HOUSES BEING REBUILT AT MORAINS
In Écury (67 km.) turn to the left beyond the church, then take the first street on the right towards Morains-le-Petit. A few trenches are to be seen here and there, and graves are still numerous.
Morains-le-Petit (70 km.) is rising from its ruins, as the photograph above shows. Turn to the right in the village, then to the left on leaving it, into G. C. 9 in the direction of Bergères-lès-Vertus. We are now in the theatre of operations of the 17th Division and of the 52nd (reserve) Division. The task of the troops forming the right wing of the Ninth Corps was to prevent the marshes from being outflanked on the east. They held on bravely, but were obliged to retire to Mont-Août on September 8, their right having been left exposed by the withdrawal of the Eleventh Corps.
At 100 yards from Morains is the source of the Morin, which at this point is a tiny rivulet, often dry in the summer. The ditch in which it flows was used as a trench in the battles of 1914.
The view below, taken on the left of the wood, shows this ditch bordered by a few shrubs and surrounded by graves.
TRENCH AT THE SOURCE OF THE MORIN
The road continues towards Mont-Aimé, which we reach about 5 km. beyond Morains. This hill, 750 feet high, appears a veritable mountain as it rises solitary in the midst of the great Plain of Champagne.