A fifth reserve position, the Suippesstellung lay further back. You cannot download or purchase for any new licenses. These tunnels, usually equipped with quantities of ammunition, connected the German front positions with the rear and allowed the German army to fire until the last moment. Après la bataille de la Marne en 1914, le front s’est immobilisé sur une ligne qui n’est pas due entièrement au hasard. Hi all, I hope this subject is in the right place. XVII Corps (Général Dumas) [24th Division (Général Mordacq), attached to the XVII Corps], Division Marocaine (Général Degoutte), 33rd Division (Général Eon), 45th Division (Général Naulin), VIII Corps (Général Hely d'Oissel): 34th Division (Général Lobit), 16th Division (Général Le Gallais), 128th Division (Général Riberpray), 169th Division. A German counter-attack from the tunnel repulsed the attack except on the right, where the French captured an artillery battery and penetrated some way down the northern slope of Mont Blond. Lobit, the 34th division commander, sent the reserve battalions of the two regiments, to guard the open western flank of the division, between Erfurt trench and Mont Cornillet and to close the gap between the 83rd and 59th regiments. [36], After the defeats of 20 May, the Germans counter-attacked the next day and were repulsed. After a big bombardment on the day before, the French attack began at 4:30 a.m. in good weather, from south of Mont Cornillet to the north of Le Téton, with the main objective at the summit of Mont Cornillet. Later in the morning, the reserve battalions of the 34th Division captured part of the south end of the Düsseldorf communication trench and all of Offenburg Trench but were repulsed from Hönig Trench. [32], On 19 May, as the French prepared to attack, news was received from a deserter that the garrison in the tunnel had been asphyxiated and an hour later, thirty Germans who had surrendered said the same but did not know if the tunnels had been reoccupied. Most of the German defences on the southern slopes of Mont Cornillet, Mont Blond, Mont Haut and Mont Perthois had been badly damaged but many intermediate strong points, machine-gun nests remained. On 8 September, trench raiders to the east of the St Hilaire–St Souplet road, blew in dugouts and took twenty 20 prisoners. New railways had been built by the Germans but cutting the line would make it difficult for the Germans to supply the forces east of the Suippes and west of the upper Aisne. Two tunnels, capable of accommodating several battalions of infantry, had been dug under the north slope of Mont Cornillet and the north-east side of Mont Perthois. Your Lightboxes will appear here when you have created some. West of the ridge, which in 1917 was between the left flank of the French Fourth Army and the Fifth Army, was an area of low ground about 11 km (7 mi) wide, between the Moronvilliers massif and the Nogent l'Abbesse massif east of Reims, in which lay the village of Beine. West of the Thuizy–Nauroy road, the French artillery bombardment failed to destroy many of the German fortifications and some of the trees in Bois de la Grille were still standing. [25], The 33rd Division attacked the heights of Le Casque and Le Téton at 5:00 a.m. The highest point of the massif on the eastern summit of Mont Haut, was captured at 8:00 p.m. [9], Most of the German observation posts on Mont Cornillet, Mont Haut and Le Téton, had been destroyed but many dugouts and buried telephone lines had remained intact, as did the German defences on the north slopes of the Mont Cornillet–Le Téton ridge and the tunnels under Mont Cornillet and Mont Perthois, which were still unknown to the French. Further west, the French had a tenuous hold on the two summits of Mont Haut, had consolidated the top of Mont Blond and gained a foothold on Mont Cornillet. On the left of the Fourth Army, the VIII Corps (General Hely d'Oissel) had two divisions and one regiment. The new commander was unwilling to risk his men being bottled up in the Mont Cornillet tunnel and reduced the garrison from a regiment to six infantry companies, two machine-gun companies and 320 pioneers, fewer than 1,000 troops. [17] The infantry advanced behind a creeping barrage, in cold rain alternating with snow showers but the training of the French infantry and careful planning, meant that the unexpected darkness during the advance favoured the French, even though aeroplanes and observation balloons were grounded by high, gusting winds. [9] An attack from the west, was still obstructed by Bois de la Grille and Leopoldshöhe Trench and an attack on the eastern flank would be confronted by Le Golfe, a position which extended the German line east to Aubérive. (On 17 May, Infantry Regiment 173 of the German 223rd Division had been relieved by Infantry Regiment 476 of the 242nd Division.) Technische Bauleitung Bauleiter Karl Debus. [19] In the XVII Corps zone, the 45th Division attacked, after a "devastating" howitzer bombardment at 7:00 a.m. on the Konstanzlager and the dug-outs nearby and after thirty minutes, the garrisons surrendered. The capture of Mont Sans Nom and the Moronvilliers Ridge would threaten the German hold on the Beine basin and the Nogent l'Abbesse massif; the loss of these would make the German positions on the Fresne and Brimont heights untenable. galeries du tunnel et que le gouvernement ouest-allemand, en accord avec les autorités françaises, On 16th May 1917, a 400 pound shell fell on a ventilation shaft and blocked one of the principal galleries. On the left flank of the division, Bethmann-Hollweg Trench to the north-east of Mont Sans Nom, was captured along with six guns, which secured Mont Sans Nom from an attack against the eastern slope. An original magazine page with an illustration showing dead German infantry in the Mont Cornillet tunnel during the Nivelle Offensive of 1917. The preparatory artillery strikes targeted the forts of Brimont, Witry-lès-Reims, and Berru, as well as tunnels and shelters under Mount Cornillet and Mont-sans-nom. [8], The German defences between the Suippes and the Vesle, lay on a plateau overlooked by Mont Berru 267 m (876 ft) high and along Moronvilliers Ridge, which was about 10 km (6.2 mi) long and about 210 m (690 ft) high. The French spent 18 April consolidating and the 45th Division pushed up to the southern edge of Mont Haut. The 3rd Army positions were divided into five sectors, from Béthény to Prosnes, Prosnes to Sainte-Marie-à-Py, Sainte-Marie-à-Py to Tahure, Tahure to Rouvroy and Rouvroy to Argonne, with 17 divisions, including Eingreif divisions and fresh units, which had been transferred from other parts of the Western Front. Erfurt Trench was overrun and then the Konstanzlager was attacked from the west. [7], German possession of Mont Perthois and Mont Sans Nom meant that a French attack on Le Casque and Le Téton could be engaged by crossfire. On the right flank, the French were only able to enter the German front trench and Baden-Baden Trench further to the north but surprised the German defenders nearer the river and advanced much further along the riverbank. South of Mont Haut, the Konstanzlager and the row of dugouts up the south slope of Mont Perthois, had not been seriously damaged. Just inside the tunnel, heaps of German dead were found, apparently having panicked and made a rush for the exit. [9], The Fourth Army plan was to capture Bois de la Grille, Leopoldshöhe Trench and all of the south face of the Moronvilliers hills, push the Germans back from Le Golfe and encircle Aubérive from the flanks. By dark on 20 April, parts of the Moronvilliers Hills had been captured but had not been outflanked at either end. [14], The first German line in the south of this defensive zone, comprised several parallel trenches connected by communication trenches, with numerous dug-outs, concrete blockhouses and pill-boxes. [22] On 18 April, the 45th Division on the right, completed the capture of the Konstanzlager and dug-outs nearby, the 34th Division consolidated and the 83rd Regiment was relieved by the 88th Regiment. La particularité du Mont Cornillet se trouve dans son système défensif. Les bouteilles graduées de penois notamment dans le tunnel du Mont Cornillet concentré de vinaigre apparaissent en 1875 et le type avec (Marne) qui abritait plus de 600 soldats allemands. The eastern slope declines close to the bank of the Suippes, between St Martin-l'Heureux and Aubérive and the southern slope declines south of the road from Reims to St Hilaire le Grand, St Ménéhould and Verdun as it descends into the Plain of Châlons. Siehe Der Debus-Tunnel und andere Tunnelanlagen im Ersten Weltkrieg, Champagne 1915#Mont-Cornillet-Tunnel. [22], In the VIII Corps area, the 34th Division east of the Thuizy–Nauroy road, attacked at 4.45 a.m., with two regiments and an hour later, could be seen threading their way up the heights, bombing dug-outs and fighting hand-to-hand in the open with German infantry. Tunnels driven through the chalk connected the foremost German positions with the rear. The VIII Corps (General Hely d'Oissel), was to capture Mont Cornillot and Mont Blond, Flensburg Trench and the next one behind, which connected the defences of the summits, Mont Blond, Mont Cornillot, Bois de la Grille and Leopoldshöhe Trench. North-east of Mont Haut, the advance reached a depth of 2.4 km (1.5 mi) and next day the advance was pressed further. [2], The capture of the German defences on the edge of the Châlons Plain above Aubérive, was necessary for an advance around Beine and an attack from the east of the Nogent l'Abbesse massif. Français : Le Mont Cornillet fait partie des 5 Monts de Champagne où les armées allemandes et françaises se sont affrontées en 1917. This tunnel … Der Mont Cornillet gehört zu einer Kette von fünf Bergen nordöstlich von Reims. Three fresh French divisions made preparations to resume the offensive on 20 May. This image is no longer for sale. The entrance of the tunnel was discovered in 1933. On 12 September, east of the St Hilaire–St Souplet road and north-east of Aubérive, more skirmishing took place. German infantry could fire until the last moment then retire through them to the northern slopes. [4], The second line, half-way up the slopes of the Moronvilliers hills, was destroyed from south of Mont Perthois to the Suippes, barbed-wire in the woods to the north-east of Mont Sans Nom was partially cut, making an attack on the German position on the ridges above the Suippes practicable. Le tunnel du mont Cornillet vendredi 23 novembre 2007, par JFW. Seuls 14 d'entre eux ont rejoint l'Allemagne à la demande de leurs descendants, 57 ans après l'explosion du tunnel du Mont Cornillet. German counter-attacks had mostly been costly failures and from 16 April to2 June, the Franco-British had taken c. 52,000 prisoners, 440 heavy and field guns, many trench mortars and more than 1,000 machine-guns. [18], At 4:00 p.m., two German battalions attacked the summit, which was recaptured and lost twice. [7] The Fourth Army held an 18 km (11 mi) front, just north of the Reims, St Hilaire le Grand, St Ménéhould to Verdun road, between Massiges and Ferme Marquises, about 120 m (400 ft) below the peak of Mont Haut. The French veered to the right, away from the machine-gun fire and attacked Rendsburg and Göttingen trenches. [33] An Engineer company followed close behind the infantry, ready to block the tunnel entrances but found them difficult to find, because the bombardment had covered them up. On April 18 and 19, and May 4 and 5, the fighting was spasmodic and finally ceased. tunnel de liaison, C ... (Mont Cornillet, Mont Sans Nom ; Guillaume, 1918). The Germans had dug several lines of trenches from north to south, on the west and east slopes of the hills, the trenches on the west running north and west of Nauroy. [f] With reinforcements, there were four divisions on the flanks and the Moronvilliers massif in between and four divisions in close reserve. The observation posts on the heights were highly vulnerable to German bombardment and surprise attacks, against which the French had to keep large numbers of infantry close to the front, ready to intervene but vulnerable to German artillery-fire.