Great masses of
ammunition, which the French had been storing up for just such a chance,
were rushed to the front. Soon the French guns were speaking as loudly
and as often as the great German 42-centimetres themselves.
The first work of the new French offensive was to clear the Germans from
Dead Man's Hill, Hill No. 320 and Hill No. 304. These battles, among the
fiercest of all history, however, were really little more than
skirmishes, when the entire movement was taken into consideration.
Terrible though they were, after all they were nothing more than small
parts of the great battle of Verdun itself.
From Dead Man's Hill and the other two elevations captured by the French,
the Germans now were pushed clear back to the banks of the river Meuse;
and then they were driven beyond. Thiaumont farm, where Hal and Chester
had seen hard fighting, came once more beneath the French tricolor; and
the German eagle went back farther still.
There was little or no rest for the men in the trenches on either side.
Out would rush the Germans from their trenches in a grand attack upon the
trenches of the French. Hand-to-hand fighting would ensue. Perhaps the
Germans would be driven back.
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