October 31. 1914 
LAND AND WATER 
300 ft. above tlie plain, and densely wooded — is cut 
into tlu-ee sections : that soutli of the Grand Pre Pass, 
with its road and railway ; that soutli of the Vienne- 
Vareunes road ; and that south of the Ste. Menehould- 
Clermont road. 
Now Avhcn the whole German line was forced 
back (by numbers smaller than its own) in what is 
called " The Battle of the Marne," the Crown Prince, 
who had had his headquarters at Ste. Menehould, 
moved them rapidly back to Montfaucon. The line 
which the Germans held, after September 14, in front 
of these new headquarters ran north of Forges (where 
it reposed upon the Mouse just out of range of the 
Charny forts, that are part of the fortifications of 
Verdun, and there run along the Ridge of Charny). 
From this point noi-th of Forges, the line passed in 
front of Malancourt ; then in front of Varennes ; then 
in front of the road from Varennes to Vienne, and so 
proceeded across Champagne to the hills and gun 
positions in front of Rheims and to the lower Aisne 
and Soissons. 
That was more than six weeks ago ; and all 
the efforts on both sides dui'ing those six weeks, 
though there has been constant lighting and ceaseless 
"watching for an opportunity to gain any yard that 
could be gained, has not, I say, altered that line by 
four miles either way. 
The first move was a French attack, which 
carried Varennes and the town of Vienne. The next 
move was a German counter attack which attempted 
to seize Vienne, failed in doing so, but succeeded in 
Varennes- Vienne road ; they were beaten back from 
the western part of it, but kept the eastern. Last 
week they advanced from the eastern part of this line 
in front of Varennes into the woods called the Bois 
de Chalade — which ai'e the woods through which 
Dreuet rode to intercept the flight of Louis XVIth 
and Marie Antoinette. The Germans blundered in 
this attack and lost very heavily, but the French 
could not force their way north into Varennes. Mean- 
while Vauquois close by was held by the French, 
though the German line was still in front of Malan- 
court. All the southern part of the woods between 
that village and Varennes was held by the French. 
Finally this week, four days ago, a French advance 
captured Sezon-Melzicourt. 
From this biief summary may be judged the 
extraordinarily close grip of two modem entrenched 
lines. For a month and a half you have two 
opposing army corps (that is supposed to be about the 
strength of either party just to the west of Verdun) 
doing no more than hold the one the other, and 
each counting it a success if at any point he can 
advance by less than the range of a field piece. 
Meanwhile, in that more interesting because more 
critical point, the gate the Germans have opened and 
kept open at St. Mihiel, this very slow shifting of the 
line has greater significance, for the corridor held 
by the Gei-mans here is so nan-ow that the least 
restriction of it puts their positions on the Meuse in 
St. Mihiel in peril. One may see in this sketch map 
The valley of the little river 
how the thing lies 
o 
L. 
10 
JL- 
20 
MILES 
THfAUCOURT . 
PONT A M0US50N 
^fURt'i 
RAMBUCOURT 
COMME.RCY 
^_^ Approximate Franco- 
' * German Front. 
3ZI 
capturing Varennes. Later again, in about the Mad — a tributary of the Moselle just above Metz — 
fourth week of the operations, the Germans made a is that up which the railway comes from Metz as far 
sharp move to recover if they could the whole of the as Thiaucourt. This valley is almost a ravine with its 
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