its close,
in possession of all except a little triangle in the eastern section.

[Illustration: The Fighting in Alsace--Hartmannsweilerkopf.]

Some idea of the conditions confronting those who attempted the ascent
may be gained when it is learned that fourteen hours were required by
the hardy French troops to go up to relieve their comrades who gained
the top. This relief was not sent until the following day, April 9,
1915. On that day the Germans in the little triangle were driven off
or slain. One of the sudden and dense fogs of the region appeared
later and made a cover for a German counterattack. The French were at
a disadvantage, but they quickly rallied, and, the fog suddenly
lifting, they employed a bayonet charge with such good effect that the
Germans were driven off with large losses. The importance of this
achievement to the Allies is not likely to be overestimated. The
height of Les Eparges dominated the Woevre district, and its capture
by the French was one of the most heroic feats of the war. The Germans
placed as high a value on the height for military purposes as the
French. They had spent the winter in adding to what nature had made
nearly perfect--the impregnability of the entire sector. They
intrusted its defense, when an attack seemed likely, only to
first-line troops, the Tenth Division of the Fifth Corps from Posen
holding it when the French made their successful attack. To gain the
height it was necessary for the French to climb the slimy sides, which
were swept by machine-gun fire. The Germans knew the exact range of
every square foot of the slopes. There was no place that offered even
a slight shelter for the attacking force. The weather was at its
worst. Yet, in spite of the many difficulties which seemed
insurmountable, the French soldiers had won the most decisive
engagement in this part of the campaign.

It is true the Teutons occupied the lesser spur of Combres; but that
gave them little or no advantage, for no attack could be made from it
without subjecting the attacking party to a leaden hail from St. Remy
and Les Eparges. But the German salient still remained, and the French
continued their pressure on it. They pushed forward in the north to
Etain, and took the hills on the right bank of the Orne, which
hampered their enemy in his use of the Etain-Conflans railroad. They
closed in on the reentrant of the salient to the north--Gussainville;
and they used the same tactics in regard to L