possession of the French advanced line on Forges Brook and
were in a position to strike at the most formidable line of French
defense, the Avocourt-Hill 304-Mort Homme-Cumieres front.

The French General Staff during this gigantic struggle was constantly
guided by the following rule: Make the Germans pay dearly for each of
their advances. When it was believed that in order to defend a certain
point too many sacrifices would have to be made, they evacuated that
point. As soon as the Germans took hold of the point, however, they
were the target of a terrific fire from all of the French guns, which
were put to work at once. This was what General Petain, commanding the
Verdun army, called "the crushing fire."

[Illustration: Verdun Northwest District in Detail.]

On April 9, 1916, a general attack was made by the Germans on the
front between Haucourt and Cumieres, and simultaneously assaults were
delivered north and west of Avocourt and in Malancourt Wood and the
wood near Haudromont Farm. The struggle for the possession of Mort
Homme developed into one of the most notable and important battles of
Verdun. The attacking front of the Germans ran from west of Avocourt
to beyond the Meuse as high as the wood in the Haudromont Farm. This
general attack, one of the most violent that the Germans had made at
Verdun, failed completely. On the left of the French, a little strip
of land along the southern edge of the Avocourt Wood was won, but in a
dashing counterattack the French recaptured it. In the center the
Germans were repulsed everywhere, except south of Bethincourt, where
they succeeded in penetrating an advanced work. On the right bank, at
the side of Pepper Hill, the Germans only gained a foothold in one
trench east of Vacherauville. The main summit of Mort Homme, Hill 295,
as well as Hill 304, the principal positions, remained firmly in the
hands of the French.

A captain of the French General Staff, and who was an eyewitness, has
described in a French publication some striking phases of the fight:

"It is Sunday, and the sun shines brilliantly above--a real spring
Sunday. The artillery duel was long and formidable. Mort Homme was
smoking like a volcano with innumerable craters. The attack took place
about noon. At the same time, from this same place, lines of
sharpshooters could be seen between the Corbeaux Wood and Cumieres and
the gradient at the east of Mort Homme. They must have come from the
Raffecourt or from t