New Britain herald., 1916-12-16
RENCH ADVANCE AT VERDUN NETS 5000 PRISONERS
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mont and north of Vaux, and, if pos s1ole, the village of Besonvaux most of whose houses are in the Woevre The church of this village is on the southern slopes of Hill 329, upon the other side of which lies the village of Ornes, one of the first towns car r1ed by the Germans at the begin nsng of their victorious advance. Little Resistance Shown. Promptly at 10 a. m., the five at- tacklng divisions, each of which cov- cred front of one and one-quarter miles, advanced behind the screen fire of guns of all calibres. They swarmed rapidly into the German trenches. The German troops in these positions, surprised by the sud- denness of the attack offered com paratively little resistance.
 Tn the village of Vacherauville, where the Germans had installed HQuantity of machine guns, the struggle was sharp, but none the less short. More to the east the French forma- tions charged the slopes of Pepper : hill, carrying all before them AS they rushed to the attack the soldiers
 
 |4Marseillaise'' roared by the strong .throated polius could be heard above the chorus of the cannons.
 With Vacherauville and Pepper 3Hill lost, it became evident to the aGermans that resistance would be fu- &tile, and they retired in fairly good &order. On the Vachera Beau- tmont road, however, French troops suddenly appeared in the rear ot the IGermans. The French had crept along In small ravine running from Pepper fhilI to this road. On seeing the French, the Germans bolted, throw png away rifles, knapsacks and pouches. From the top of the hill 3the French could see them running and, shouting with joy, they dashed after them. Half an hour later the French reached the extremity of the 4Louvemont crest, close to the village 3pf the same name. There they joined hands with the formations which had ;Etarted from Haudrcmont Wood and had progressed almost as rapidly Ihlong the eastern side of Pepper hill lRnd the Brash-Louvemont road. l Gouvemont was stormed out of hand hnd a large contingent of prisoners 'was rounded up. By this time the l
 
 |Rlong the line and the communication trenches were filled with prisoners .going to the rear. East Of Louvemont another division | +reached the Louvemont-Azenne road l south of the angle formed by this road l at the southeastern horn of Posses ] wood a sharp tussle took place for possession of Hill 372 but here again 1the Germans went down before the Vigorous efforts of their assailants, Abandoning the ground and leaving many dead and several hundred prisoners. The advance swept on over Hill 372 as far as Chambrettes farm : at the other edge of Posses wood, and carried it.
 Northeast of Douaumont the ad- vance of the French was equally rapid The wood, Bache and the Hassouel and Hardaumont position were car- ried successfully Hardaumont work comp1etely demolished by shell fire could give no spirit to the German Formations, which fell back upon 1t in disorder All the woods north of the work were occupied by the French, who pushed on as far as the village of Bezonvaux.
 Everywhere the French had shown Eplend1d form and nothing could stop them. Nothing went wrong to interfere with their plans. By il o'clock twenty guns had fallen into the hands of the French; by -noon forty guns; by 5 o'clock 75 had been counted, exclusive of those destroyed Having accomplished the task set for him, General Mangin, profiting by the Reorganization of the German ranks caused by the abrupt attack, sent out exploring parties everywhere with instructions to destroy as many guns as possible and come back to the newly conquered lines when their work was done. These scouting parties acted promptly and accom- pl1shed much. They put out of action most of the guns north of Vacherau- vile and Louvement, and in Posses and Caurieres woods.
 The French front now follows a line running from the north of Vach- granville along the Vacherauville- Ville-Devant-Chaum ment road to the extremity of the Jouvemont crest
 passes on the ether side of Louvemo ont along the fronge Of Posses wood, then before Chambrettes and, crossing Caurieres wood, goes to the north o1 Bezonvaux. South of this village an6
 as far as Vaux the new line follows ap-
 proximately the Bezonvaux-Dam1our
 road.
 The positions captured yesterday
 were lost on February 25.