e
between the two valleys was captured by the French on April 17,
1915. The fighting here was continued throughout May, 1915.

The next scene of activity was north, where there was a wooded
plateau between the Moselle and the Meuse. Here the Germans had a
salient which was long and quite narrow. The point of this salient
was at St. Mihiel, the other side of the Meuse. This point was well
protected by the artillery at Camp des Romains, which controlled
the section for ten miles in any direction. To the north of the
salient there was a railroad from Etain to Metz. There was another
line twenty miles to the south. This ran from Metz to Thiaucourt
by the Rupt de Mad. The village of Vigneulles was about in the
center of the narrow part of the salient, and on the road to St.
Mihiel. There was a better road to the south through Apremont. A
strategic railroad had been built from Thiaucourt by Vigneulles
to St. Mihiel, down the Gap of Spada, which is an opening between
the hills of the Meuse Valley. The plateau of Les Eparges is north
of Vigneulles. The plateau is approximately 1,000 feet above the
sea level, and forms the eastern border of the heights of the Meuse.
There was high land on the southern side of the salient, along
which ran the main road from Commercy to Pont-a-Mousson. Within the
salient the land was rough and, to a considerable extent, covered
with wood.

The French did not plan to make an 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 s