aspect. From
east to west may be seen:

[Sidenote: A wooded glacis.]

(1) A glacis about eight kilometres in width, the gentle slopes of which
are covered by numerous little woods. The road from Saint-Hilaire to
Saint-Souplet, with the Baraque de l'Epine de Vedegrange, marks
approximately its axis.

[Sidenote: Valley of Souain.]

(2) The hollow, at the bottom of which is the village of Souain and of
which the first German line followed the further edge. The road from
Souain to Pomme-Py describes the radius of this semi-circle. The farm of
Navarin, at a distance of three and a half kilometres to the north of
Souain, stands on the top of the hills.

[Sidenote: Second German line.]

(3) To the north of Perthes a comparatively tranquil region of uniform
aspect, forming between the wooded hills of the Trou Bricot and those of
the Butte du Mesnil a passage three kilometres wide, barred by several
lines of trenches and ending at a series of heights, the Butte de
Souain, Hills 195 and 201, and the Butte de Tahure, surmounted by the
second German line.

[Sidenote: A strong German position.]

(4) To the north of Le Mesnil, a very strong position, bastioned on the
west by two twin heights (Mamelle Nord and Trapeze), on the east by the
Butte du Mesnil. The German trenches formed between these two bastions a
powerful curtain, behind which extended as far as Tahure a thickly
wooded, undulating region.

(5) To the north of Beausejour a bare terrain easily practicable, with a
gentle rise in the direction of Ripon as far as the farm of Maisons de
Champagne.

[Sidenote: Eastern flank of the German line.]

(6) To the north of Massiges, Hills numbered 191 and 199, describing on
the map the figure of a hand, very strongly constructed and constituting
the eastern flank of the whole German line. This tableland slopes down
gently in the direction of Ville-sur-Tourbe.

[Sidenote: German system of trench defenses.]

The achievements of our troops from September 25 to October 3, 1915, in
this region may be thus summarised: They scaled the whole of the glacis
of l'Epine de Vedegrange; they occupied the ridge of the hollow at
Souain; debouched in the opening to the north of Perthes to the slopes
of Hill 195 and as far as the Butte de Tahure; carried the western
bastions of the curtain of le Mesnil; advanced as far as Maisons de
Champagne and took by assault the "hand" of Massiges. That is to say
that they captured an area about f