THE FIGHT AT LES EPARGES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2438, 17 April 1915, Page 7

THE FIGHT AT LES EPARGES

VIVID STORY OF FRENCH VALOUR (Rec. April IG, 11.5 p.m.) Paris, April 10. - Official.—The story of tho capture of the crest of tho hill at Les ISparges show that the slopes were steep and slippery, and intersected with numerous springs. Rain-storms were frequent-. The position was practically a mountain of mud. While the Germans had possession they bad stopped all action on_ tho soiith-weslern sections of'the'Woevre Plain. Tho.position was so important that the Germans protected tho crest with several lines of trenche?',' tome five liore apiece, which contained sixlesH liWJhh |hhlttlleti, ty iltuuU tit# fiawli advwso,

The defenders included a division of the best troops, five battalions of pioneers, many of the Metz machine-guns, and numerous bomb-throwers. The shelters for the fighters were caverns, dug at leisure. The Germans 'had constructed a narrow guage railway to bring their supplies of ammunition. The decisive French effort commenced on April 5, when the western end of the crest was attacked. The infantry, covered with mud to their thighs, penetrated the German trenches by means of violent hand-to-hand fighting. Progress on the east was stopped by aerial torpedoes, which the Germans threw, a single projectile sometimes pulverising whole ranks. The Germans brought up fresh troops on April 6, and counter-attacked, the French being finally driven baok, having to begin their attack afresh. They started by capturing a trench at | the eastern end of the'plateau, and by April 7 had gained 500 metres. The Germans made a series of desperate counter-attacks, fighting with great bravery, but were stopped by regular "curtains of shrapnel/'- which often prevented the attackers from debouching-

. On April 8 two regiments of French infantry and a battalion of chasseurs ordered to storm the summit. Their-rifle magazines were choked with mud, and they were able to use only their bayonets. But they captured the western crest, and continued to advance eastward. After thirteen hours of uninterrupted furious fighting the Germans retained only a small triangle at the eastern end, and the French had oaptured 1300 metres of trenches, including a formidable bastion on the summit.

The French then brought up a fresh regiment, which took fourteen hours to reacli "the sunimit. The.se reinforcements on the afternoon of April 9 were ordered to complete the capture of the crest. A hurricane was raging," the ground was honeycombed with holes in which men sometimes completely disappeared, and even although they might not be wounded, were sometimb's drowned in the mud. It was impossible to rescue many -of the wounded from the morass. The Germans were still fighting with intense energy. The officers chained the gunners to their machine-guns to prevent them being; tempted to cease fire. When the French reached the edge of the plateau the summit was suddenly shrouded in fog, and the artillery was unable .to cover them. The Germans charged, throwing the attackers baok, but half an . hour later, by a furious charge, the French rewon the ground by 10 o'clock at night, while the ridge had been captured and the enemy so crushed that he was unable to counter-attack, . _ On April 10 the Frenoh position was consolidated, and as the ridge had been definitely lost by the Germans, the victors characteristically rebaptised it "The Crest," giving the name of Les Eparges to a spur further south, which the French never attacked. _ The result was achieved with half the loss inflicted on the enemy, a proof of the growing superiority of the French Army, which is now attacking, while the Germans are on tlie defensive.