The 56th, with Captain Vincent, was in reserve at Mormont Farm. At daybreak on 21 February, the 59th was at the front line, under the orders of Commander Renouard. And provisions in terms of munitions were proportionate. The enemy were armed with 850 well-adapted German pieces, including 540 heavy artillery. Half were modern 75mm tank guns, but the others were slow-firing heavy artillery (de Bange models) impossible to move about. Along 12 kilometres of the front line in the main area of attack, 270 French cannons provided support. The French, with reinforcements from the 165th infantry regiment, totalled around 1,200. Its four regiments totalled between 8,000 and 10,000 men. It was Germany's 21st infantry division, the first rung of the 18 th corps, that confronted the hunters squad. The German formation comprised three army corps : To the west, the 7th reserve corps were in charge of taking the Bois d'Haumont in the centre, the 18th corps was put in charge of the Bois des Caures to the east, the 3rd corps was to attack the Bois de Ville et l'Herbebois, then push towards Douaumont. His left-hand brigade (General Rogerie) has a battalion (of the 164th infantry regiment) in the Bois de Ville, and a reinforced battalion (164th infantry regiments and two companies of the 243rd infantry regiments) in Herbebois.
To the east, the 51st infantry division was on the line between the road to Ville and the area near Bois de Maucourt. His right-hand brigade (143rd, Colonel Vaulet) had two battalions (of the 165 th and 362 nd infantry regiments) in the Bois d'Haumont and the Driant group in the Bois des Caures. In the west, the 72nd infantry division under General Bapst occupied the area that extended from Meuse to the road to Ville. On 21 February, the Bois des Caures was the turning point of two divisions of the 30 th Army Corps under General Chrétien. īois des Caures in the confrontations of 1916 The colonel's outpost was a concrete shelter close to the junction and structure RE. This consisted of small cage structures designated by the letter S followed by a number. Further to the rear, in the woods, was the main resistance line. At the northern edge was the line of the ”grands gardes”, a collection of isolated trenches covered by a continuous mesh of barbed wire. The woods were composed of three positions staggered at different depths. Bois des Caures is surrounded in the west by Bois d'Haumont and to the east by Bois de Ville and l'Herbebois. The fork, situated in the wood is an important point on the terrain. It is towards this point that two branches of the road running from Verdun and passing though Vacherauville and Mormont Farm lead. Three kilometres long and 800 metres wide, to the north it overlooked the front line, beyond which lay the towns of Flabas and Ville-devant-Chaumont. The Bois des Caures is a slightly elevated wood stretching southwest to northwest.
0 kommentar(er)
