"Send rations immediately; no food has reached us to-day. Urgently want illuminating cartridges and hand grenades. Is the hospital corps never coming to fetch the wounded?"
German troops exhausted.
"September 25, 11.45.
"I urgently beg for reinforcements; the men are dying from fatigue and want of sleep. I have no news of the battalion."
The time fixed for all the attacks on the Champagne front was a quarter-past nine in the morning. There was no hesitation. At the time mentioned the troops came out of the trenches with the aid of steps or scaling ladders and drew up in line before making a rush at the German trenches.
The operation was rapidly effected. The objective was at an average distance of two hundred metres; this was covered without serious losses. The Germans were nearly everywhere surprised, and their defensive fire was not opened until after the invading tide of the attackers had passed by.
First German trench penetrated.
Over the whole attacking front our troops penetrated into the first German trench. But subsequently the progress was no longer uniform. While certain units continued their forward movement with extreme rapidity, others came up against machine guns still in action and either stopped or advanced only with difficulty. Some centres of the German resistance maintained their position for several hours and even for several days.
Outline of advance in Champagne.
The battle a series of assaults.