Ailly Wood covers the brow of the hill, the southern slopes of which descend steeply towards a ravine. [Illustration: GERMAN TRENCH UNDER THE APREMONT-ST. MIHIEL ROAD] Here the attacks took place which, between April 5 and 13, 1915, gave the French definite mastery of the position. The Germans held one corner of the wood and the outskirts at the foot of the slopes. The French trenches followed the ravine, mounted half-way up the unwooded part of the hill, and ran alongside the wood. The entrenchment, known as the “_Le Fortin_,” was in the corner. In the wood the German trenches rose in three tiers, linked together by narrow trenches. At certain points the Germans had constructed “_chevaux-de-frise_,” twelve yards deep by two yards high. The bombardment began on the morning of the 5th. The 75’s opened breaches in the defences, and the observers, who were only 130 yards from the enemy line, gave accurate directions to the gunners. In their turn, 6–in. shells crushed the machine-gun emplacements, and at mid-day the explosion of five mine-fields annihilated the garrison and threw the enemy into a panic. A bayonet-attack was launched at once, without the firing of a single shot. [Illustration: IN AILLY WOOD _German Post of Commandment at the side of the road, 4 km. from St. Mihiel._] Two companies attacked on the western side of the wood, two others on the southern side. The attack on the west was successful and, going beyond the third German line, reached the northern fringe of the wood. The machine-gunners, who followed the advance, at once took up their positions. The attack on the south, after the first rush forward, was forced to withdraw slightly before an enfilading fire. At three o’clock in the afternoon the German artillery thundered; at four o’clock a counter-attack was launched but failed; and at 5.30 the Germans tried to retake the lost ground by a terrific bombardment. In an hour and a half, on a front of 360 yards, twenty thousand shells of all sizes (4–in., 5.5–in., 6–in. and 8–in.) cut the French lines of communication, but failed to force a retreat. The attack was resumed next day, but in the evening, after fierce hand-to-hand fighting, the French still held the three lines of German trenches. On the 7th and 8th they repulsed eight counter-attacks, which left the shell-leveled ground in their hands. [Illustration: IN AILLY WOOD SECTOR _German Defence Works in quarry by roadside, 3 km. from St. Mihiel._] On the 10th, after an artillery preparation lasting all day, a fresh attack was launched at seven o’clock in the evening. The whole of the wood was quickly occupied and immediately consolidated, in view of counter-attack. Five machine-guns, five trench-mortars, thousands of grenades and large quantities of equipment and stores, were left in the hands of the French. From that time scarcely a month passed without some communiqué stating that the Germans had bombarded or counter-attacked Ailly Wood.