The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-11-05
MARSHAL PETAIN'S STORY
 OF-WORLD'S GREATEST BATTLE

SlDIe to conceive the magnitude of such enterprise or imagine tho i number of days labor entailed ill the prepa ration for resistance of such a sector as this. On the 21st of Feb ruary. at an early hour the German attack began. A violent lombard
 ment extending from Malancourt on the left hank of the Mouse to EpsrSes Tn theD lains of the Wocvre took u1-
 the left and right bank and moved
 doWn our first lines The range of this herce fire extended rearward; our bat
 eeries. bridges and the roads which
 heavily shellcd. The enemy evidently
 expected, by the intensity of th;. ar
 tiiiery display, 10 paraiyze our whole
 system Of defense. On the evening Of
 launched upon a narrow front. Its action was to only include upon the rignt baniS the heights of Mouse from Woevre. By this si1Gularly violent attack prepared under such a reign ot shell, the German command hoped to effect tho complete dcmoraIiZation of our forces, and permit of an almost ur1resistcd infantry advance. This hope was un:ounded Our foot-sofdicr, hot;y contested every inch Of ground and it was only after
 a Ions and desperate battle, aided by artillery and aviation units infinitely superior to our own, that the German l forces obtained. after four days fight | IiiS, any SSi1oltS dQVan1aCG. on the 25th they captured the fort of Douau- l mont, then quite dismantled. Success l seemed to them assured
 Rad1ograms announcing. victory 1 moment when victory was slipping | from their troops. hurled with such i blind confidence into the battle. For,
 rom this time, when the Crown | situation, may be dated the slacken- 1 ing of the German advance. The I enemy must have then perceived that 1 the victorious onrush which he had l counted on was no longer possible. It l was all the more impossible, since, | owing to a serious mistake on the part l Of the German high command which | seemed to have been hypnotized ex- | clusively by the importance of the | right bank of the river, the lombard ments which had been undertaken upon the left bank, succeeded each | other up to the Tth of March, unsus- | tained by any infantry attack. This | was singularly fortunate for us who | constituted the French command. We
 were quite as solicitous for the secur- | ity of our west bank aS for that of our east and were determined, in spite ! of enemy pressure to reinforce and l sustain our troops at the left, in the battle which was then at it's height This was to us a vital point and il was here that we were determined to
 sustain the shock of our enemy's mos redoubtable effort.
 
 twelve days too late, did the German
 infantry quit their trenches near the ForgeS brook, and the success ob
 ta,ined was strictly limited in extent Thus the maneuvre on the left banl
 which might have been disastrous fol
 us, as it would have cut the line O.
 retreat from our troops upon the fur
 ther bank, was checked just at tn, frontal attack against the Meus,
 heights had been already checked il February. From this moment on, tn, efforts of the enemy may be termed
 1 dispersed; attacks were multiplied
 | without system, first on one side of tn | river, then on the other, always in tn hope of forcing our entire line to giv, way before this alternate pressure. l It is impossible in so brief a Spac, to describe the battle which now raget
 | as bloody as it was confused. But b, simply indicating SucceSsively the diff
 find that the facts speak e1oquentl, for themselves. Against a series O desperate assaults the French oppose' i; a more and more obdurate resistance . disputing doggedly every inch o ground until, little by little, the fac !, of the battle altered and the offensiv |. gradually changed hands. At first tn ; reactions on our side were purely loca and strictly limited in range, but, a
 | time went on, they became more fire quent, powerful and extended. During the month of March tn German attacks were scheduled thus
 | Mort-Homme and Cumieres. The Sth, 9th and 10th-On tn , right bank, against Poivre ant Vaux fort.
 The 2oth-on the left bank, a The 31st-on the right bank against Vaux.
 :, During the month of April: ! The 9.h-WitnesSed a powerful of y fensive on both banks from Avocour , to Haudomont.
 2 The 17th-An attack on the righ I bank of the Mouse extending up t , Vaux.
 . The 2oth-we reconquered Mort Homme.
 During the month of May: s From the 4th to the 7thThe at ta cks took in the left bank and hil : 304.
 . The 22nd-After a violent assa ul f on the left bank the enemy one s more recaptured Mont-Homme.
 The 24th-An attack was launche q on the right bank extending up t e succeeded in reaching on the 22n6 q but which was now once more los e to
 The 25th-Attacks were again mad
 on the right bank.
 During the month of June: = There came our most critical mo ments. The Germans foreseeing tha  to be launched on the Somme, multi e piled themselves in renewed and des y perate efforts.
 I I The 1st-From the wood at Nav II to Dam1oup.
 !. The 6th-Against the forth c Il Vaux which was finally captured. a The 12th to the 15th-Agains U Thiaumont.
 # The 21st. 22nd, 2srd-Against hi e 304 and Mort-Homme on the lei = bank. Thiaumont and Damloup o s the right
 The first of July:
 a Franco-British offensive, whic . our high command had been prepaI = ing with admirable tenacity on tn v Somnae was at length begun. D found our adversaries still befor o 1 Verdun. The famous fortress ha T not been attained. After this dat' e it became impossible for the Crow ; Princes troops to renew these cost
 ly efforts since the German reserve n were obliged to suffice for the exc n gencies of two different battle front , One last effort was, however al If tempted in July by the enemy.