PRÊTRE WOOD. SHELTERS IN CARRIÈRES RAVINE
From January, 1915, the French operations were directed against the western portion, towards Quart-en-Réserve and Croix des Carmes Hill. Four lines of trenches bristling with machine-guns and defences held up the attack. The ground had to be taken bit by bit, and often a counter-attack would win back in the evening the gains of several days’ hard fighting. The first line was carried on January 17, and the second on February 16. At this point aerial torpedoes and hand grenades caused progress to slow down. The third line was captured on March 30. Attacks and counter-attacks followed. Fighting with hand grenades took place in the communicating trenches, behind barrages, and the artillery on both sides covered this narrow strip of ground with projectiles, breaking down the parapets and destroying the communicating trenches. The Germans, who lost heavily, brought up endless reinforcements—in all about sixteen battalions—thus showing the importance which they attached to this position.
CEMETERY IN PRÊTRE WOOD
The final attack was launched on May 12. The French carried the blockhouses and the northern slopes beyond the crest, but the enemy still clung to the eastern and western slopes. However, the wood was won, and the splendid observation-post which the hill afforded was thenceforth in the hands of the French.