(5) To the north of Beauséjour, a bare terrain easily traversable, with a gentle rise in the direction of Ripon to the farms of Maisons de Champagne.
(6) To the north of Massiges, hills numbered 191 and 199, describing on the map the figure of a hand, very strongly fortified and forming the eastern flank of the whole German line. This table-land slopes down gently in the direction of Ville-sur-Tourbe.
As to the German defenses, the French were intimately acquainted with every detail. They had maps showing every defensive work, trench, alley of communication, and clump of trees in the landscape. Each of these features had been given a special name or number preceded by a certain letter, according to the sector of attack wherein it was situated. These details had been laboriously collected by aviators and spies, and applied with minute precision.
On the morning of September 22, 1915, the French accelerated their long-sustained bombardment of the German positions with intense fury, continuing day and night without a break until the 25th. The direct object of this preparatory cannonade was to destroy the wire entanglements, bury the defenders in their dugouts, raze the trenches, smash the embrasures, and stop up the alleys of communication. The range included not only the first trench line, but also the supporting trench and the second position, though the last was so far distant as to make accurate observation difficult. The heavy long-range guns shelled the headquarters, the cantonments and the railroad stations. They speedily demolished the permanent way, thereby stopping all traffic in reenforcements, munitions and commissariat. From letters and notes afterwards found upon German prisoners who came out alive from that inferno, one may gather an approximate idea of what the bombardment was like:
"September 23.
"The French artillery fired without intermission from the morning of the 21st to the evening of the 23rd, and we all took refuge in our dugouts. On the evening of the 22d we were to have gone to get some food, but the French continued to fire on our trenches. In the evening we had heavy losses, and we had nothing to eat."
"September 24.
"For the last two days the French have been firing like mad. To-day, for instance, a dugout has been destroyed. There were sixteen men in it. Not one of them managed to save his skin. They are all dead. Besides that, a number of individual men have been killed and there are a great mass of wounded. The artillery fires almost as rapidly as the infantry. A mist of smoke hangs over the whole battle front, so that it is impossible to see anything. Men are dropping like flies. The trenches are no longer anything but a mound of ruins."
"September 24.
"A rain of shells is pouring down upon us. The kitchen and everything that is sent to us is bombarded at night. The field kitchens no longer come to us. Oh, if only the end were near! That is the cry everyone is repeating."