In the Vaux sector the attack failed.
But on the left of the battle, the enemy passed Fleury and penetrated into Poudrière and Vignes ravines. On the 12th, at daybreak, they captured Chapelle Sainte-Fine, thereby threatening Souville fort. The enemy quickened his pace and climbed the slopes of the fort, with the French barrage playing right on them. Under this rain of fire the attackers swerved and a final headlong rush carried 150 Germans to the summit of the fort, "like the edges of foam from a packet steamer which dissolves into spray". All were captured or killed in an instant in the moats. The Germans could not take Souville.
From the slopes of Souville, go down to the cross roads of Chapelle Sainte-Fine, where the memorial ([page 79]) marks the limit of the German advance before Verdun.
From Chapelle Sainte-Fine, Vaux pool may be reached on the right by following the famous Fontaines ravine, between the stumps and the brushwood of Vaux-Chapitre wood and Fumin wood.
Five hundred metres from the cross roads of Chapelle Sainte-Fine, on the right, is Haie Renard, the scene of one of those undying exploits which contributed to the safety of Verdun. On August 1st 1916 the Germans had progressed as far as this crest which dominates the head of Fontaines ravine.
Fontaines Ravine in February 1917.—A demolished French battery.