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The extremity of the Saint-Mihiel Salient seen from the Fort des Paroches.

The village of Forges in 1915.

A footbridge of wagons crossing the stream of Forges.

Les Éparges in 1915.

During a period of quiet, a plant for making rings has been installed at the entrance of a dug-out.

In April 1915, a 75 gun firing on the crest of Les Éparges.

Machine gun in position in a front line trench. Sector of Les Éparges, February 1915.

A ravine in the luxuriant forest of Argonne.

In the middle a company in Indian file is going up to the line.

THE STRUGGLE IN ARGONNE
The battle in the forest (October 1914-October 1915).

The stationary warfare assumed a special character in the Argonne. Lanes and footpaths formed the only breaks in the impenetrable thickets. There were no gentle slopes, no convenient firing positions for the infantry, no observation posts for the artillery—everything was concealed by the thick foliage.

Springs rose everywhere and rivulets ran over the clayey soil. Mud made the paths impassable, and filled up the trenches as soon as they were made. French and German trenches intersected. Firing was continuous, snipers perched here and there in trees taking careful aim, while at night rifle and machine gun fire at random continued uninterruptedly, sweeping the forest in order to prevent surprise and to make movement dangerous. But the rifle was merely an auxiliary weapon, as each army rained showers of grenades and bombs upon the other all day long.

Apart from actual battles, there were hundreds of casualties, killed and wounded, every day. In the attack or defence of a trench, the fighting immediately became a hand-to-hand struggle, with knives and revolvers. Underground there was a continuous digging of saps and mines; it was a contest of speed and skill between the opposing sappers. It was a case of blowing up the enemy first or being blown up by him. Over the wrecked trenches, destroyed by mines, through smoke and under a rain of earth thrown up by the explosions, the soldiers dashed forward to occupy the crater or to fight for it if the enemy had reached it first.

A fight with bombs.

French foot-soldiers throwing back at the enemy bombs which they have captured from them.

During the first three months