LAND AND WATER 
March 2, 1916. 
sketch III., and from this will bo at onco apparent 
the decisive clmracter of that culminating point where 
tlie Fort of Douaumont once stood. 
^ 7[A< suaxeduw stagts 
qfche rctirejtunt 
We shall sec in a moment the critical character of 
the successful German attack upon that decisive point 
and the effect hitherto obtained by the French counter- 
offensives "against it. Had the enemy not set foot upon 
the heights of Douaumont, the whole ridge would ha\'e 
remained intact in the hands of the French, and all the 
assaults against it would have been so much piu'c loss. 
The battle, \yhich closely resembles the great defence of 
Grand Couronne in front of Nancy that laid the founda- 
tions of Marne, would in that case \\z\c formed an 
exact parallel to this fonner action, and would ha\c 
promised a . complete success. But the enemy ha\c 
carried .one. point' of the ridge, and that the highest point, 
transforming the whole situation. (This was the reason 
that the news of the capture of Douaumont summit so 
gra\ely affected those who knew the ground and caused 
them to await so an.\iously further news of the develop- 
ments resulting from it.) 
Next let us examine, by turning again to sketch 
II., the conditions under which this main defensive 
position must be attacked by the enemy. We would 
again begin by the left or west, and work round to the 
right. The hill «i Poivre stands up sharply from the 
Mcuse, and can only be carried by charges directed 
right up its wooded western side or southern end. The 
steep slopes, which begin to rise gradually before the 
ridge is reached, are nearly 400 ft. in height and their aver- 
age slope is about one in nine, with some steeper portions 
here and there. Immediately at the foot of these slopes, 
which lead up to the narrow plateau of the Hill of Poivre, 
is the high road leading from Beaumont to Vacherau\illei 
which lies in a deep valley. Beyond that valley there 
is a second ridge running from the big bend in the Meuse 
in front of the villages of Champneuville and Samogneux 
out northwards and eastwards. This ridge is lower than . 
and is dominated by, the Hill of Poivre. It is not a 
united line, but is cut by a saddle which the road from 
Samogneux to Vacherauville takes advantage of. The 
western part of this ridge, that part lying immediately 
in front of Champneuvilk', is called the Hill of Talou. 
We have next in order the village of Louvemont 
(or to be more accurate, its ruins). In front of this sector 
the ground slopes away for some distance gently and we 
only get steep banks just before it phuiges down to the 
Bcaumont-Vacherauville road. It is a country of open 
fields, thus sloping down from the village of Louvemont, 
presenting a clear lield of tire. 
Next, as we go westwards, the Wood of Les Fosses 
at the head of a deep ramified ravine, is in German hands. 
But the highest point of the jilateau lying back from the 
wood is in I'rench hands, ;ind thence to the wood is a good 
field of hre for the defensive. 
When we reach the little wood which stands before 
the Farm of Chambrette, we are at 1:he only point in the 
whole defensive line which is not the; stronger for rapidly 
falling ground in front of it. There is here a sort of neck 
of high ground, joining the horseshoe ridge with the hills to 
the north. This " neck " is defined', by a country road 
which follows it. It is very narrow, the rising slopes of 
the combe on the west being separated from the falling 
escarpment of the bank on the east by only 800 yards. 
From this point the plateau of Douaumont begins. 
Steep slopes everywhere impede the momentum of "the 
assailants. These slopes, however, from their very steep- 
ness, give their assailants this ad\-anta ge that they present 
not a little dead ground : that is. ground so steep that 
the fire of men on the height abo\e cannot reach it. 
From the plateau of Douaumont onwards, the line 
falls down on to the [)lain of the Woeuvre and ceases to 
be connected with the ridge of Louvemont, but runs 
through the plain of the Woeuvre, which is here about four 
hundred and fifty feet below the hills and very sharply 
marked by an extremely steep escarpment. It passes 
in front of the station of liix and thence in afi almost 
straight line south-eastwards. 
The Attack on the Ridge. 
On Friday, the 25th. the Germans began their attack ' 
upon this horseshoe of the Louvemont ridge. 
There were, as we have seen, two points the mainto 
nance of which was essential to the French. The Hill of 
Poivre at one end of the horseshoe and the plateau of 
Douaumont at the other. 
If the Hill of Poivre were carried, the whole of 
the horseshoe was turned, the Germans would be in the 
liollow of it behind the ridge. The troops upon the ridge 
would have to withdraw as best they could. Those' at 
the far end by Douaumont might succeed in getting back ■ 
to Verdun, but those on the Hill of Poivre itself, and those 
in Louvemont, and e\en many to the cast or right of 
Louvemont, would be destroyed. At the best only the 
southern and eastern part would escape. Meanwhile 
the entry to the town of \'crdim from the north would 
lie open. 
The other and more, dangerous point was the plateau 
of Douaumont itself, which is somewhat higher than the 
Hill of Poivre. We have seen of what effect its capture 
would be. It would be a more decisive blow even than 
the rushing of the Hill of Poivre, for it would cut off the 
whole mass of the defence on the ridge and would 
dominate Verdun itself — an uninterrupted view of less 
than five miles. » 
The enemy attacked on FViday all round the ridge, 
from the Meusc right round to the escarpment of the 
Plateau of Douaumont, losing \ery hea\ily, and effecting 
nothing. But he coulcl not make as full an artillery pre- 
jiaration as he desired, for he had not yet fully brought 
up his heavy gims. It w-as not till the early morning of 
the Saturday, February 26th, that the full" blast of the 
attack was at work. It struck, of course, all around the 
ridge. Indeed, with such great masses of men, it was in- 
credibly dense upon that very short curved line of six 
miles. But while the attack came from all roimd the 
curve the main objects were still, of course, the Hill of 
Poivre on the extreme left and the tableland of Douau- 
mont on the extreme right. 
Now the Hill of Poi\ re has in front of it, filling up the 
bend in the Meuse, a narrow falling ridge of land called, 
as we have seen, the Hill of Talou. 
A few men may ha\c been left for a short time 
by the French upon this advanced ridge, but not for any 
purpose of holding it permancntlj'. For the Meuse 
was behind it, and the retirement of any large bodies 
from it would therefore have been difficult. 
Already in the course of FMday it had been aban- 
doned. 
On the other hand Talou could not serve as a point 
from whence the Germans could work against the hill of 
Poivre on account of a factor which is very important 
in all this fighting and which we have not hitherto 
mentioned. All the further bank of the Meuse (a great 
" S " of hills from north of Chattancourt to the abandoned 
fort upon the ridge of Charnv), remains in the hands 
of the I'-rench and has indeed not been attacked by the 
Germans as yet, save with distant heavy artillery fire. 
At ranges of from 3,000 to 8,000 yards from the left bank 
of the river, the French guns beyond the Meuse can 
direct their fire against the Hill of Talou and its neigh- 
bourhood. Most of them can also fire upon troops 
attacking the river end of the sides of the Hill of Poivre. 
Poivre resisted successfully all that day, Saturday, the 
26th, and still stands at the moment of writing. 
The Germans came in mass after mass up Poivre 
Hill, up against the easier slopes, which stand north of 
and in front of Louvemont, out of the wood of F'osses 
and through the Farm of Chambrette (which they 
occupied), hut with f articular wcif^ht ai^ainsl the Plateau 
oj Douaumont. It was on this sector that the Germans 
