attack on the salient at its apex.
The artillery at Camp des Romains would be too effective. The French
plan was to press in the sides of the salient and finally control the
St. Mihiel communications. The southeastern side of the salient, at
the beginning of April, 1915, extended from St. Mihiel to Camp des
Romains, thence to Bois d'Ailly, Apremont, Boudonville, Regnieville,
and finally to the Moselle, three miles north of Pont-a-Mousson. The
northwestern side was marked by an imaginary line drawn from Etain in
the north past Fresnes, over the Les Eparges Heights, and thence by
Lamorville and Spada to St. Mihiel. The place of most importance, from
a military point of view, was the Les Eparges plateau, which
controlled the greater part of the northern section of the salient.
The taking of this plateau would naturally be the first step in
capturing Vigneulles. But the Germans had converted Les Eparges into
what had the appearance of being an impregnable fort, when they took
it on September 21, 1914. Their trenches lined the slopes, and
everything had been made secure for a possible siege. The French in
February and March, 1915, however, had taken the village of Les
Eparges and a portion of the steep side on the northwest. But of
necessity they made progress slowly, because they were in such an
exposed position whenever they sought the top. They had planned an
assault for April 5, 1915, and, in a heavy rain, with the slope a
great mass of deep mud, the French gained some territory. This they
were unable to hold when the Germans made a counterattack on the
following morning, April 6, 1915. That night the soldiers of the
republic forced their way up with the bayonet, taking 1,500 yards of
trenches, by the morning of April 7, 1915. Thereupon the Germans
brought up reenforcements, which were rendered useless by the French
artillery, which prevented them from going forward to the battle line.
The German artillery used the same tactics, with the result that the
French reenforcements were kept out of the fight. After the cannons
had completed their work, both sides were apparently willing to rest
for the remainder of the day. But on the morning of April 8, 1915, two
regiments of infantry and a battalion of Chasseurs forced their way to
the top, which they took after an hour's hard fighting. That pushed
the Germans back to the eastern slope. Then the battle was fought on
during the remainder of the day, which found the French, at