Chapter X: Part I

“GENERAL HEADQUARTERS OF THE ATTACKING TROOPS
NORTH-EAST OF VAUX, _June 4_.

“On June 2, at four o’clock in the morning, the four attacking
companies were drawn up in a semicircle round Fort Vaux, at about
100 yards’ distance; at one swoop they pushed forward even to
the ditch, which, 10 yards broad and 5 deep, encloses the whole
earthwork, in the form of an irregular trapezoid, within its sheer
walls built of large square stones. Across the appalling curtain
fire of the French we had only been able to convey a part of
our war material up to the heights of the fort: flame-throwers,
hand-grenades, axes, and wire-cutters.

“In consequence of the long bombardment with heavy guns, the fort,
though very massively built, was no longer capable of defending
the surrounding space effectively; but the dug-outs, hollowed
out deep in the rocks and covered with reinforced concrete, had
held out. The flanking transverse passages of the fort, too, were
still factors to be reckoned with. Accordingly the first problem
was to make their artillery and machine-guns harmless; for these,
with their raking fire, churned up the bottom of the ditch, and
prevented us from crossing and reaching the interior of the fort.
Each of the two breastworks in front showed an open breach, caused
by very heavy projectiles, in the gigantic blocks of concrete of
which they were formed. The damage was repaired, up to a point,
by sandbags; and, to protect the breach, they had placed there a
machine-gun which might be able to operate towards the glacis. The
principal obstacle, however, was still the guns of the transverse
passages, which from their narrow concrete embrasures could sweep
the short line of the ditches with a pitiless fire. Access to
either of the breastworks was impeded by the fire of a 37 mm.
revolving gun, a 55 mm. gun, and by two machine-guns. Not a cat
could have passed through.

“First of all, the machine-gun, which at the very breach prevented
our approach, was silenced by hand-grenades. Then the pioneers
crept right up to the upper edge of the escarped wall, above
the western transverse passage, set up the flame-throwers, and,
from above, with the aid of a crank shaft, inserted the tubes of
the flame-throwers into the embrasures. A flame of two yards,
accompanied by dense smoke, drove the garrison far away from its
guns.

“At this point some thirty pioneers, taking advantage of the
breaches in the masonry, contrived to get down into the ditch and,
on the other side, to reach the top of the main parapet, where they
lay down and improvised a sort of shelter in the rubbish-heap. This
little band was at once cut off, the French having reopened fire
with the machine-guns; these made a retreat impossible for them,
while in the transverse gallery the smoke had dispersed. In the
tremendous din of the German curtain fire, about 200 yards behind
the fort, cries could not be heard at 20 yards. The officer in
command had to signal with his cap, which he waved in the Morse
code.

“At 7 A.M. we succeeded in capturing the second transverse gallery,
the eastern one, after which the garrison, through a breach made
by the shells, was nearly overwhelmed by a bomb attack; thirty
men were captured, and the machine-guns, with an abundance of
munitions, fell into our hands and were made use of.

“But in the case of the other transverse gallery, the smoke had
only counteracted the effects of its fire for a brief spell; it was
therefore essential to take it, no matter how. Bags were filled
with hand-grenades and passed along the wall until in front of the
embrasures, where they were made to explode. This, however, could
not be done without considerable risk to the brave pioneers, for
the French had placed another machine-gun in a doorway not far
from the embrasures, and could thus shoot from below at any head
overlapping the upper edge of the wall. For all that, about 5
P.M., the explosions were successful, and we were at last able to
penetrate into the transverse gallery which we had first attacked.
The garrison, by a deep corridor passing underneath the bottom
of the ditch, had taken refuge in the interior of the fort. It
had been a lengthy operation, for the explosives, in view of the
French curtain fire, could only be placed on the slope in small
quantities, and even then the danger was terrible. During the
interval of waiting, the pioneers and the infantrymen, who were
not working directly at the explosives, dug trenches above, on the
glacis, and farther west, by the side of the fort; they occupied
these positions with the machine-guns taken from the enemy to meet
a possible attack from the south-west.

“About 7 P.M. we pushed forward towards the gorge of the fort,
after crossing, behind the first parapet, the second ditch, which
under the bombardment had become a wide excavation containing
enormous masses of shattered concrete. The armed turrets on the
first parapet--an observing-station at each of the two breastworks,
a big cupola in the middle, provided with two guns, and a raised
and armoured machine-gun shelter at the left-hand breastwork--were
unfit for further use and stripped of their thick revetment of
concrete; the iron rods of the framework stuck out all over them
like the prickles of a hedgehog. In the same way the infantry
position higher up on the cavalier had been completely ripped up by
the German shells.

“At this point the officer commanding the pioneers wanted to make
his way into the earthwork itself, and that by the same underground
passage which the defenders of the smoked-out transverse gallery
had followed. There was a deep stairway, then a short landing,
then a steep flight of stairs going up to a stout oaken door, which
prevented one from going farther. Pioneer-Lieutenant Ruberg decided
to blow up this door by putting against it all the hand-grenades
required and taking advantage of the ensuing confusion to storm
the position with his troops. In order that the force might not
itself be wiped out by the explosion, it was essential that it
should gain enough time to be able, once the match was lighted,
to go down the staircase and climb up the other side; this would
necessitate a cord burning at least twenty seconds. Lieutenant
Ruberg, for want of explosive petards, accordingly tied together a
dozen grenades. He was fastening them up against the heavy door,
when he heard behind it a whispering on the part of the French, and
the slight crackle that denotes a Bickford cord. There was no time
left to think matters over, for in half a minute at the most the
door would blow up from inside, and in that case the French would
have the moral superiority in the assault. The great thing was to
anticipate them. The Lieutenant motioned to his men to be on their
guard, pulled out the normal detonator of one of the hand-grenades,
which acts in five seconds, and rushed to the foot of the staircase
in order not to be blown to pieces. When he was half-way, a
formidable explosion took place: the charge laid by the French,
acted upon by the other, exploded simultaneously. The pressure of
the air threw the Lieutenant a few yards farther, and he received
several splinters in his back. His pioneers darted forward into the
corridor and reached a crossing, but were then confronted by two
machine-guns placed at about a right angle ten paces to the rear,
so that it became impossible to push on any farther. They had to
possess their souls in patience throughout the night. From now on
there were two commandants of Fort Vaux, a French commandant below
ground and a German commandant above him. The French could not
poke their heads out anywhere without being greeted at once with
bullets or bombs; and the Germans, for the time being, were unable
to advance. A horrible stench emanated from all the open cracks in
the ceiling of the casemates. The corpses of the French killed in
the previous fighting still lay there; there was no means of either
pulling them out or of burying them in the thick, hard stone. In
the course of the night a dozen French tried to find a way out.
Some of them were killed, others taken prisoners by outposts placed
at the south-west of the fort.

“On June 3, at five o’clock, a French airman flew above the
earthwork in order to reconnoitre the position with accuracy. He
came down very low, perhaps 100 yards above the ground, in order
to see better, but he flew with such zigzags and so rapidly that
the sensitive spot, the heart of the aeroplane, could not be hit
in those few seconds. He made his escape; and ten minutes later a
withering shell-fire of 22 cm.’s burst upon the trenches of the
gorge which we were occupying, so that we had to take refuge as
quickly as possible in the casemates that we had captured.

“To-day, June 4, is the fourth day that the fort has been shared
by the two sides; the French are within like mutinous prisoners
defending themselves against their warders. It is a situation which
has never been prolonged to such an extent in the whole history of
fortress warfare.

“The conduct of the French garrison is admirable; but still more
admirable is the heroism of the German companies, which day and
night, without a wink of sleep, without a drop of water, almost
without food, withstand the most terrific fire, and will not let go
their hold until this last corner of the underground passages of
Vaux is in our hands.

“KURT VON REDEN.”