MOUNT CORNILLET.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 April 1918, Page 2

MOUNT CORNILLET.

MATH TRAP t'OR HERMANS. JiNTIKK BATTALION DIES OF SUFFOCATION The greatest example of Prussian subterranean fortifications yet uncovered by the Allies was disclosed by the French French operations against the Massif of iMorouvillicrs, where a particularly sanguinary battle was fought during the early summer, extending over two months. Little comment on the struggle appeared in the press dispatches, but the importance of the position could be determined by the furious counter-offen-sive undertaken iby the Great General Staff along most of the Aisne front, and which still continues spasmodically. The Moronvillers Massif is a group of hills a few miles east of Rheims and about seven miles in length. Mont Cornillet dominates tile height towards Rheims, with an elevation of 030 ft, and it was beneath this hill that the most remarkable tunnel system so far discovered on the western front was built ■by the Prussian engineers. Nothing better illustrates the great importance of the engineering branch of the army—an importance which, fortunately, has never been under-estimated in the American service.

The Cornillet tunnel redoubt consisted primarily of three parallel tunnels driven into the hill at a point a;bout 100 ft below its summit. The entrances were, of course, on the north slope of the hill —that is, the side away from the French, The three tunnels ran for more than 200 yards into the bill, and were separated from one another by nearly 170 ft of virgin soil. Eacli of these tunnels was designed to shelter a battalion of troops (800 to 1000 men). They were connected by a transverse tunnel at about one-third of the distance along them. Ventilation shafts ran up from the tunnels to the ground surface. There were chambers off the galleries to serve all the purposes of a, garrison ivbich might occasionally be isolated —commanders' posts, telephone stations,' a temporary hospital, and depots of ammunition and food. Of the latter, ten days' supply was kept in hand. The object of the redoubt is clear. supposing that the French carried the summit of the hill, the next operation would (be to push on down its slopes. But they could not do so until the tunnel fort had been captured or destroyed. The German infantry, lying sheltered in the galleries, fully equipped with all armament for an attack, would simply wait until the French had passed 'below the tunnel entrances on their way downhill and then sally out in strength and pour machine-gun volleys and showers of grenades into their rear To sum up the whole situation, Mont Cornillet could not bo safely held or its capture improved until the redoubt had fallen. To hold the redoubt and deliver the designed counter-attacks there were in it on the day of its destruction six weak companies of the 476 th Infantry regiment, two machine-gun companies, a detachment of signallers and telephonists, and a strong party of engineers., There was room for three battalions of infantry (twelve companies) instead of six companies, but the colonel of the 476 th was wiser than his predecessor of the 173 rd, and sent only half his regiment into it. 'He did not believe in crowding men into underground passages in which they might be asphyxiated, for as he reported:—"Der Tunnel kann durch Gaz genommen werden" ("The Tunnel can become choked with gas"). So he kept half his regiment out of it.

The attack was made, as regards Mont Cornillet, by the First Zouave regiment of Joba's division, a famous regiment which had fought at the Marne, the Ainse, at Ypres, at Verdun and on the. On this day it was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Poirei. A company of engineers was also placed at his disposal. All through the preceding day the French artillery was keeping up a terrific bombardment of the threatened hill, and the Boche guns behind it were furiously responding, but the gallant Zouaves lost very lightly owing to the care with which they were sheltered. The French bombardment reached its highest pitch of intensity during the morning before the atack, and, in fact, the work was already done. About 1 o'clock a Prussian solider staggered down to the advanced French trench line. He was almost idiotic with horror as he stammered out that the garrison of the great tunnel fortress was perishing of suffocation. About an hour later about thirty more Prussians came down to surrender, telling a similar story-

At half-past 4 o'clock the Zouaves advanced to the attack. They went up the slope of Mont Cornillet,, over the crest and down the steep reverse slope, clearing out the Boches who, with rifle, grenade and machine-gun, still defended the shell craters. The went with them, clearing away obstacles and searching keenly for the openings of the three tunnels. Once on the rearward slope the cannonade slope became less murderous, its fire passing above their heads. The tunnel openings could hardly be found, being choked with debris. All night the Zouaves consolidated their position, and captured a few Prussians who were wandering about after escaping from the suffocating tunnels. In the morning two prisoners pointed out the chief 'entrance. It was choked with dead bodies piled upon each other five or six deep. On the morning before a 400-mm. French shell had crashed into the eastern tunnel, destroying the ventilation shaft, the post-de-commandment and much of the adjoining tunnels. All the other openings were choked by the bombardment, and the hermetically sealed galleries were full of the poisonous fumes of the exploding shells. Almost the entire garrison perished either of the explosion or by asphyxiation. There they lay in heaps of sixty, eighty or more, all fully armed and equipped with rifles and grenades, destroyed by the one factor against which the designers of these elaborate subterranean shelters cannot provide adequate defence.