. Battlefields of the World War, western and southern fronts; a study in military geography . teway by whichthe plateau stronghold may be entered (Figs. 79 and 84). But theMeuse pathway to Verdun is long and crooked, and we shall latersee that it does not lack the protection of strong natural any case it merely leads into the barrier and not through the next fifty miles southeastward there is not a singlebreak in the wall more serious than the short ravines, likethat of Vaux, which cut but a mile or two back into thescarp, leaving the upland barrier of the Hauts de Meuse(Meu
. Battlefields of the World War, western and southern fronts; a study in military geography . teway by whichthe plateau stronghold may be entered (Figs. 79 and 84). But theMeuse pathway to Verdun is long and crooked, and we shall latersee that it does not lack the protection of strong natural any case it merely leads into the barrier and not through the next fifty miles southeastward there is not a singlebreak in the wall more serious than the short ravines, likethat of Vaux, which cut but a mile or two back into thescarp, leaving the upland barrier of the Hauts de Meuse(Meuse Heights), as the French call the plateau strip betweenthe Woevre lowland and the Meuse trench, unbroken. Thevalley of Les Eparges is longer, but, as it soon bends to trend MEUSE PLATEAU 357 parallel with, and just back of, the scarp, it merely addsanother trench to the series of barriers to be overcome in anadvance westward (Fig. 90). Natural Bastions and Curtains At Hattonchatel the plateau juts far forward into the Woevrelowland, forming a great bastion (Fig. 88 and PI. VI) measuring. Fig. 90—The crest of the Meuse plateau transformed into a formidable strongholdin the Les Eparges sector. In the foreground are the ruins of Combres. (Frenchofficial photograph.) ten miles from its apex to the Meuse trench in its rear, which theFrench call the Salient of Vigneulles, and which commands amagnificent view of the Woevre plain in a great sweep from thenorthwest around to the south. Perched on this strategicpoint, Hattonchatel was long a fortified stronghold to whichthe adjacent country looked for protection. At the base of thevineyard-clad apex of the bastion lies the village of Vigneulles,of which we shall hear more. 358 BATTLEFIELD OF VERDUN South of the Hattonchatel bastion is a deep re-entrant, orcurtain as it would be called in an artificial fortress, wherethe headwaters of the Rupt de Mad, a small stream tributaryto the Moselle, have worn their way back almost to the Meuse
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectworldwar19141918
