The road passes through Bas-Jardinet Woods, which are full of gun emplacements. On leaving the woods, the road climbs towards Hill 285. On the right and behind this hill are the sectors of Fille-Morte and Courte-Chausse, the scene of struggles as stubborn as those in Grurie Wood.
Craters on Hill 285 dividing the two lines.
The Haute-Chevauchée road is the central pivot where the Germans endeavoured, on July 13th 1915, to dent in the French front so as to reach Clermont-en-Argonne and the Sainte-Menehould-Verdun railway.
On July 13th, the 113th Regiment held the sector of Haute-Chevauchée, on their right the 4th held Hill 263, while on the left the 91st were on the plateau of Bolante. After an annihilating fire which completely destroyed these sectors, five regiments of the 16th German Corps broke through the French lines. The Germans, who no longer had any troops to face, believed that they could march unhindered to the south. Already the enemy patrols had reached the cross road of Maison Forestière, 2 kilometres south of Hill 285.
The 82nd and 66th Battalions of chasseurs and the 131st who had just been relieved received warning at their billets and went up into the line under a barrage of enemy fire, by paths marked out with corpses, through ravines full of poison gas. The men, who were exhausted by a whole night's march, hurried forward, gasping and almost suffocated. The order was given to the infantry and chasseurs to counter-attack. The 3rd Battalion of the 131st, led by their commander, swarmed up the steep slope of Bolante plateau. The Germans crouching among the tall ferns endeavoured to withstand them, but they were sharply hustled and did not waste time in turning tail. Bolante plateau and the crest of Fille-Morte were cleared at the point of the bayonet, without artillery support. Further to the right, the 66th Battalion of chasseurs captured Hill 285, while the 82nd, with three battalions in the field, recaptured the crest joining Hills 285 and 263.
The 1st Battalion of the 82nd relieved the battalion of the 4th which was defending the redoubt of Hill 263.
The line was established along Hill 285.
By going on as far as the cross road at the Maison Forestière, the large cemetery is reached.