of Compiegne but is separated from
it by the Aisne. Within the French lines were the farms of Ecaffaut
and Quennevieres. The Germans held Les Loges and Tout Vent. There
was a German salient opposite Quennevieres with a small fort at
the peak of the salient. Defenses had been built also where the
northern and southern sides of the salient rested on the main line
of trenches. There were two lines of trenches on the arc of the
salient with three lines on a portion of the arc. An indented trench
held the chord of the arc. The Germans had placed several guns in
a ravine which ran down toward Tout Vent. Four companies of the
Eighty-sixth Regiment had held the salient.

On June 5, 1915, the reserve troops were taken from the Tout Vent
ravine for reenforcements. Their places were occupied then by other
German troops. The French artillery bombarded the fort at the peak
of the salient, and all of the trenches and defenses of the Germans
in that neighborhood and the French infantry kept up a rifle and
machine-gun fire which was an aid in preventing the Germans from
repairing the damage done their defenses. The bombardment continued
all day and all night and increased in volume and intensity on the
morning of June 6, 1915. Then it was continued intermittently. A
mine under the fort at the peak of the salient blew up. The Germans
who sought refuge in their dugouts found them unavailing. The shells
had blown the roofs from those places of supposed safety. In many
instances their occupants had been buried in the debris and suffocated.
The French artillery lengthened its range and made a curtain of
fire between the Germans on the front and the German supports in
the rear. Then the French infantry charged. The men had dispensed
with knapsack that they might not be hampered with unnecessary
weight. All had three rations and two hundred and fifty rounds
of ammunition. They were also provided with two hand grenades and
a sack. The last was to be filled with earth. The filled sacks
were sufficient to form breastworks with which any place taken
might be held. With a cheer the French infantry ran across the
two hundred yards between the two lines. The German infantry's
nerves had been so badly shaken by the bombardment that only a
scattering fire, badly directed, greeted the French. It was but
the work of minutes to take the first line of German trenches.
The two hundred and fifty survivors of two German battalions were
made prisoners. The