Battle of the Hills

Background

West of the Suippes River sat a cluster of hills called the Moronvilliers massif, thick with trees before 1914. The village of Moronvilliers was tucked in a dip beneath the main ridge’s northern crest. A separate peak, Mont Sans Nom, rose 700 feet, and northwest of it a ridge led to Mont Haut’s western summit, the highest point at 840 feet. Between the French Fourth and Fifth Armies’ left flank, a low stretch about seven miles wide held the village of Beine, separating the Moronvilliers massif from the Nogent l’Abbesse massif east of Reims.

A road ran east from Beine through Nauroy and Moronvilliers to St Martin l’Heureux on the Suippes. The eastern slope dropped near the Suippes bank between St Martin-l’Heureux and Aubérive, while the southern slope fell away south of the Reims-to-Verdun road into the Plain of Châlons. Mont Haut’s height nearly matched Vigie de Berru, the eastern hill that overlooks Reims.

Prelude

The French Fourth Army, holding an 18-kilometer front north of the road connecting Reims, St Hilaire le Grand, St Ménéhould, and Verdun, was positioned between Massiges and Ferme Marquises. Their starting point sat roughly 400 feet below the summit of Mont Haut, meaning the infantry faced a climb of about two miles up a series of steep rises to reach the top. The force included the XII, XVII, and VIII Corps, along with tank Groupement III, which contained two groups of Schneider CA1 tanks and some Saint-Chamond tanks. Supporting them were 22 squadrons of aircraft, eleven balloon companies, and 1,600 artillery pieces.

The French artillery began its bombardment on 10 April, targeting the German first, second, and third lines on the southern side of the ridge. German defenses on the northern slope were hit under guidance from French artillery-observation aircraft. Shellfire deluged villages, woods, roads, railway lines, cantonments, bivouacs, artillery batteries, and ammunition dumps, with few pauses until dawn on 17 April.

Poor weather hampered air observation, but by the night of 16 April, reports from reconnaissance photographs, ground observers, and prisoners showed that wide lanes had been cut through the barbed wire in front of the German first line where it had not been obliterated. German trench lines and field fortifications, especially south of Mont Sans Nom, were destroyed. Few German defenses remained intact except in Bois de la Grille and around Aubérive.

The second line, halfway up the slopes of the Moronvilliers hills, was destroyed from south of Mont Perthois to the Suippes, and barbed wire in the woods northeast of Mont Sans Nom was partially cut. In the west, from Bois de la Grille to Tranchée du Bois du Chien, the bombardment was less effective, leaving defenses in Bois de la Grille, Leopoldshöhe Trench, and Erfurt Trench intact. South of Mont Haut, the Konstanzlager and dugouts on the south slope of Mont Perthois were not seriously damaged. While most German defenses on the southern slopes of Mont Cornillet, Mont Blond, Mont Haut, and Mont Perthois were badly damaged, many intermediate strong points and machine-gun nests remained.

Battle

The night of April 16-17 was marked by relentless rain and snow. Before dawn, at 4:45 a.m., the Fourth Army launched its assault from Aubérive, east of Reims, across an 11-kilometer front using the XII, XVII, and VIII corps. Troops moved forward behind a creeping barrage under cold rain and intermittent snow. Though high winds grounded aircraft and balloons, the unexpected darkness worked in the French favor.

In the XII Corps sector, the 24th Division, Moroccan Division, and the 75th Territorial Regiment attacked from the Suippes River’s east bank toward Aubérive and west to Mont Sans Nom. The 24th Division, with four and a half battalions, struck from the Bois des Abatis salient west to the Suippes near Bois des Sapins. On the right, French forces managed to take the German front line and Baden-Baden Trench, but near the river they caught defenders off guard and pushed much farther along the bank.

German counterattacks on April 19, 20, and 22 reclaimed some of that lost ground. On the Moroccan Division’s right, the Foreign Legion’s March Regiment attacked at 4:45 a.m. between Bois en T and Bois de la Sapinière, heading for Le Golfe, then turning east to cut the Aubérive-Vaudesincourt-Dontrien road. Advancing through heavy rain, they took Bouleaux Trench and overran Le Golfe. By early April 18, they had captured Byzance, Dardanelles, and Prince Eitel trenches southwest of Aubérive.

Surprise was achieved, but German resistance on the left flank stalled the French at Levant Trench and Bois Allonge, both eventually taken. Mont Sans Nom fell by 5:00 a.m. The haul included over 500 prisoners, six artillery pieces, and several machine-guns.

Aftermath

On 17 April the Fourth Army swiftly reached the crest of the Moronvilliers massif, but German observation over the battlefield enabled accurate German artillery-fire against the French infantry. The attack was costly despite fog protecting the infantry from some machine-gun fire. Tunnels through chalk connected the foremost German positions with the rear; German infantry could fire until the last moment then retire through them. French heavy artillery-fire blocked some tunnels, deep dugouts and caverns, entombing German troops; others were overrun and captured.

Fatigue, losses and the relatively undamaged state of German reverse-slope positions stopped the French advance. Possession of the crest denied the Germans observation to the south, but the heights were vulnerable to German bombardment and surprise attacks. Ludendorff called the loss a severe blow; sixteen counter-attacks were made in the next ten days with little success. The French Fourth Army suffered 21,697 casualties; among German casualties, 6,120 prisoners were taken.