L A N D & ^^• A T 1-: k 
April 6, 1916 
object is to put liis troops into tlvat particular geographical 
area. 
Upon Sketch I the reader will at once perceive two 
subsidiary small salients, the one marked by an X, which 
we may call the salient of Uouaumont, and the one sur- 
rounding the point marked Z on the other side of the 
Meuse, which niav be called the salient of Bethincourt. 
Both these salients he has been trying to reduce for some 
time and has been particularly trying to reduce this week 
by attacks at their corners in the direction of the arrows 
upon the Sketch. 
Let us before going further regard each of these cffort- 
in detail, dealing first with the^westeni one X against the 
plateau of Douaumont and the ravine of Vaux, and nc.vt 
with the salient of Bithincourt Z. 
The Attack on Vaux and Douaumont 
The enemy has for weeks past had the French in front 
of him in about the situation shown in Map II, where 
the French front, as it has stood for all those weeks. 
is marked by a thick black line. He is in the ruins of 
the old fort of Douaumont and he is in the ruins of Douau- 
A I ^"^'^^ 1 , — , |1 
/i O 1000 , 2000ffaT^i3000 i I 
Dauuaujnt/X 
Vilk^e '/l''ti\iT(ivtdi^///, 
^ ' VhmamonfA 
'ortofVcaix 
Tudhsittjerman advance AprtlT^'icstApnlJ''^ 
TresentLme x k xx x « ^ 
mont village. He has attacked over and over agam in 
the general directions reprisented by the thin arrows 
starting from A, and he has attacked over and over 
again towards the ravine marked by the bold arrow C 
• and from the direction represented by the sheaf of thin 
arrows starting from the point B. In the last week this 
series of efforts (for which combined he has over the space 
of forty days brought into play lirst and last at least six 
divisions) have been continued with much greater effect. 
Indeed, the attack on Vaux, in its entirety has formed 
an excellent example of the fashion in which the present 
phase of the great action is developing ; for it has shown 
us a German offensive procuring some real tactical results, 
and the corresponding necessity on the part of the 
French to counter-attack, the whole object being, to 
repeat what was said just above, that \yhatcver be the 
German object the whole French object in this business is to 
make the enemy lose disproportionately in men and never 
to run the risk of considerable local loss to themselves 
save in the rare cases where the enemy at some immensf 
sacrifice of effectives, has managed to occuiiy a point of 
real importance to his further plans. With these premises 
in mind, let us see what the details of the affair of Vau.\ 
have been. 
Attack on Vaux 
Upon Tlulr^day night he attacked in very great force on 
the north side of the ravine at C, that is from tiie direc- 
tion of the short arrow at D, and failed. Later in the 
night he tried again, this time up towards the ravine 
from the south-east and from Vaux village and carried 
the ruins of the whok- village. On the F'riday, 
with new troops, but not until late in the afternoon, he 
made a vigorous eiYort to clinch the matter by getting 
up the ravine C from Vaux and right up to Douaumont 
old fort uj) on the plateau. He jm-ssed thi> diniciiit 
adventure ...with very dens'j forces indeed and lost pro- 
portionately heavily, but failed. Upon the Saturday 
morning he tried again and failed again. 
Upon Saturday afternoon or evening, and apparently 
over on to the Sunday, he deUvercd and pressed the last 
and most formidable attack. To understand that attack 
we must look at the Sketch Map III more detailed than 
Sketch 11 just presented, and showing all the features of 
that neighbourhood. 
SC:S<: 
UI 
' Original Line 
by Oennaas on AprUi'^ 
As you go up the main street of Vaux you come out 
at the end of the houses on the western end of the village 
upon a large pond. There is a by-road or lane starting 
from this pond and running up the ravine, of which 1 have' 
just sjwken. This lane mounts rather steeply through 
woods and comes out into the open on the summit of the 
plateau near the old fort, faUing into the main road which 
serves the plateau and the fort at a point where the last 
of the redoubts Hanking the old forts is situated. This 
])oint I have marked on the acconiijanying Sketch 111 
with the letter R. The wood to the right, or ncjrth. 
of the lane that comes up from \'aux is called by the 
general name of the wood of Haudromont ; the wood on 
the left, or south side, of the lane, which covers the fall 
of the hill, is called the wood of Caillettes. The line upon 
which the two armies were struggling, the two parallel 
lines of trenches, ran, a week ago, so that the ruins of 
Douaumont village, the old fort and the extreme redoubt 
at R were just in (ierman hands. The whole of the lane 
was held by the French, and so was all the western part 
of Vaux village beyond the church. 
The (iermans, as v\e have seen, carried upon the Friday 
night the w* stern houses of the village. They also 
carried the ground round the pond, and so possessed 
themselves of the beginning of the lane. Their subse- 
(pient action was this : They struck not only up the 
lane, but also from the north, from Haudromont wood, 
and swept through the wood of Caillettes. There was a 
mopient when they were thus masters of all the Vaux ravine 
and had made of Douaumont village, or rather of the ground 
just south of it, a very dangerous little salient, and 
at the same time had created, by the same stroke, 
another dangerous salient in the promontory and plateau 
upon which slan«ls the old fort of Vaux. Had they 
maintained their footing here, a rather large slice of the 
plateau of Douaumont would ultimately have had to be 
evacuated, and probably the promontory of the plateau 
of Vaux fort as well. Had he held Caillettes Wood 
the enemy would soon have had a considerably extended 
line u})on the eastern and highest escarpment of the 
heights of the Meusc instead of the very narrow front he 
now has upon the. same heights at Douaumont alone. 
On such an extended line occupying the flat top of the 
hills he could have deployed a formidable striking force. 
Tile area he had' just gained was therefore made the 
object of one of those rare counter-attacks of which the 
French are very diary, but which they will run to the 
expense of when the local conditions of the defence seem 
to make it necessary. Immediately following upon the 
(jernian occupation of the Caillettes wood an intensive 
bombardment was delivered from the French side upon 
that ruined mass of beech, and upon Monday the ^rd, a 
sharp counter-atta'k reoccupied the Wi':'jle of it, with the 
