March 2, 1916. 
LAND AND WATER 
at last came near to effecting their purpose. It is liero 
that they will perhaps continue to attempt success, and 
we must particularly note the way in which their assault 
upon it was delivered upon that Saturday morning. 
We have already seen upon the sketch map II and 
noted in the text the numerous deep ravines which bite 
right into the tableland of Douaumont. Ravines with 
steep and usually wooded slopes, the ends of which reach 
up to, and fade upon, the flat of the plateau. 
It was up one of these thus biting deep into the 
plateau that the great attack of last Saturday morning, 
the 26th, was launched by the enemy and the result of it 
was successful in seizing the highest point of the table- 
land above. 
The nature of this d':tail, which might lia\e deter- 
mined the whole battle, deserves our close attention, and 
I will describe it as ininutcly as is possible from the rare 
and disjointed accounts which have come to hand. 
The reader will first note isolated on the plain of the 
Woeuvre, a [double hill (which 1 have marked L upon 
sketch II) and which is known in that covmtrysidc as "Th<' 
Twins of Or'nes " from the village at its feet. The heavy 
artillery of the enemy which concentrated upon the plateau 
of Uouaumont lay largely behind these heights and in 
the woods immediately beyond to the north at a range of 
from 7,500 to 8.000 yards. It is said that the German 
Emperor watched the operations from the soutliern 
slopes of these twin hills, which command in their \ie\\ 
the ravine leading up to the plateau of Douaumont. 
This ravine I have marked upon the sketch map H 
with letter R — R. It is known in the neighbourhood as 
the "Val" or Valley of Bezoneau.x. Its upper part is 
wooded upon high steep banks and the semicircle 
at the end, the wood being generally known as that of 
La Vauche. It was up this ravine and through the covering 
of the woods clothing it that the great attack of last 
Saturday morning was launched. The German infantry 
also swarmed up the spur which stretches north-east- 
wards from Douaumont and the site of the old Fort. 
As they passed tlirough the wood and as they approached 
it in the oj^en valley below, they were subjected to a very 
murderous fire from the I-'rench artillery ; they received 
the full force of the French rifle and machine gun fire as 
they left the wood and began to top the slopes. 
There would seem to have been at least five, and 
perhaps si.x, separate attacks, all of which were beaten 
back with very severe losses. A seventh attack launched 
just before 10 o'clock in the morning and undertaken by 
the 24th Brandenburg regiment carried the 300 yards 
between the edge of the escarpment and the ruined remains 
of the old Fort. The survivors swarmed over the broken 
heaps of concrete and masonry which afforded perfect 
cover from the rifle and machine guns in front of them, 
but also, of course, afforded a strictly limited area from 
which they could not immerge, and which the French 
could, in turn, deluge with long range shell fire. If at 
this moment, before midday on Saturday, the 26th, the 
assailants had had the momentum to go further than the 
ruined site of the old Fort, the wliole position would have 
been turned and lost as surely as if the Poivre at its 
other end had been forced. 
The French counter-offen.sive was launched inmie- 
diately with the strength of two diyisions, which probably 
suffered heavily enough, but which succeeded in flooding 
past the ruins of the Fort upon either side and holding the 
plateau, with the exception of the " pocket " formed by 
the ruins of the Fort, which apparently the survivors of the 
24th Brandenburg regiment continued to hold. It would 
seem that they were still holding those ruins, though 
nearly encircled, when darkness fell upon the evening of 
Monday, the 28th. 
The position of the Fort of Douaumont, giving a view 
right down to the Meuse valley, five miles away, and to 
the higher towers of Verdun itself, as well as slightly 
dominating the whole plateau, was, obviously, of great 
value to the enemy. 
It is tr;tic that taking and holding a culminating 
point of this" kind does not exactly mean what it meant in 
the older warfare, when bombardment by the liigh 
explosives at very long range did not exist. You 
cannot bring up artillery for instance to such a position, 
nor does its slight advantage of a few feet in height over 
the sitrrounding fields enable you from it to carry the 
trenches that face you. But if it could be freely used, it 
would give observation, and the reinforcement of those 
who first seized it would admit a turther advance which 
would henceforth • be easy through being down hill. 
To lise a loose metaphor, to stjcurc the position of 
D.)uaumont heights by a large body with ample com- 
munication behind it, would mean the scaling o( tjie 
parapet. But a small body nearly surrounded and not 
having good communications behind it for ample rein- 
forcement, is in a \ery different position. .Until we 
know thaf all attempts to seize formally the plateau of 
Douaiunont have failed, the position remains critical. But 
the successful counter-offensive of the F'rench on Saturday 
morning destroyed the immediate advantage which the 
cnemv had for one moment clearlv obtained. 
Trench Line 021 7^ndcu/7/i^Ii^28 
£R 
The situation by noon of Saturday and continuously 
through Sunday and Monday was, in this narrow field, 
that of sketch IV. 
Meanwhile the action continued and developed 
further south and east. While assaults were being 
delivered all the way round the horse-shoe from the 
Meuse to Douaumont itself, further attacks were launched 
during Sunday in the plain against the little projecting 
knob "of the "plateau of Douaumont which stands jtist 
north of the village of Vaux, and down in the plain 
there was very heavy fighting for the station of Fix 
on the main line frorn Paris to Metz. This station is 
shown on sketch I, about a mile and a half from the 
village, which gives it its name. All this part of the 
plain is commanded by a conspicuous lump or billow of 
land that is flatteringly called " Hill 255." This 
lump, or open field, is nowhere more than 100 ft. above 
the brooks of the neighbourhood, and is 50 or 60 ft. 
above the level meadows round its base. It is not 
marked on my sketch, but stands about z\ miles due 
south of Fix station. But field artillery working from 
the slopes just behind it commands the fields. .\ 
very \'iolent effort was therefore made by the enemy to 
take this height all during Sunday and Monday, but up to 
Monday evening they had failed. During the Monday 
also, the 28th, the operations continued to develop south- 
wards as far as Manheulles, which was violently attacked 
from the east all day, but where the French held the line 
and no impression was made beyond a slight retirement 
to the western end of the village. 
At this incomplete stage in the great operation, we 
are compelled to leave the account at the moment of 
writing, Tuesday, February 2qth. I'urther news, whicii 
may decide whether the continued enemy offensive shall 
obtain the ad\'antage, or whether the defence shall be 
securely established, has not come to hand. 
But in the news of the next few days this point 
must be clearly and constantly borne in mind : if the 
defence holds the enemy has suffered a severe defeat, 
probably of lasting effect, for his tosses in the attack, 
deli\ered as he has delivered it and continued for so long 
hjive been incomparably heavier than his opponents. 
H. Belloc. 
[O'ccing to the exceptional importance of ike 
battle of Verdun, and the space therefore given to 
it, the continuation of Mr. Belloc's article on 
German losses has had to be held over tintil next iceek. 
