ENTRANCE TO THE PRIORY OF SAINT-GOND
The line of the Poirier was the object of furious combats. The "tirailleurs" of the Moroccan Division had dug trenches there in order to protect themselves against the withering fire of heavy and light artillery which the Germans directed from the north of the marshes. When the Germans had succeeded in crossing the Morin by the bridge at Saint-Prix, they penetrated into Botrait woods (panorama I.) and attacked the Poirier. They drove the sharp-shooters from the summit, and then from the southern slopes where the latter had made a stand. On September 8 a bayonet charge brought the Poirier again into the possession of the sharp-shooters, but the German artillery rendered the position untenable, and they were obliged to evacuate it and fall back on the heights of Mondement-Montgivroux. At the same time Blondlat's Brigade which held Oyes and Reuves (panorama III.), was thrown back on the Allemant Woods by superior forces which had managed to cross the marshes.
The position of Mondement had thus lost all advanced protection and so fell on the following day, but the same evening it was retaken (see pp. [176]-[178]), and from this moment the battle was lost for the Germans. The Tenth Corps, by means of its outflanking movement described on p. [169], obliged them to re-cross the Morin at Saint-Prix (below Botrait Woods, panorama I.). The flank of the marshes was thus turned. During the night of the 9th-10th, the German troops hurriedly regained the northern edge by the causeways running from Oyes, Reuves, and Broussy (panorama III.).
Rejoin G. C. 44 and turn to the left towards Oyes (50 km.). The village still bears traces of the bombardment during its heroic defence by Blondlat's Brigade. Turn to the right, thus leaving the church on the left, and, passing through the village, turn to the left to regain the marshes, in the middle of which stands the old Priory of Saint-Gond. The entrance, seen in the photograph above, is on the right of the road (51 km.).
INTERIOR OF THE PRIORY OF SAINT-GOND
Saint-Gond, who gave his name to the marshes, was a seventh century hermit. Charmed by the solitude of the spot, he there founded a little monastery. Destroyed during the barbaric invasions, then rebuilt, it became an abbey and later a priory, after which its decline was rapid. All that remains to-day consists of the entrance (view above), and in the interior, a door (seen on the opposite view behind the Abbé Millard). The Abbé Millard who occupied the priory is an elderly ecclesiastic who divides his time between studies and rural tasks. In the photographs on this page he is seen in the simple apparel which he prefers. He is a distinguished historian and member of several learned societies.