TOMB AT CHAMBRY
Driven from the cemetery they fell back on their chief position, visible on the panorama B (pp. [90]-[91]), whence they made obstinate counter-attacks. The soldiers of the 45th and 55th divisions fought for the ground foot by foot, and finally remained masters of it at the cost of heavy losses. Zouaves, Algerian sharp-shooters, and foot-soldiers of the line vied with each other in heroism during these terrible days.
Having entered Chambry we cross the square, leaving the main street on the left, and go straight on. We thus turn round the village by the east—that is to say, on the front that had to withstand all the German onslaught.
The gardens which border the road contain several graves of soldiers who were killed in battle and buried where they fell. The upper photograph shows one of these graves. Some Algerian sharp-shooters fell there, as is indicated by the crescent drawn on the tombstone placed at the head of the grave. The tricolour cockade pinned below is that of "l'Œuvre du Souvenir."
On the slope of the road, to the right, the French troops had established a trench and some precarious shelters (see photograph below).
SHELTERS DURING THE BATTLE
This chance installation at the beginning of the war contrasts oddly with the scientific work that the struggle on fixed positions has now made common. It seems as though it could not have afforded anything more than moral protection against the German artillery, which for three days riddled the position with shells of 77, 105, and even 150 calibre.
The road followed by the tourist rejoins the main street which lay on his left as he entered the village.