(Joffre may roll his eyes: his shells cannot reach us here.)
Tho French soldiers called this wood "Satyres Wood," as they found women's clothing in various places.
SATYRES WOOD. GERMAN POST OF COMMANDMENT UNDER THE ROAD (see above).
DENIÉCOURT WOOD AT SUNSET.
Return to the entrance to Estrées, and take the road on the right to Deniécourt. On entering the village, take on foot the small road on the right to the ruins of Deniécourt Château, situated in a devastated park.
Deniécourt village lies about 2 km. (by road) east of Soyécourt. Across the fields, the distance is shorter, and it was covered in a single rush on the day Soyécourt was captured, after which the advance was stayed. The second German line ran through Deniécourt, which was fortified accordingly. The most important defence-works were those around the château, which latter formed the key of the whole position. Deep shelters had been made under the château itself and also in the surrounding park. The whole formed an inextricable maze of trenches, fortified works, machine-gun posts, traps and barbed-wire entanglements, which had to be reduced by shell-fire. The castle was razed to the ground, the defences in the park destroyed and the ground levelled.
On the day of attack, the fighting was none the less desperate in the neighbourhood, and afterwards inside the village. The French advance was several times held by furious counter-attacks, and it was only on September 18 that the whole position could be surrounded and carried, after several days of bitter fighting. Of Deniécourt village, château and park, not a stone or a tree remained.