I had promised General B—— to give him news of our sector during the night, all the telephonic means of communication having been destroyed.
Again I traversed the entire road from Ornes to Bras; at Chambrettes the spectacle was fairy-like—our batteries on the one side fired in unison and their flashes illumined the heavens. In front of us the soaring shells came thick and fast from the forest of Spincourt and Forges Wood, intermittently brightening the darkness like a luminous pianotage, giving one the impression that every ten square yards there was an enemy battery.
The sky was ablaze on the horizon—it was the burning villages——
Yes, they began well the great battle, the greatest battle in the history of the world——
THE DAY OF February 22, 1916.
Our impressions were precise, the battle was going to be rude. The enemy had accumulated a formidable heavy artillery, to which it seemed impossible to respond for the moment.
They sent over as many 210's as they formerly had 77's and as many 280's, 305's, 380's, and 420's as they had 105's and 150's.
The men all felt immediately at the beginning of the battle that the enemy would be stopped only by mere brute strength——
AT NOON IN A CELLAR IN THE VILLAGE OF CUMIÈRES.
During a very heavy bombardment we were lunching. We had a basket of oysters that came from Verdun. The merchant sold out his wares so that he could flee with the townspeople—The city is empty.