t. The German battalion
that held the place had been associated with the work of preparing its
defenses and were practically either all taken prisoner or killed, so
far as could be learned. They had sworn that they would never lose
Thiepval; but the deeper the dugouts the farther upstairs men inside
have to climb in order to get to the door before the enemy, who arrives
at the threshold as the whirlwind barrage lifts.

As I have said, Thiepval was not on the very crest of the Ridge and on
the summit the same elaborate works had been built to hold this high
ground. We watched other attacks under curtains of fire as the British
pressed on. Sometimes we could see the Germans moving out in the open
from their dugouts at the base of the hill in St. Pierre Divion and
driven to cover as the British guns sniped at them with shrapnel.
Resistlessly the British infantry under its covering barrages kept on
till the crest and all its dugouts and galleries were gained, thus
breaking back the old first-line fortifications stage by stage and
forcing the German into the open, where he must dig anew on equal terms.

The capture of Thiepval did not mean that its ruins were to have any
rest from shells, for the German guns had their turn. They seemed fond
of sending up spouts from a little pond in the foreground, which had no
effect except to shower passing soldiers with dirty water. However much
the pond was beaten it was still there; and I was struck by the fact
that this was a costly and unsuccessful system of drainage for such an
efficient people as the Germans to apply.

XXX

FIVE GENERALS AND VERDUN

Sixty miles an hour to meet General Joffre--Joffre somewhat like
Grant--Two figures which France will remember for all time--Joffre
and Castelnau--Two very old friends--At Verdun--What Napoleon and
Wellington might have thought--A staff whose feet and mind never
dragged--The hero of Douaumont, General Nivelle--Simplicity--Men who
believe in giving blows--A true soldier--A prized photograph of
Joffre--The drama of Douaumont--General Mangin, corps commander at
Verdun--An eye that said "Attack!"--A five-o'clock-in-the-morning
corps--The old fortress town, Verdun--The effort of
Colossus--Germany's high water mark--Thrifty fighters, the
French--Germany good enough to win against Rumania, but not at
Verdun.

That spirited friend Lieutenant T., at home in an English or a French
mess or walking