ngin. Artillery preparation began on October
21, 1916, when the air was clear and favored observation by captive
balloons and aeroplanes. For two days the fort and its approaches were
subjected to an almost continuous bombardment of French guns. On
October 23, 1916, the explosion of a bomb started a fire in Fort
Douaumont. The shelters covering the quarries of Haudromont were
destroyed and also the battery at Damloup, while the ravines were
blown to pieces. Owing to the wide extent of the French attacks the
Germans seemed to have been in doubt as to the point from which the
main assault would be launched. Gradually the French "felt out" the
positions of the 130 German batteries, a great number of which they
destroyed.

The troops selected by the French for their attack belonged to
divisions that had been fighting for some time in this sector.
According to the French official account of the storming of the fort,
from left to right was the division of General Guyot de Salins,
reenforced on the left by the Eleventh Infantry. This division was
made up of Zouaves and Colonial sharpshooters, among them the Moroccan
regiment which had previously been honored for heroic conduct at
Dixmude and Fleury, and to whom fell the honor of attacking Fort
Douaumont. Then came the division commanded by General du Passage,
consisting of troops from all parts of France. A division commanded by
General Bardmelle, composed of troops of the line and light infantry,
came next, and a battalion of Singhalese also took an equal part in
the attack.

At 11.40 a. m. the attack was launched in a heavy fog. It had been
planned that the first stroke should take in the quarries of
Haudromont, the height to the north of the ravine of La Dame, the
intrenchment north of the farm of Thiaumont, the battery of La
Fausse-Cote, and the ravine of Bazite. In the second phase, after an
hour's stop to consolidate the first gains, the French troops were to
press on to the crest of the heights to the north of the ravine of
Couleuvre, the village of Douaumont, the fort of Douaumont, the dam
and pond of Vaux, and on to the battery of Damloup.

The French attack succeeded in carrying out the first phase of the
plan with insignificant losses, and proceeded almost immediately to
advance to the second objective. "At 2.30 p. m.," said a French
eyewitness of the attack, "the fog lifted and the observers could see
a magic spectacle. It was our soldiers, filing like so many