The Germans gained possession of Éparges on September 21st 1914 and quickly organised several lines of trenches between the summit and the valleys; at certain points five ranges of fire could be brought to bear on a point, and the whole crest was transformed into a strong redoubt, flanked east and west with two bastions.
The French occupied, to the North, the brow of Montgirmont and Éparges village, about 600 metres from the German trenches.
It was at the West part of the Spur (point C) that, at the end of October, the French commenced their attack, step by step, to the sap, at the same time penetrating into the woods which cover the flanks of the ravine.
Éparges in February 1915.—A trench in front of the point C.
In February there started a series of almost daily attacks and counter-attacks, only finishing at the beginning of April. On February 17th, thanks to a mine explosion, the French got a footing in the enemy first line; attacks and counter-attacks lasted five days during which Colonel Bacquel was mortally wounded at the head of his troops. The French held all the west bastion and they started to advance towards the east bastion. From March 13th to 21st, they returned to the attack and occupied the enemy front line.
On March 27th a battalion of chasseurs made a fresh push, bringing them nearer the summit. On April 5th, started the last big attack which the 12th Division was to carry on day and night until the 9th. The rain and muddy ground seemed for the moment to hold them back and render their efforts in vain.
In the evening, part of the crest was occupied but the use of aerial torpedoes which blotted out whole ranks of men, and a massed counter-attack, launched on the morning of the following day at 4.30 a.m., robbed them of the gains of the first advance. During the evening of the 6th and all the night of the 6-7th, in spite of a continuous downpour, the trenches were recaptured step by step, with 100 prisoners including several officers.
On the 8th the summit and the west ridge were firmly occupied and at midnight, after fifteen hours of furious and uninterrupted fighting practically the whole ridge was in French hands.