The Americans in the Great War; v. 2. The Battle of Saint Mihiel: (St. Mihiel, Pont-à-Mousson, Metz)
History
The Americans in the Great War; v. 2. The Battle of Saint Mihiel: (St. Mihiel, Pont-à-Mousson, Metz)
France -- Guidebooks; Saint-Mihiel, Battle of, Saint-Mihiel, France, 1918
_One kilometre from Flirey, at the top of the crest, on the right, is_ a
military cemetery. _The road runs parallel with the_ old French
first lines, which followed the crest on the left.
_At the entrance to_ =Limey=, _through which N. 58 runs, there is_ a large
French cemetery _on the left_.
The village of Limey, famous for the hard and bloody battles fought
there in September, 1914, is in ruins. The west front of the church was
torn open. Numerous shelters are seen, two of them, in cement, being
very large; the first, _in the middle of the village on the right of the
main road_; the other, a machine-gun blockhouse, _in the last house on
the right_.
_Beyond Limey the road crosses a vast wooded district, known as_ =La
Haye=, which covers the whole plateau.
_Two and a half kilometres from Limey, on the left side of the road_, a
place called =Fond-des-Vaux= contains numerous French shelters (several in
concrete), and also a military cemetery. This is =Lampe Camp.=
[Illustration: LIMEY VILLAGE
_Concrete shelter on the right of N. 58, when coming from Flirey in the
middle of the village._]
[Illustration: LAMPE CAMP
_At the back, on the left: N. 58._]
Three hundred yards further along the road there are American graves _to
the right_.
_The_ =Inn of St. Pierre= _is next reached, from which D. 15 leaves to the
left towards_ =Thiaucourt.= _Take this road._
[Illustration: ST. PIERRE INN DRESSING STATION
_Arrival of wounded soldier._]
Throughout the war St. Pierre Inn, which is at the entrance to =Prêtre
Wood=, was the nearest dressing station to the front. The buildings
suffered little, thanks to the sheltering forest. _Prêtre Wood will be
visited on leaving Pont-à-Mousson._
[Illustration: FEY-EN-HAYE CHURCH AND CEMETERY IN 1915]
_Eight hundred yards from the inn, to the right of D. 15, the_
=Fey-en-Haye= _road debouches. This road is not available for motors._ A
visit to the village is interesting, as it was in the first French lines
(_distance there and back, 3 km._).
[Illustration: MAP]
=Fey-en-Haye= _is about 100 yards from the western edge of_ =Prêtre Wood.=
At the end of September, 1914, a bloody engagement took place there. Up
to the end of March, 1915, this unfortunate village was continuously
bombarded, and it was entirely demolished when, on April 2, 1915, it was
taken by a French battalion (169th Infantry). Its capture was the
prelude to the last series of attacks which, after seven months of
terrific fighting, ended on May 31, in the capture of =Prêtre Wood.=
Fey-en-Haye is now merely a heap of ruins. A number of trenches run
through it, and a few shelters still exist.
_After coming back to D. 15, continue along it as far as_ =Regniéville=, a
village of which nothing remains but part of the belfry of the church
(_photo, p. 85_).
[Illustration: FEY-EN-HAYE. PLACE DE L’EGLISE IN 1915]
[Illustration: REGNIÉVILLE VILLAGE AND THE RUINED BELFRY OF THE CHURCH]
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