exceeded 7, 500 and that" an enormous from their remaining strongholds on the crest quantity of material," including 25 heavy and and the northern slopes of the ridge farther east. field guns, had b een captur ed. These wer e The key of that ridge was in General Maistre's

THE FARM OF MALMAISON AS IT WAS BEFORE THE WAR.

provisioual figures. The losses of the enemy in hands, as but for cert.ain untow8,rd climatic1 prisoners and guns were, as will be shown political, and military events it might have later , much heavier. been in Nivelle's b efore the end of the preceding The victory of General Maistre was complete. April. With Marjoulet's right wing in the Giraffe That capable but, in 1917, unfortunate Trench, in the L affaux-Pinon r avine and on the soldier had rightly held that the Chemin-des­ heights b eyond the r avine west of Vaudesson, D ames b arrier and its outliers to the west could with the corps of D egoutte in that village and b e taken, but it may be that, hoping to pierce in the wooded ravine of the B elle Croix and the German lines b etween Craonne and the Hoinets woods, the Montparnasse quarry and Aisne with the help of his tanks, he did not the western half of Chavignon; with Guyot fully appreciate the advantages to be gained de Salins's division in its eastern half, and by sem:lI'ing the western rather than the eastern at the Many farm beyond the road going up end of the hog's back. The data, however, for from Chavignon-Pargny-Filain; Brissaud-Des­ forming a correct judgment on this point are maillet's Alpine Chasseurs aligned from the not available, and it should be remembered Bois de Veau to the Bouvettes Quarry, the that, even if Nivelle had succeeded in storming French commander had achieved his main the Allemant and Malmaison plateaux, h e objec~. H e had secured the Allemant plateau would not have been able to continue at once and severed the defences there from those on an offensive thence on L aon. For reasons the Mt. des Singes spur and the spur to its already given, it would have b een impossible seat above Pinon. The whole of the Mal- to move up the valley of the Ardon until the :312 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

Germans had been driven from the Anizy and the French north of the Aisne were in a danger­ J10nampteuil heights. ous position, confronted as they were by a very Petain, engaged in completing the Battle of energetic enemy, callous of the lives and CraOlme-Reims by capturing all the high grOlmd sufferings of his own m en. Unless, then, from the Mt. des Singes to the California plateau Petain was prepared to fight and win the above Craonne, was in October, 1917, very battle which has been described, it would have differently situated to what Nivell ~ had been been prudent of him to have fallen back behind in April. He did not and, in face of the the Aisne. The latter course, which would have been virtually an admission that the Battle of Craonne-Reims had been a bloody defeat for the F!ench, could not in October be entertained. Petain had, therefore, to join battle with the German Crown Prince for the western end of the hog's back, and Petain and General Maistre had done so with such skill that they gained a victory which, to a large extent, counterbalanced the striking s u~ces se s of the Austro-Germans in Italy on the next and the succeeding days. General Pershing was present at the Battle of Malmaison as he had been present at the Fourth Battle of Verdun. That he must have been impressed by the science and courage displayed by the French officers and men goes without saying. One obvious possibility is THROWING GRENADES. not likely to have escaped his notice, as it collapse . of Russia, c01.ud not cont.emplate seems to have escaped that of some of the breaking right through the German fortified Allied stateSl'nen. The Petain method might zone. The losses suffered by the French at be adopted in France and Belgimn by Hinden­ the Battles of Craonne-Relll'lS and Moronvilliers, burg and Ludendorff. apart from those-not inconsiderable-inflicted A defeat so severe, and involving the conse­ by the Germans on our Allies at the Third quence that the German Crown Prince would Battle of Ypres and the Fourth Battle of have to evacuate the Mt. des Singes plateau Verdun, had so depleted his resources that, and every point on the summit and slopes of until the American Armies crossed the Atlantic the Chem.in-des-Dames ridge, was a bitter pill in great force, an offensive on an extenc1ed scale for the fabricators of German public opinion would have been hazardous beyond measure. to swallow. Still uncertain whether its great Sir Douglas Ha g's troops at the Battles of offensive vyould succeed in Italy, the German Arras-Vimy, Bullecourt and Messines and in Higher Command on October 24 issued the the Third Battle of Ypres had been used up following bulletin, The battle-front was to a degree which rendered it unlikely that, in doubled in length; it was admitted that Alle­ the immediate future, Sir Douglas would be mant, Vaudesson and Chavignon-villages able to support Petain with large effectives. with names with which the average German Thus Petain was reduced to a policy of limited would not be familiar- had been lost, but a offensives. In August he had . deliver ea one victory was claimed in an in1aginary battle west north of Verdun; now in October, with equal of La Royere farm. We have seen the same success, he had delivered another north of the procedure adopted before (e.g., in German Aisne. Both had been necessary, because of communiques purporting to describe. the fighting the unsatisfactory defensive positions of the at Verdun in August and September), and the Fl'ench in those regions. Considering the range imaginary battle formula seems to have had of modern artillery, the space between the a peculiar fascination for the Teutonic intellect. French lines north of Verdun and that city FRO ~ T OF THB GERMAN C RO\V ~ PRINcE.- The Fren ch had been on August 19 far too small. "While yesterday b ~gan in two seetio n~ a large att ack at, the the Germans retained the Mt. des Singes, Ohemin-des-Dames, from the Ailette region north of Vau xaillon aR far as the plat eau north of P aiRs y (about Laffaux, Allemant, and Malmaison plateaux, l 5 miles). TEE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 243

T h e fi.gh ting w hich d eveloped in t h e morning sou th On this text General von Arclenne enlarged of t h e Oise-Aisne Can al led to a h eavy and fluctuatin g a t some length in the Berliner Tageblatt of "' t .l' ll ggle between t,he Ailette and the h eigh ts of O.:; tel. T h e en emy, s torm ing in t h e early m orning agl'tin st our October 25. lines , wbich h a d been d estr oyed b y six d ays of t h e most In t h e p resent. state of t h e st,ruggle in Flanders, violen t firin g, encount,cred stron g r esist an ce, and d id where t he final cap ture of the B f:' lg ian coast is a m ere Dot, advance in consequen ce of h eavy losses_ will-o'-t he -wisp for t h e Brit.ish, it is snrprising that the Only in a later thrust, from t h e west on Allem an t Frf'Dch h a ve begun an atta ck in the Oise-Aisne and and fro111, t h e sou th on Chavignon, by fresh Fren ch Ailett e angle which puts in the sh a de, both in strength forces, after ren ewed firing prepara tion and supported and in power of a rtillery p rep aration, the p artial atta d ;s by numerous armour ed cars, did t hey su cceed in breaking t hey h~' V 8 hitherto m ade a !;; we a ];: reli ef offensive::: t o into our p ositions and pressing forward to t h cse villages_ help the Brit·ish. A really big at t ack iR in progress on a Thereb y th e p ositions lying between becam e unten a ble. 15-mile front. Probably the object is the p ossession of In t h e wit hdrawal of t.he t roops from t h e st ubbornly Laon, which is sit.u at ed in the centre of the obtuse h eld lines on t h e fr ont the a dvan ced b a tteries h a d to be angle which the British and French att.acking fronts olm'lTl1 u p a nd left to t h e en em.y . f01'll1 _ P erhaps the Fren ch have an idea that successful. The Frfl n eh quickly pressed forward , but by the pen etr.a tion there would split the German front into two in ter ven tion of our r eserves t.h e en emy t hrust was p art s, which could then be separately rolled up. Even a rrested south of P;non, n ear Vaudcsson, and at th e loss of L aoD, which is b y no m eans imminent, would hardly -fou gh t -for Cha vi gn on; further progress was not chan ge in the least t,h e German strategical position. denied to the enerr.,y. The French at tack of October 23-24 astride. the m ain An attack hegun simultan eously b y sever al Fren ch roa d fr om 80il:'s ons to L aon su cceeded at Chavignon, di visions on t h e- plateau on, both sides of La R oye re due north of Malmaison Fort, which was shot to nothing . fann (sout,h of Filain) failed , in spite of repea ted That m eant p en etration into t h e German front and assa ult s , with t,he h eaviest losses. n ecessitated the giving up of limited n eighbouring In eV fl ning, after drum fire lasting several hours, t h~ sections and the blowing up of the guns fi xed in concrete t he enemy advan ced to t he at t ack between Bra ye and there. The German 13th Division took up the atta ck Ailles. Under our d efen ce fire, and, in places , in d es ­ a nd fought really h eroically. E ast of this, near the pera t e h and-to-hand figh tin g, t he t hrust of t h e French h ardly contested vi llage of Pargny-Fila,in, nort h of the completely collapsed on this front,. In local en gage ­ often-mentioned R oyere farm, t he furious attack w as m ent,s t h e fi gh ting was con t inued until far into the st.opped . It will undoubtedly be rep eated .. Its pros ­ nigh t, but u p to t h e presen t, it h as n ot again r evived . p ect s of final su ccess are, however, sm all, as Its strlkll1 g Our t r oops fough t h eroically. force is essen t ia lly weaken ed. On t. h e eastern b ank of t h e Meu se, sou t h-wes t. of Beau mon t, t ren ch fi gh ting took place t hrough ou t t h ", * * * day. H ere is an observat ion t.hat should be made. It EVENING .- At t h e Chem in-des -Dam es there was m ay p erhap s seem superfluous, bnt it as .well to ~e p e .at only slight en em y artiller y a.ctivit.y. The French h ave it. The German Command is disposed 111 certa111 ClT­ not cont inued t h eir a tt.ack. cumstan ces to evacu ate v oluntarily districts which

PRISONERS OF THE 2nd DIVISION OF THE PRUSSIAN GUARDS. 244 . THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. are worthless and not important for great tacticsi on his person. One ordered him to retire, the decisions, if by this m eans our own blood can be spared aml heavy losses inflicted on the en emy. Tills approved other to hold on at all costs. Similar con­ theory is to be adhered to. The German newspapel fusing orders were found in the pockets of reader should not allow himself to be influenced by enemy officers taken elsewhere. The cutting enemy report.s of victory which will follow automatically every such' evacuation. down of fruit trees and the burning of home­ That Petain was aiming at L ::t on was, of steads south and north of the Ailette, which course, a supposition which General von Ardenne had been observed by the French ajrmen before knew to be absurd. the battle, ceased to be sporadic. A pall of General von Ardenne's supposition that black smoke from the conflagrations drifted the Germans might have to retreat still farther over the plain. It was obvious that a retreat had, at the time when his article was published, was intended and was proceeding. already come to pass. So crushing had been On Wednesday, October 24, Petain and the blow struck by General Maistre that General Maistre reaped the first topographical during the late afternoon of Tuesday, October 23) fruits of the victory. The Mt. des Singes and and the following night von MUller was in no Pinon plateaux were evacuated by the enemy, position to counter-attack either from the Mt. hotly pursued by Marjoulet's left wing from des Singes and Pinon plateaux, from the Plain the Vauxaillon valley and the Allemant ravine. of the Ailette, or from the Chevregny spur. The departing Germans, thinned by shell and Two of his reserve divisions had b een used up machine-gtm fire, fled across the Ailette or into in the fighting between Allemant and Chavig­ Pinon and the Pinon forest. French patrols non. A third was on the defensive round sent out from the Vaudesson-Chavignon front Pargny-Filain and Filain, and the fourth, brought in large bodies of prisoners, the number from Galicia, which had arrived at Anizy while of whom now exceeded · 8,000. Some 70 guns, the battle was raging, was unable to debouch 30 trench-mortars, and 80 machine-guns had and cross the Ailette owing to the French also been counted, but a great many more were barrage. still to be discovered. Von Miiller and his staff even appear to have The next day, Thursday, October 25, sad momentarily lost their nerve. A German and bad news from Italy reached petain. The bat~alion commander captured in Pinon on the Caporetto sector had been pierced by a German 25th had two conflicting sets of instructions corps, and the Italians were preparing to

GERMAN PRISONERS OF OCTOBER 23. THE ']lINIES HISTORY OF THE W AB. 245:

lFreftch official pho:ograph. SPOILS AT THE FARM OF VAURAINS. abB)ndon the Bainsizza plateau and the Carso, Prussian Guards at all these points put up a and to retreat into the Friulian plain. To r elieve stubborn resistance, but were finally obliged to· the situation in Italy it was only too probable seek shelter beyond the ca,nal, on the Montamp­ that French and British troops would have to teuil Heights. In the course of the day more be railed through the Mt. Cenis tUlmel and by than 2,000 prisoners were captured by General the Riviera line to Lombardy. To prevent Maistre and 20 more guns,_ including several Ludendorff from transferring more troops to 6-in. howitzers. The total of wounded and' the Julian Alps and Tirol it was necessary unwounded Germans in the French cages had that Geni:lral Maistre should exploit the victory swelled to over 11,000, among them over- of Malmaison to the utmost, and that the 200 officers. At Filain elements of one of the­ French a'ud British, supported by the Belgian crack German Guard regiments, the Konigin right wing, should vigorously assault once Elizabeth, surrendered. They had received no­ more Sixt von Armin's defensive zone in food for three days and had been abandoned by Flanders. their officers. While Rucquoy, Anthoine, Gough and When the sun set on Thursday, October 25" Plumer made their final preparations for the the line of General Maistre ran from Vauxaillon offensive which began on the next day and by the north of Mt. des Singes along the· ended with the acquisition of the Merckem Soissons-Laon railway to the point near Anizy Peninsula and Passchendaele, the forces of where it crossed the Oise-Ailette-Aisne canal. General Maistre, which in the original plan were Thence it turned eastward through the marshy not to have en.tered the plain south of the region at the northern edge of the forests of Ailette, stormed Pinon, where they captured Pinon and Rosay and, still south of the canal, 600 prisoners, and penetrated the forest s of bent back south-eastwards to north of the Pinon and Rosay, capturing Rosay farm. west end of the lake or canal reservoir. Skirt­ Simultaneously troops of de Maud'huy's Corps ing the western bank of the reservoir, it ran up from the Chemin-des-Dames ridge and from the to the Chemm,-des-Dames ridge east of Pa::,gny­ eastern sid~ of the Malmaison plateau sur­ Filain and Fllain. Between the old and the· rounded and reduced the farms of St. Martin new front thousands of Territorials and Afri­ and Chapelle Ste. B erthe south of Filain-into cans and Asiatic natives, amid the falling shells which village patrols penetrated--cleared out rained on the ridge and plateaux by the enemy's the garrisons of the Tonnerre and Charbon batteries round Anizy and Montampteuil, were· quarries and, descending into the Bovettes building new roads across thp wilderness of ravine and the shallow valley to its left and craters and ,repairing with concrete and sl.eel, ascending from Many farm, encircled and so far as it was possible, the damagE, done to the fought their way through Pargny-Filain. The caves. 246 THb' TI Ml!J8 HiSTORY OP THE WAR.

Von Muller 's troops in their retreat blew up FRONT OF GERMAN OROWN PRINCE .-After strong firing preparation, the French advanced yesterday from the bridges across the Ailette bet.ween the north t,he northern . lopes of the Ohernin-des-Dames into the of the Mt. des Singes and the reservoir. On the Ailette region. Their attack m et, at the southern edge 25th the German Higher Corrunand published . of the Pinon Wood, our advanced troops, brought up in the previous night, which, after a short engagement, their aCC01.U1t of a further reverse. The news from were withdrawn to the northern hank of the Oise-Aisn e Italy being so good from the Kaiser's stand­ Oanal. "Ve were, therefore, not successful in fully saving in the Pinon Wood, which was shot to pieces, the fixed point, concealment had become l.U1neCessary; g un material which had been establish ed in the days it was given out, however, that the retirement preceding the fighting. At the other points of the battlefield after the success­ south ~e ast of Chavignon had been effected ful warcling off of the enemy thrust, our lines, in accord­ "accor ding to our (the_ German) plans," and' ance with our plans, were withdrawn behind the Oanal that the F rench had vainly, tried to continue n ear and south-east of Ohavignon. The en emy songht many times later to cross the Oanal lowlands; h e was the pursuit beyoild the Ailette. everywhere thro\\ n back by our battle troops . Friday, October 26, was mostly spent by General Maistre in consolidating his battle­ front. North of ChapeUe Ste. Berthe the troops of de Maud'huy reduced some strong points still untaken in Filain and reached the bank of the canal reservoir. Deligny's rnen on the summit of the Chevregny spur pus}:,ed the enemy over the nortbern crest. This success speedily led to another. The enemy r01.U1d Froidmont Farm to the south­ east, one of the last posts from which his observers could look towards the Aisne, werE overpowered by the French on Saturday. October 27 . By nightfall of that day the exact numbel of prisoners and guns taken in the offensive A G ERMAN TRENCH AFTER HEAV Y since 5.1 5 a .m. on October 23 was ascertained. BOMBARDMENT. In addition to 180 guns, General Maistre had r

l r t

If· L___ ... ~~_._

REPAIRING UNDERGROUND SHELTERS AFTER THEIR CAPTURE. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE TfT AR. 247

LAON. secured 11,157 prisoners, besides 222 trench­ on September 20, 3,243 prisoner-s with a few mortars and 720 machine-guns. At the Battle pieces. of Moronvilliers, delivered by General Anthoine Fortunately the plan outlined in the German between April 17 and May 20, the number of Order of June 30, which had baffled Gough Germans taken had been 6, 120, ·with 52 guns, and PIlll'ler so much, was not capable of 42 trench-mortars, and 103 machine-guns. realization at all points. We have seen that Between August 20 and 24 General Guillaumat von Gallwitz could not adopt it west of the at Verdun had secured 8,100 prisoners, but Meuse ; von Muller at the Battle of Malrhaison these, it should be added, were unwounded. had not been able to take full advantage of Whether General Maistre's victory froni the the idea developed in it. W est of the Soissons­ point of view of captures of men was a greater Laon road he had done so, but east of the road one than General Guillaumat's is lllcertain, he had had to rely on the strength of his first but the former had without doubt taken far line defences. Once these were taken he had more guns and machine-guns. The reason had no option but to place the Ailette between for this different result lay in the nature of the him and his pursuers, and quarries, like the battlefields. On the east bank of the Meuse, Montparnasse quarry, had become m ere traps north of Verdun, von Gallwitz had been able for his defeated infantry. to adopt a more elastic system of defence. At vVhether the German Crown Prince was Malmaison it was im.possible for von MUller ashamed to admit his discomfiture or that he to do this to any extent. Fighting on the wished to obtain time for an orderly evacuation edge of the steep h eights rising south of the of the remainder of the hog's back, he did non Ailette, he could not quickly withdraw his at once instruct his subordinates to abandon guns when the French infantry crowned the the imperilled positions east of La Royere ~rest; for their transference to the canal farm. On SLmday, October 28- the day of the would have been under fire' all the way, and the fall of Gorizia-at 12.30 p.m., waves of Germans crossings of the canal were within reach of the made a determined effort to recover the ground French batteries. Topographical conditions lost north of Froidmont Farm. They were largely explain, too, why General Maistre was heavily repulsed, losing 60 prisoners. Two days so far more successful than the Allied leaders later (Tuesday, October 30) an attack in the in the Third Battle of Ypres: where on July 31 Cerny region was also beaten off. But General the British took some 6,100 prisoners and 25 Maistre's guns were steadily accun'lulating on guns ; on August 16 they and the French the Allemant and Malmaison plateaux, in the captured over 2,100 prisoners and 30 guns; Pinon and R,osay forests, and round Pargny- '248 THE TIMES HISTORY OF 'THE WAR.

Filain and Filain. His gunners enfiladed the machine-gunners and riflemen were left on the valley of the Ailette east of the reservoir, and smnmit of the hog's back firing till almost dawn. poured high-explosive, .gas and shrapnel shells Just b efore sunrise a party of French Chas­ on the enemy defending the northern slopes of seurs, suspecting that the enemy were retreat­ the Chemin-d~s -Dames ridge and the few points ing, boldly pushed into a German trench. It .still held by him on the surnn1.it. From the was found to b ~ empty. Immediat ely the Aisne valley to the east of Berry-au-Bac the infantry and gunners 'were informed and the French artillery joined in the work of destruc­ '75 guns opened a creeping barrage, behind -tion. Reluctantly the German commanders which waves of foot soldiers advanced to and made preparations for carrying out their over the crest. By mid-day Cerny, at 3 p.m. retreat in face of a determined and enterprising Courtecon, and at 7 p.m. Ailles-the ruins of antagonist. the latter village were at once deluged by the Those preparatIOns were, as might have been German artillery with mustard-gas shells and ·expected, of a skilful order. Nevertheless. but could not be occupied for some time- were for the disturbance occasioned in the French reached and passed. The comparative slow­ plans by the appalling news from Italy, where ness of the advance was due to the fear that the 'Cadorna had been forced ort' the 31st to retire caves and tunnels were mined, which does behind' the Tagliamento, leaving in the hand~ not seem t o have been the case except in a few ·of the e~~~m.y close on 200,QOO prisoners and -)laces. During the following night and the 1,000 guns, the retreat· from the ridge to the morning of Friday, Novemb er 3, the French north bank of the' Ailette might have been line was pushed forward on a front of nearly 13 ·converted by the French into another disaster miles to the south bank of the Ailett e. In the for the enemy. As it was, like the British at plain, north-east of Craonne, the remains of 'Gallipoli, the Germans in the night of Novem­ Chevreux were occupied and patrols reached the b er 1-2 slipped down the slopes. For fear of southern outskirts of Corbeny . Some 20 more a larming the French, a few hundred yards away, heavy and field guns had been captured since they did not blow up or injure their shelters, October 27; The bridges across the Upper Ailette tunnels, and "pill-boxes," and a Rcr c: en of had, of course, been destroyed by t he e~nemy.

[French official pho'ograpll. FRENCH IN THE CAPTURED GERMAN TRENCHES. THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 249

[French of/icia! phJlograph, FRENCH SOLDIERS IN THE GERMAN POSITION KNOWN AS LE BALCON,

The struggle for the Chemin-des-Dames ridge not save Russia from internecine warfare nor and the heights to its west, begun on April 16, from the wild schemes of German hirelings. ended victoriously for the French on the same Five days after the Germans evacuated the day that General Maude inflicted another defeat Chemin-des-Dames ridge, Lenin and Trotzky on the Turk north of Bagdad, the day after effected their coup d' etat; Kerensky :fled; and AUenby's victory at Gaza, and four days before the elements which usurped power promptly the Canadians by capturing Passchendaele decided for an "immediate democratic peace." finished off the Third Battle of Ypres. Russia became, for the time at least, a negli­ Coming on the top of Guillaumat's victory at gible quantity in the Entente. Verdun. the Battle of Malmaison and its after­ math gloriously terminated the French offensive The events which happened on the French in 1917. Though, except in the last-named front between August 20 and November 10, battles, our Allies had, perhaps, won no suc­ not already related in this or the last chapter, cesses which quite justified their expenditure of may now be sketched. As there was no men and munitions, they had driven back the important change produced by artillery enemy in every engagen:18nt on a considerable duels and infantry fighting except on the scale. The positions assaulted, in the marshes Chemin-des-Dames ridge and the heights of of Flanders, on the hog's back north of the the Meuse, the combats at other points need Aisne, in the gun-commanded plain b etween not be treated in detail. While there was the Chemin-des-Dames ridge and the hills north constant shelling and several outpost affairs east of Reims, on the Moronvilliers massif, and between the north of St. 'Quentin and on the heights traversed by the Meuse, were Vauxaillon and between the south of Verdun naturally of great strength, and on them the and the Swiss fronti ~r, the greater part of the German engineers had, since September, 1914, fighting took place in the trenches from worked unremittingly with vast resources of Craonne to A vocourt. The most important labour and material. minor operations occurred on the battlefields The Allied offensives in 1917 failed, indeed, to of Moronvilliers and the Champagne Pouilleuse. accomplish completely the objects of their In Champagne on August 21 the French designers. But the causes for that were beyond guns caused an explosion of gas-reservoirs in the control of Petain and Haig. They could the St. Hilaire sector. Five days later other 250 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

GERMAN LIQUID-FIRE TUBING ON THE CHEMIN-DES-DAMES. gas -reservoirs north of N avarin Farm, also in and the Main-de -Massiges. After a violent Cham.pagne, were destroyed by French gun bombardment some detachments entered the fire. On the northern edge of the Moronvilliers French trenches, but were expelled by bomb heights our Allies (August 30) raided the and bayonet. The attack was v ainly renewed enemy's lines east of the Teton, and repulsed a few hours later. On the 28th the enemy two German advances there. A French s'urpnse was repulsed west of N avarin farm, north­ attack on September 3 ~est of the St. Rilaire­ west of T ahure, and at the FOl.U'-de-Paris in the St. Souplet road was successful, considerable_ Argonne, as he was on the last day of the n1.ont h damage being done and prisoners being brought east of Auberive, about the time when, we, t of back. Towards nightfall the same day French Mt. Cornillet, the French were p en etrating the troops, on a front of half a mile, astride the German lines . . Souain-Somme-Py road entered the German In October the French r aided nort h of Ville ­ lines, destroyed a great number of gas-tanks, s1.U'-TolU'be on the 1st, and on the 3rd west of blew up some dug-outs, rescued several French Navarin farm , and in the region of the Casque. prisoners, and returned safely with 40 Germans, On the 7th they repulsed an attack at N a varin 4 machine-guns, and a trench mortar. R enewed farm, and on the 9th destroyed several dug­ infantry fight ng was reported at the Moron­ outs n ear the Butte-de -Tahure. German villiers ridges on September 5, round the storm-troops in the night of the 11th-12th, Teton and the Casque. Three days afterwards after a 36 hours' bombardment in the Aube · (September 8) the enemy's trenches, this time rive-Souain region, deliver ed three attacks. east of the St. Hilaire-St. · Souplet road, were There was some bitter fighting, and they were raided, dug-outs blown up, and 20 prisoners, driven back. On the 17th the t)nem.y raided including three officers, captured. On the south-east of J uvincourt and on the northern 12th, again east of the latter road, and also slopes of Mt. Cornillet. The French, two da ys north-east of Auberive, there were lively later, did the same north of the Casque. The engagements, in which our Allies had the day b efore the B attle of Malmaison opened, upper hand. The French on the 14th. raided they broke into the German lines south-east west of Navarin farm, and on the 15th in the' of St. Quentin and in the Tahme region, whilf', region of Mt. Raut. on the morning of the b attle, the Germans So far the initiative in the Craonne-Avocourt raided west of B ermericOl.U't. The n ext day sector had b een with the French, but on (October 24) the Fren ch did so north-east of September 22 the Germans in their turn took Prunay, at Mt. R aut, north-west of Auberive the offensive between Maisons-de-Champagne and near the Butte de T a hure. There was THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR. 251 indecisive fighting on the 26t.h at Maisons-de ­ Champagne a nd in the Mt. Cornillet area, and towards nightfall on October 30 a French p arty entered a German trench west of Bri­ mont, and took 20 prisoners. A small G~rman fort west of the Butte du Mesnil was stormed by the Fren ch on Novemb er 3rd. During the p eriod under review the Fren ch peTsonnel suffered a serious loss. A day or t.wo b efore the B attle of Malmaison, General B aratier pa:ssed away, dying of ftn embolism. Baratier, one of the companions of Marchancl in his celebrated exp edition to F ashoda, h ad b een edu cated at St. Cyr. In 1891 he h ad accompanied in Africa the column of Colonel Hwn b ert, which captured Bissaudorigan. H e was afterwards attach ed to Colonel Monteil's column, and then met Marchand. \iVith Mangin (the victor of the Third Battle of Verdun) he had followed Marchand to the Upper Nile. It was he who h a d improvised a flotilla on the Bahr-el-Ghazal. After the F ashoda episode h a d b een t erminated p eace­ fully by the good sense of Kitchener and Marchand, Baratier returned to France and wrote his delightful books : A traveTS l' Ajrique, G E NERA L BARATIER, L' Epopee ajrica.ine, and Au Congo. W ho comma nded an infantry division. At the outbreak of the great war, Baratier Frenchmen to ride into Millhausen. After \~' as commanding a cavalry regiment, the 14th the Battle of the Marne he was promoted Chasseurs at Dole. H e was among the first General and entrust ed with the command of a

I L ,_ .. ' E X PLORING CAPTU RED GROUND ON THE C H EMIN.DES·DAMES. 252 THE TIMES HISTORY OF THE WAR.

[Fro m a German photogra ph. FLAME ATTACK. division of cavalry. His troopers were con­ Baratier-like J ofire, Marchand, Gallieni, verted into infantrymen, and when his division, Gouraud, and Mangin-gained v aluable ex­ like many others, was s uppressed, he was perience in tnese African expeditions. All these placed at the head of an infantry division. officer s, like the companions of Napoleon in Next he served in Alsace, and in May, 1917, Egypt and Syrifl , were destined to render their was transferred to Chan1pagne. n e 11 es illustriou on t he b attlefields of Europe.