The Battle of Champagne must be considered in the light of a series of assaults, executed at the same moment, in parallel or convergent directions and having for their object either the capture or the hemming in of the first German position, the units being instructed to re-form in a continuous line before the second position. In order to follow the development clearly, the terrain must be divided into several sectors, in each of which the operations, although closely coordinated, assumed, as a consequence either of the nature of the ground or of the peculiarities of the German defenses, a different character. The unity of the action was nevertheless insured by the simultaneity of the rush, which carried all the troops beyond the first position, past the batteries, to the defenses established by the Germans on the heights to the south of Py. At the two extremities of the French attacking front, where the advance was subjected to converging fires and to counterattacks on the flanks, the offensive practically failed--or at least made no progress. The fighting that took place in Auberive and round about Servon was marked by several heroic features, but it led to no further result than to hold and immobilize the German forces on the wings while the attack was progressing in the center.
[Illustration: Detail Map of Battle in Champagne, September, 1915.]
In accordance with the proposed arrangement of divisions into sectors, we will take as Number--
(1) The sector of the Épine de Vedegrange: Here the first German line was established at the base of a wide glacis covered with clumps of trees, and formed a series of salients running into each other. At certain points it ran along the edge of the woods where the supplementary defenses were completed by abatis. The position as a whole between Auberive and Souain described a vast triangle. To the west of the road from Saint-Hilaire to Saint-Souplet, the troops traversed the first German line and rushed forward for a distance of about 1,200 yards as far as a supporting trench, in front of which they were stopped by wire entanglements. A counterattack debouching from the west and supported by the artillery of Moronvillers caused a slight retirement of the French left. The troops on the right, on the contrary, held their gains and succeeded on the following days in increasing and extending them, remaining in touch with the units which were attacking on the east of the road. The latter had succeeded in a brilliant manner in overcoming the difficulties that faced them. The German position which they captured, with its triple and quadruple lines of trenches, its small forts armed with machine guns, its woods adapted for the defensive purpose in view, constituted one of the most complete schemes of defense on the Champagne front and afforded cover to a numerous artillery concealed in the woods of the glacis. On this front, about three miles wide, the attack on September 25, 1915, achieved a mixed success. The troops on the left, after having penetrated into the first trench, had their progress arrested by machine guns. On the right, however, in spite of obstacles presented by four successive trenches, each of which was covered by a network of wire entanglements and was concealed in the woods, where the French artillery had difficulty in reaching them, the attacking troops gained about one and one-half miles, took 700 prisoners and captured seven guns.