Trench “Battemburg”
May 4, 1917—Noon
It was decided some time ago that the troops must not, yielding to their ardour, or the excitement of a too easily acquired success, go beyond the objectives that have been assigned to them. A close examination of the defensive dispositions of the Germans which we have described reveals the wisdom of this precaution. It does not follow that additional objectives cannot be taken on the same day, but in this case the additional advance will be made by a fresh attack and the effort will be distributed accordingly.
Documents found on Germans in Champagne, in August, furnish the following details of an attack they had prepared north of the Souain Hill. A similar attack had been rendered impossible by the action of the French at Verdun, and by the destruction of the gas reservoirs by the French artillery.
Three fresh divisions and fifteen companies of stosstruppen (shock-troops, or special troops of assault) were to lead the attack with light machine-guns, minenwerfer, signalmen, miners, sappers, gasmen, grenadiers, stretcher-bearers, and artillery patrols. Twelve “booty-squads” and twelve “destruction-squads” each composed of an officer and thirty-two men were to follow the stosstruppen. Arrangements had been made with a view to removing the captured guns.
They had prepared for a formidable discharge of a new gas by a six-company regiment of sappers.
The gas attack was to be launched for a quarter of an hour. A very strong artillery preparation was to follow, after which the stosstruppen were to rush forward.
The aviation was to play an important rôle, and the attack was to be made with the aid of all the means of liaison known: dispatch-runners, telephonists, optical signals, carrier-pigeons, luminous rockets, and wireless telegraphy.
West of Ailles