of Champagne must be considered in the light of a series of
assaults, executed at the same moment, in parallel or convergent
directions and having for their object either the capture or the
hemming in of the first German position, the units being instructed to
re-form in a continuous line before the second position. In order to
follow the development clearly, the terrain must be divided into
several sectors, in each of which the operations, although closely
coordinated, assumed, as a consequence either of the nature of the
ground or of the peculiarities of the German defenses, a different
character. The unity of the action was nevertheless insured by the
simultaneity of the rush, which carried all the troops beyond the
first position, past the batteries, to the defenses established by the
Germans on the heights to the south of Py. At the two extremities of
the French attacking front, where the advance was subjected to
converging fires and to counterattacks on the flanks, the offensive
practically failed--or at least made no progress. The fighting that
took place in Auberive and round about Servon was marked by several
heroic features, but it led to no further result than to hold and
immobilize the German forces on the wings while the attack was
progressing in the center.

[Illustration: Detail Map of Battle in Champagne, September, 1915.]

In accordance with the proposed arrangement of divisions into sectors,
we will take as Number--

(1) The sector of the Epine de Vedegrange: Here the first German line
was established at the base of a wide glacis covered with clumps of
trees, and formed a series of salients running into each other. At
certain points it ran along the edge of the woods where the
supplementary defenses were completed by abatis. The position as a
whole between Auberive and Souain described a vast triangle. To the
west of the road from Saint-Hilaire to Saint-Souplet, the troops
traversed the first German line and rushed forward for a distance of
about 1,200 yards as far as a supporting trench, in front of which
they were stopped by wire entanglements. A counterattack debouching
from the west and supported by the artillery of Moronvillers caused a
slight retirement of the French left. The troops on the right, on
the contrary, held their gains and succeeded on the following days in
increasing and extending them, remaining in touch with the units which
were attacking on the east of the road. The latter had