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THE LAST DAYS OF FORT VAUX
THE LAST DAYS OF FORT VAUX
THE LAST DAYS OF FORT VAUX MARCH 9–JUNE 7, 1916 BY HENRY BORDEAUX AUTHOR OF ‘LA CROISÉE DES CHEMINS,’ ‘LES ROQUEVILLARD,’ ETC. TRANSLATED BY PAUL V. COHN, B.A. THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, Ltd. London, Edinburgh, and New York AUX SOLDATS DE VERDUN The Author of “ The Last Days of Fort Vaux ,” M. Henry Bordeaux, is a native of Savoy who has distinguished himself in more than one department of letters before performing his duty manfully in the field, and then as official historian of the Great War. Apa
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PREFACE
PREFACE
Verdun —those two syllables that have already become historic ring out to-day like the brazen tones of a trumpet. In France, no one can hear them without a thrill of pride. In England, in America, if any speaker utters them, the whole audience rises as one man.... Of the battle, of the victory of Verdun, here is a single episode: that of Fort Vaux, beleaguered for three months and lost for a brief space on June 7. Its defence takes us back past centuries emblazoned with military renown, and reca
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BOOK I I THE FORT
BOOK I I THE FORT
In the great squadron of forts which shield Verdun from a distance, like a fleet marshalled on the open sea in front of a harbour, Fort Vaux might claim the rank of a cruiser. More modern than Souville and Tavannes, which are caponier forts, not so vast or so fully equipped as Douaumont, whose girdle contains a vast quantity of turrets, cupolas, casemates, barracks, and strongholds, it plants its levelled walls more firmly in the soil. Built of masonry about 1880, it was reconstructed in concret
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II WHAT THE FORT SAW (Before February 21, 1916)
II WHAT THE FORT SAW (Before February 21, 1916)
From the earliest days of that blazing month of August, 1914, when the clash of nations began, Fort Vaux, plying with its questions the Woevre plain on the Thionville and Metz side, was awaiting on tenter-hooks the results of the first collision. At night it saw the long glittering arms of the Verdun searchlights rake the skies above its head, scanning the stars for Zeppelins or Taubes. Several regiments, marching past it, had taken up their station farther eastward, in front of Jeandelize or Co
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BOOK II THE BATTLE I THE FLIGHT OF THE RAVENS
BOOK II THE BATTLE I THE FLIGHT OF THE RAVENS
The observers on aeroplanes or balloons who saw the volcano burst into flame declared that they could not mark on their maps all the batteries that were in action. The woods of Consenvoye, Moirey, Hingry, and Grémilly, the forests of Spincourt and Mangiennes, the hillsides of Romagne and Mormont, breathed fire like myriads of monstrous dragons. The commander of a company of light infantry, who was wounded in the foot in Caures Wood, stated: “The intensity of the firing was such that when we came
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II THE ROAD (March 11)
II THE ROAD (March 11)
Here is Verdun, like a Florence of the North in the midst of its amphitheatre of hills. After days of frost and snow, so pitiless to our men in the demolished trenches which are now mere conglomerations of shell-holes, a soft spring air has suddenly come to relax the numbed limbs and the frozen earth. The surprise is so great that it brings to unaccustomed lips that charming and unexpected name of Florence. It is the hour of sunset, a sunset that bathes the undulating line of the hills in gold a
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III THE MASTER OF THE HOUR (March 14)
III THE MASTER OF THE HOUR (March 14)
In the courtyard of those Verdun barracks where I spent such a brief night, there is a slightly larger crowd than usual. And every one follows with his eyes two Generals who are walking at a leisurely pace. One is dressed in a sky-blue uniform, like the rank and file, like every one. His tanned face, every expression of which I know well—it combines great kindliness with an intellect always in search of certainty and precision—betrays the secret that racks him. He is in command of the most expos
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IV THE FIRST FIGHTS ROUND VAUX (March 9, 10, 11)
IV THE FIRST FIGHTS ROUND VAUX (March 9, 10, 11)
From the road, I see soldiers stretched out on the grass, basking in the spring sun, fishing in the river, or playing ball like schoolboys. Motor-omnibuses picked them up suddenly, not far from the Verdun battlefield, to carry them to this abode of rustic peace. They do not even hear the guns any longer. It is strange to contrast this bucolic scene with the fiery furnace of Vaux. Among the valleys of the Meuse region, which are generally rather grim and gloomy, the valley of La Saulx is the most
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Extract from the Diary of the Abbé C——, Chaplain to the 3rd Battalion of Light Infantry.
Extract from the Diary of the Abbé C——, Chaplain to the 3rd Battalion of Light Infantry.
“ Thursday the 16th. —Great activity during the night. The enemy shows obvious signs of anxiety and nervousness. Numerous rockets, constant work at their auxiliary defences. “All this delights our men. So they are afraid! So that irresistible dash which was to reach its climax at Verdun, and to lead to a triumphal entry at the Champs Élysées, is being frittered away in dug-outs! Feverishly each man burrows himself in. The bayonet is abandoned for the pickaxe, and instead of those miraculous marc
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VI REFLECTIONS ON DEATH
VI REFLECTIONS ON DEATH
The same day. It is five o’clock in the evening. I go up to the top of a hill which overlooks Verdun. It is a glorious spring evening. The curves of the Meuse gleam in the setting sun and form a trail of fire on the dim plain, like a line of motor-transports rushing through the night. The air is warm with caresses. And in this peaceful countryside nothing moves that is not for use in battle, nothing exists save for war. Towards Froideterre and Souville, the shells as they burst raise dense pilla
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VII THE ENEMY’S EVIDENCE
VII THE ENEMY’S EVIDENCE
I have spoken, without hiding anything, of the hard life led by our soldiers in the region of Vaux, the terrific assaults and the appalling bombardment that they had to endure, the difficulty of obtaining rations and reliefs, the lack of shelter, the lack of water, the lack of sleep. But in war it is not enough to suffer, to resist, to hold out. One must strike the enemy and drive him back. The task of the army of Verdun is to wear out the German Army before Verdun. Does our artillery fire work
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Diary of Captain Delvert (May 18–24)
Diary of Captain Delvert (May 18–24)
“ Thursday, May 18. —My trench by the side of the railway commands the ravine of Vaux, which is riddled like a sieve with shell-craters full of water. “That ruin in front, some sixty or eighty yards from the village, is the ‘western house of Vaux’ mentioned in the communiqués. “The village is now nothing more than a mass of crumbling walls, which our 155 mm. guns are constantly battering. “In front of headquarters is Fort Vaux. To the north and east it is surrounded by the Boche trenches. “The d
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BOOK III THE STRANGLEHOLD I STONES AND MEN
BOOK III THE STRANGLEHOLD I STONES AND MEN
What is the condition of that luckless fort of Vaux, which for a hundred days, since February 21, has received its daily ration of shells: ten thousand on an average for the district, and of all calibre, but chiefly of the heaviest, the 210 mm., the 305 mm., and even the 380 mm.? It must have been hammered, pounded, bruised, crushed, scoured, pulverized: unusable and uninhabitable, can it be anything but an indiscriminate heap of stone and earth, of rubbish of all kinds transformed into dust or
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Captain Delvert’s Diary, June 2–5
Captain Delvert’s Diary, June 2–5
“ Friday, June 2. —A night of agony, broken by continual alarms. Yesterday we were not replenished. Thirst is what troubles us more than anything. Biscuits are being looked for.... A shell has just made my pen slip. It fell not very far off. It landed in headquarters by the door, and pulverized my quartermaster-sergeant, poor little C—— . Everything suffered from the concussion. I was covered with earth, but was quite unhurt—not a scratch! “ 8 o’clock P.M. —The Boches opposite us are emerging fr
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III THE STRANGLEHOLD TIGHTENS IN THE EAST (June 2)
III THE STRANGLEHOLD TIGHTENS IN THE EAST (June 2)
On June 2, at six o’clock in the morning, Colonel Tahon, commanding the 142nd Regiment, takes over the command of the sector stretching from Fort Vaux to Dicourt bottom, to the south-east of the fort. The plateau on which the fort is situated makes a bend immediately to the east towards La Horgne bottom. Damloup village lies along the border of the Woevre, at a point where the ground falls away from a promontory that separates the La Horgne ravine and La Gayette bottom. This La Gayette bottom sk
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BOOK IV THE LAST WEEK I THE BATTLE AT THE FORT (June 2)
BOOK IV THE LAST WEEK I THE BATTLE AT THE FORT (June 2)
Those who contrived to escape from the fort have related the whole drama. All the shifting scenes here delineated, whether outside or inside, are based on the accounts of those who have seen them and lived through them. The witnesses in this case are themselves the actors. Finally, the fort itself spoke. Up to the last moment, up to the death-agony, it communicated with the high command by means of its signals and its carrier-pigeons. The day of June 1 is heavy with anguish. The storm slants off
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II THE FORT APPEALS
II THE FORT APPEALS
“Roland says: ‘I will blow a blast on my horn, and Charles, who is passing through the gorges, will hear it. I avow to you that the Franks will turn back.’ “Roland has put the horn to his lips. He grasps it firmly and blows with might and main. The mountains are high, and the sound goes on in long-drawn-out echoes. Those echoes were heard at a distance of thirty leagues. It comes to the ears of Charles and all his men. The king says: ‘Our troops are fighting.’ “Count Roland, with great difficult
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III THE SORTIE
III THE SORTIE
On June 4 the water ration was half a pint. Half a pint for men who have fought and are fighting in the haze of bombs, of flame-throwers, of asphyxiating gases! Half a pint for fever patients, tossing uneasily at the overcrowded dressing-station, amid the dead and the dying! Piteous wails and entreaties are heard on all sides. Silence, however, is instantly restored when Major Raynal puts in an appearance. Half a pint, and no more. Who was it that asked for a larger ration? Why, as things are, h
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IV SOME ONE RE-ENTERS THE FORT
IV SOME ONE RE-ENTERS THE FORT
Cadet Buffet, of the 141st Regiment, who assisted Captain Tabourot when the latter was dying, and who left the fort during the night of June 4–5 with a detachment of his company, also belongs to the 1916 class. He is the son of a working man. When quite a child he lost his mother, and was brought up at an orphanage. He proved an excellent pupil, gained his Bachelor’s degree in classics, and was being trained for the teaching profession when the war caught him in its grasp. The would-be schoolmas
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V THE LAST WORDS
V THE LAST WORDS
The effort to extricate Vaux has not been relaxed for a moment, but the German attacks and ours succeed each other, dash against each other, anticipate each other, cancel each other. Neither side contrives to forge ahead. On the right, the enemy is unable to debouch from Damloup, and spends his strength in vain against the battery. On the left, his way is blocked in Fumin Wood, and R¹ continues to withstand him. The battle drags along in the hard-pressed, flame-ravaged, starving fort, where the
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Part I
Part I
“ General Headquarters of the Attacking Troops North-east of Vaux , June 4 . “On June 2, at four o’clock in the morning, the four attacking companies were drawn up in a semicircle round Fort Vaux, at about 100 yards’ distance; at one swoop they pushed forward even to the ditch, which, 10 yards broad and 5 deep, encloses the whole earthwork, in the form of an irregular trapezoid, within its sheer walls built of large square stones. Across the appalling curtain fire of the French we had only been
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Part II
Part II
(Delayed in Transmission and Mutilated by the Censor.) “ General Headquarters of the Attacking Troops North-east of Vaux , June 7 . “For five days and five nights the terrific combat has been raging without respite in the interior of Fort Vaux, up to the moment when the remnant of the intrepid garrison, deprived of their last means of resistance, surrendered to the victors. “I have described at length the engagements of June 2 and 3; the fighting was continued on the following days with unparall
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From Cadet Bégouen’s Notebook
From Cadet Bégouen’s Notebook
“ June 8. “So we have started in miscellaneous contingents to fulfil one of the most perilous missions, one where there is need of mutual knowledge among the men concerned and of good officers and N.C.O.’s who have confidence in you. “The guide marches slowly at our head. The men know their orders—all must follow. We go through a copse of dense undergrowth, where a deep communication trench is hidden, a place that cannot be taken under the enemy’s fire. We sink in the watery mud up to our calves
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III THE HARVEST OF THE FUTURE
III THE HARVEST OF THE FUTURE
Vaux is lost, for the time being, but Vaux will be regained, and the battle of Verdun is being won day by day. Day by day the meaning of the Verdun battle grows clearer. The infantryman who only knows his trench mates is an atom of a vast army distributed over all the fronts: his blood and sweat will mingle in history with the blood and sweat of his unknown and remote brothers. A scrap of disputed territory, which seems to the men involved an end in itself, is really nothing but a point in the v
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