The sector, known as "=La Butte-de-Tir=," situated on the left, below Cernay and beyond the railway, was the scene of furious fighting throughout the German occupation of 1914 to 1918 (_photo below_). [Illustration: THE "BUTTE-DE-TIR" SECTOR _Listening-post in front of Cernay village._] [Illustration: COMMUNICATING TRENCH AT JOUISSANCE FARM (1915)] _The road crosses the Châlons Railway (l.c.), and goes thence direct to the_ =Fort of La Pompelle=, passing through an inextricable network of trenches and barbed wire entanglements. The country hereabouts was completely ravaged by the terrific bombardments, and recalls the devastated regions around Verdun, near Vaux and Douaumont (_see the Michelin Illustrated Guide: Verdun, and the Battles for its Possession_). =La Jouissance Farm= is next passed. Nothing remains either of it or of the road, _which started from this point towards Cernay, on the left_. [Illustration: LA POMPELLE FORT (1918)] [Illustration: THE MOATS OF LA POMPELLE FORT (1918)] The =Fort of La Pompelle=, _which is next reached_, is now a mere heap of ruins. The road which led to the fort no longer exists. _To visit the ruins of the fort, tourists will have to follow on foot the narrow-gauge railway which starts from the road (photo above)_. Tradition has it that St. Timothy came from Asia to convert Rheims, suffered martyrdom, together with St. Apollinaris and several companions, on the hill known as _La Pompelle_, so-called perhaps from the procession (_pompa_ or _pompella_) which, in the Middle Ages, used to visit the place of martyrdom of the saints. This hill, which rises close to the crossing of the Rheims-St.-Hilaire-le-Grand and Rheims-Châlons Roads, was fortified after 1870, to flank the position of Berru on the south. The road from Rheims to Saint-Hilaire-le-Grand (_G.C. 7_), which used to start from the "Alger Inn," at the cross-roads mentioned above, no longer exists. Like the inn, it was obliterated by the shelling. A huge crater now occupies the site of the Alger Inn (_photo below_). [Illustration: CRATER, WHERE USED TO STAND THE "ALGER INN"] [Illustration: THE IMMEDIATE VICINITY OF WHAT WAS THE "ALGER INN" (1918)] _Continue along N. 44. About 1 kilometre from the fort, at a bend in the road_, the shattered remnants of trees of an avenue are visible on the left. Under the first fir-tree of this avenue, about 20 yards from the national road, is an armoured machine-gun shelter, almost intact. _Cross the railway (l.c.) near the entirely destroyed station of Petit-Sillery. After passing a ruined château on the left, cross the bridge over the Vesle. At the fork beyond the bridge, leave N. 44 and take G.C. 8 on the right to_ =Sillery=.